Resistance and change in a High Arctic ecosystem, NW Greenland: Differential sensitivity of ecosystem metrics to 15 years of experimental warming and wetting
Dramatic increases in air temperature and precipitation are occurring in the High Arctic (>70°N), yet few studies have characterized the long-term responses of High Arctic ecosystems to the interactive effects of experimental warming and increased rain. Beginning in 2003, we applied a factorial s...
Published in: | Global Change Biology |
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Language: | English |
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2021
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Online Access: | https://research.ulapland.fi/fi/publications/2c5cac8e-a57a-4a9a-9bf6-4103b7c78d2b https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.16027 |
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ftulaplandcdispu:oai:lacris.ulapland.fi:publications/2c5cac8e-a57a-4a9a-9bf6-4103b7c78d2b 2024-02-04T09:56:34+01:00 Resistance and change in a High Arctic ecosystem, NW Greenland: Differential sensitivity of ecosystem metrics to 15 years of experimental warming and wetting Jespersen, Robert Leffler, Alan Joshua Väisänen, Maria Welker, Jeffrey M. 2021-12-06 https://research.ulapland.fi/fi/publications/2c5cac8e-a57a-4a9a-9bf6-4103b7c78d2b https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.16027 eng eng https://research.ulapland.fi/fi/publications/2c5cac8e-a57a-4a9a-9bf6-4103b7c78d2b info:eu-repo/semantics/closedAccess Jespersen , R , Leffler , A J , Väisänen , M & Welker , J M 2021 , ' Resistance and change in a High Arctic ecosystem, NW Greenland: Differential sensitivity of ecosystem metrics to 15 years of experimental warming and wetting ' , Global Change Biology . https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.16027 polar semidesert stable isotopes tundra vegetation change carbon CO2 flux ecosystem /dk/atira/pure/person/fieldofscience2010/1/17/1 name=Geosciences article 2021 ftulaplandcdispu https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.16027 2024-01-11T00:03:41Z Dramatic increases in air temperature and precipitation are occurring in the High Arctic (>70°N), yet few studies have characterized the long-term responses of High Arctic ecosystems to the interactive effects of experimental warming and increased rain. Beginning in 2003, we applied a factorial summer warming and wetting experiment to a polar semidesert in northwest Greenland. In summer 2018, we assessed several metrics of ecosystem structure and function, including plant cover, greenness, ecosystem CO2 exchange, aboveground (leaf, stem) and belowground (litter, root, soil) carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) concentrations (%) and pools, as well as leaf and soil stable isotopes (δ13 C and δ15 N). Wetting induced the most pronounced changes in ecosystem structure, accelerating the expansion of Salix arctica cover by 370% and increasing aboveground C, N, and biomass pools by 94%-101% and root C, N, and biomass pools by 60%-122%, increases which coincided with enhanced net ecosystem CO2 uptake. Further, wetting combined with warming enhanced plot-level greenness, whereas in isolation neither wetting nor warming had an effect. At the plant level, the effects of warming and wetting differed among species and included warming-linked decreases in leaf N and δ15 N in S. arctica, whereas leaf N and δ15 N in Dryas integrifolia did not respond to the climate treatments. Finally, neither plant- nor plot-level C and N allocation patterns nor soil C, N, δ13 C, or δ15 N concentrations changed in response to our manipulations, indicating that these ecosystem metrics may resist climate change, even in the longer term. In sum, our results highlight the importance of summer precipitation in regulating ecosystem structure and function in arid parts of the High Arctic, but they do not completely refute previous findings of resistance in some High Arctic ecosystem properties to climate change. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Arctic Climate change Greenland Tundra LaCRIS - University of Lapland Current Research System Arctic Greenland Global Change Biology 28 5 1853 1869 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
LaCRIS - University of Lapland Current Research System |
op_collection_id |
ftulaplandcdispu |
language |
English |
topic |
polar semidesert stable isotopes tundra vegetation change carbon CO2 flux ecosystem /dk/atira/pure/person/fieldofscience2010/1/17/1 name=Geosciences |
spellingShingle |
polar semidesert stable isotopes tundra vegetation change carbon CO2 flux ecosystem /dk/atira/pure/person/fieldofscience2010/1/17/1 name=Geosciences Jespersen, Robert Leffler, Alan Joshua Väisänen, Maria Welker, Jeffrey M. Resistance and change in a High Arctic ecosystem, NW Greenland: Differential sensitivity of ecosystem metrics to 15 years of experimental warming and wetting |
topic_facet |
polar semidesert stable isotopes tundra vegetation change carbon CO2 flux ecosystem /dk/atira/pure/person/fieldofscience2010/1/17/1 name=Geosciences |
description |
Dramatic increases in air temperature and precipitation are occurring in the High Arctic (>70°N), yet few studies have characterized the long-term responses of High Arctic ecosystems to the interactive effects of experimental warming and increased rain. Beginning in 2003, we applied a factorial summer warming and wetting experiment to a polar semidesert in northwest Greenland. In summer 2018, we assessed several metrics of ecosystem structure and function, including plant cover, greenness, ecosystem CO2 exchange, aboveground (leaf, stem) and belowground (litter, root, soil) carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) concentrations (%) and pools, as well as leaf and soil stable isotopes (δ13 C and δ15 N). Wetting induced the most pronounced changes in ecosystem structure, accelerating the expansion of Salix arctica cover by 370% and increasing aboveground C, N, and biomass pools by 94%-101% and root C, N, and biomass pools by 60%-122%, increases which coincided with enhanced net ecosystem CO2 uptake. Further, wetting combined with warming enhanced plot-level greenness, whereas in isolation neither wetting nor warming had an effect. At the plant level, the effects of warming and wetting differed among species and included warming-linked decreases in leaf N and δ15 N in S. arctica, whereas leaf N and δ15 N in Dryas integrifolia did not respond to the climate treatments. Finally, neither plant- nor plot-level C and N allocation patterns nor soil C, N, δ13 C, or δ15 N concentrations changed in response to our manipulations, indicating that these ecosystem metrics may resist climate change, even in the longer term. In sum, our results highlight the importance of summer precipitation in regulating ecosystem structure and function in arid parts of the High Arctic, but they do not completely refute previous findings of resistance in some High Arctic ecosystem properties to climate change. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Jespersen, Robert Leffler, Alan Joshua Väisänen, Maria Welker, Jeffrey M. |
author_facet |
Jespersen, Robert Leffler, Alan Joshua Väisänen, Maria Welker, Jeffrey M. |
author_sort |
Jespersen, Robert |
title |
Resistance and change in a High Arctic ecosystem, NW Greenland: Differential sensitivity of ecosystem metrics to 15 years of experimental warming and wetting |
title_short |
Resistance and change in a High Arctic ecosystem, NW Greenland: Differential sensitivity of ecosystem metrics to 15 years of experimental warming and wetting |
title_full |
Resistance and change in a High Arctic ecosystem, NW Greenland: Differential sensitivity of ecosystem metrics to 15 years of experimental warming and wetting |
title_fullStr |
Resistance and change in a High Arctic ecosystem, NW Greenland: Differential sensitivity of ecosystem metrics to 15 years of experimental warming and wetting |
title_full_unstemmed |
Resistance and change in a High Arctic ecosystem, NW Greenland: Differential sensitivity of ecosystem metrics to 15 years of experimental warming and wetting |
title_sort |
resistance and change in a high arctic ecosystem, nw greenland: differential sensitivity of ecosystem metrics to 15 years of experimental warming and wetting |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
https://research.ulapland.fi/fi/publications/2c5cac8e-a57a-4a9a-9bf6-4103b7c78d2b https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.16027 |
geographic |
Arctic Greenland |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Greenland |
genre |
Arctic Arctic Climate change Greenland Tundra |
genre_facet |
Arctic Arctic Climate change Greenland Tundra |
op_source |
Jespersen , R , Leffler , A J , Väisänen , M & Welker , J M 2021 , ' Resistance and change in a High Arctic ecosystem, NW Greenland: Differential sensitivity of ecosystem metrics to 15 years of experimental warming and wetting ' , Global Change Biology . https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.16027 |
op_relation |
https://research.ulapland.fi/fi/publications/2c5cac8e-a57a-4a9a-9bf6-4103b7c78d2b |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/closedAccess |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.16027 |
container_title |
Global Change Biology |
container_volume |
28 |
container_issue |
5 |
container_start_page |
1853 |
op_container_end_page |
1869 |
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1789961019398815744 |