Ecosystem change and stability over multiple decades in the Swedish subarctic: complex processes and multiple drivers
The subarctic environment of northernmost Sweden has changed over the past century, particularly elements of climate and cryosphere. This paper presents a unique geo-referenced record of environmental and ecosystem observations from the area since 1913. Abiotic changes have been substantial. Vegetat...
Published in: | Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences |
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Online Access: | https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/3975430 https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2012.0488 |
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ftulundlup:oai:lup.lub.lu.se:44fa8dfc-bc46-418c-b7ce-7651fab6e190 2023-05-15T15:08:10+02:00 Ecosystem change and stability over multiple decades in the Swedish subarctic: complex processes and multiple drivers Callaghan, Terry V. Jonasson, Christer Thierfelder, Tomas Yang, Zhenlin Hedenas, Henrik Johansson, Margareta Molau, Ulf Van Bogaert, Rik Michelsen, Anders Olofsson, Johan Gwynn-Jones, Dylan Bokhorst, Stef Phoenix, Gareth Bjerke, Jarle W. Tommervik, Hans Christensen, Torben Hanna, Edward Koller, Eva K. Sloan, Victoria L. 2013 https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/3975430 https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2012.0488 eng eng Royal Society Publishing https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/3975430 http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2012.0488 wos:000321565600009 scopus:84879963792 pmid:23836792 Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences; 368(1624) (2013) ISSN: 1471-2970 Physical Geography subarctic environment climate change impacts ecosystem stability contributiontojournal/article info:eu-repo/semantics/article text 2013 ftulundlup https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2012.0488 2023-02-01T23:35:38Z The subarctic environment of northernmost Sweden has changed over the past century, particularly elements of climate and cryosphere. This paper presents a unique geo-referenced record of environmental and ecosystem observations from the area since 1913. Abiotic changes have been substantial. Vegetation changes include not only increases in growth and range extension but also counterintuitive decreases, and stability: all three possible responses. Changes in species composition within the major plant communities have ranged between almost no changes to almost a 50 per cent increase in the number of species. Changes in plant species abundance also vary with particularly large increases in trees and shrubs (up to 600%). There has been an increase in abundance of aspen and large changes in other plant communities responding to wetland area increases resulting from permafrost thaw. Populations of herbivores have responded to varying management practices and climate regimes, particularly changing snow conditions. While it is difficult to generalize and scale-up the site-specific changes in ecosystems, this very site-specificity, combined with projections of change, is of immediate relevance to local stakeholders who need to adapt to new opportunities and to respond to challenges. Furthermore, the relatively small area and its unique datasets are a microcosm of the complexity of Arctic landscapes in transition that remains to be documented. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Climate change permafrost Subarctic Lund University Publications (LUP) Arctic Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 368 1624 20120488 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Lund University Publications (LUP) |
op_collection_id |
ftulundlup |
language |
English |
topic |
Physical Geography subarctic environment climate change impacts ecosystem stability |
spellingShingle |
Physical Geography subarctic environment climate change impacts ecosystem stability Callaghan, Terry V. Jonasson, Christer Thierfelder, Tomas Yang, Zhenlin Hedenas, Henrik Johansson, Margareta Molau, Ulf Van Bogaert, Rik Michelsen, Anders Olofsson, Johan Gwynn-Jones, Dylan Bokhorst, Stef Phoenix, Gareth Bjerke, Jarle W. Tommervik, Hans Christensen, Torben Hanna, Edward Koller, Eva K. Sloan, Victoria L. Ecosystem change and stability over multiple decades in the Swedish subarctic: complex processes and multiple drivers |
topic_facet |
Physical Geography subarctic environment climate change impacts ecosystem stability |
description |
The subarctic environment of northernmost Sweden has changed over the past century, particularly elements of climate and cryosphere. This paper presents a unique geo-referenced record of environmental and ecosystem observations from the area since 1913. Abiotic changes have been substantial. Vegetation changes include not only increases in growth and range extension but also counterintuitive decreases, and stability: all three possible responses. Changes in species composition within the major plant communities have ranged between almost no changes to almost a 50 per cent increase in the number of species. Changes in plant species abundance also vary with particularly large increases in trees and shrubs (up to 600%). There has been an increase in abundance of aspen and large changes in other plant communities responding to wetland area increases resulting from permafrost thaw. Populations of herbivores have responded to varying management practices and climate regimes, particularly changing snow conditions. While it is difficult to generalize and scale-up the site-specific changes in ecosystems, this very site-specificity, combined with projections of change, is of immediate relevance to local stakeholders who need to adapt to new opportunities and to respond to challenges. Furthermore, the relatively small area and its unique datasets are a microcosm of the complexity of Arctic landscapes in transition that remains to be documented. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Callaghan, Terry V. Jonasson, Christer Thierfelder, Tomas Yang, Zhenlin Hedenas, Henrik Johansson, Margareta Molau, Ulf Van Bogaert, Rik Michelsen, Anders Olofsson, Johan Gwynn-Jones, Dylan Bokhorst, Stef Phoenix, Gareth Bjerke, Jarle W. Tommervik, Hans Christensen, Torben Hanna, Edward Koller, Eva K. Sloan, Victoria L. |
author_facet |
Callaghan, Terry V. Jonasson, Christer Thierfelder, Tomas Yang, Zhenlin Hedenas, Henrik Johansson, Margareta Molau, Ulf Van Bogaert, Rik Michelsen, Anders Olofsson, Johan Gwynn-Jones, Dylan Bokhorst, Stef Phoenix, Gareth Bjerke, Jarle W. Tommervik, Hans Christensen, Torben Hanna, Edward Koller, Eva K. Sloan, Victoria L. |
author_sort |
Callaghan, Terry V. |
title |
Ecosystem change and stability over multiple decades in the Swedish subarctic: complex processes and multiple drivers |
title_short |
Ecosystem change and stability over multiple decades in the Swedish subarctic: complex processes and multiple drivers |
title_full |
Ecosystem change and stability over multiple decades in the Swedish subarctic: complex processes and multiple drivers |
title_fullStr |
Ecosystem change and stability over multiple decades in the Swedish subarctic: complex processes and multiple drivers |
title_full_unstemmed |
Ecosystem change and stability over multiple decades in the Swedish subarctic: complex processes and multiple drivers |
title_sort |
ecosystem change and stability over multiple decades in the swedish subarctic: complex processes and multiple drivers |
publisher |
Royal Society Publishing |
publishDate |
2013 |
url |
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/3975430 https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2012.0488 |
geographic |
Arctic |
geographic_facet |
Arctic |
genre |
Arctic Climate change permafrost Subarctic |
genre_facet |
Arctic Climate change permafrost Subarctic |
op_source |
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences; 368(1624) (2013) ISSN: 1471-2970 |
op_relation |
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/3975430 http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2012.0488 wos:000321565600009 scopus:84879963792 pmid:23836792 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2012.0488 |
container_title |
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences |
container_volume |
368 |
container_issue |
1624 |
container_start_page |
20120488 |
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1766339580700655616 |