Patchy field sampling biases understanding of climate change impacts across the Arctic
Effective societal responses to rapid climate change in the Arctic rely on an accurate representation of region-specific ecosystem properties and processes. However, this is limited by the scarcity and patchy distribution of field measurements. Here, we use a comprehensive, geo-referenced database o...
Published in: | Nature Ecology & Evolution |
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Online Access: | https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/8b00784d-e307-457f-bf16-79cc2af867d1 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-018-0612-5 |
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ftulundlup:oai:lup.lub.lu.se:8b00784d-e307-457f-bf16-79cc2af867d1 2024-04-28T07:53:01+00:00 Patchy field sampling biases understanding of climate change impacts across the Arctic Metcalfe, Daniel B. Hermans, Thirze D.G. Ahlstrand, Jenny Becker, Michael Berggren, Martin Björk, Robert G. Björkman, Mats P. Blok, Daan Chaudhary, Nitin Chisholm, Chelsea Classen, Aimée T. Hasselquist, Niles J. Jonsson, Micael Kristensen, Jeppe A. Kumordzi, Bright B. Lee, Hanna Mayor, Jordan R. Prevéy, Janet Pantazatou, Karolina Rousk, Johannes Sponseller, Ryan A. Sundqvist, Maja K. Tang, Jing Uddling, Johan Wallin, Göran Zhang, Wenxin Ahlström, Anders Tenenbaum, David E. Abdi, Abdulhakim M. 2018-09 https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/8b00784d-e307-457f-bf16-79cc2af867d1 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-018-0612-5 eng eng Nature Publishing Group https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/8b00784d-e307-457f-bf16-79cc2af867d1 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41559-018-0612-5 scopus:85049951683 pmid:30013133 Nature Ecology and Evolution; 2(9), pp 1443-1448 (2018) ISSN: 2397-334X Physical Geography Environmental Sciences Climate Research Arctic Global change ecology contributiontojournal/article info:eu-repo/semantics/article text 2018 ftulundlup https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-018-0612-5 2024-04-03T14:04:00Z Effective societal responses to rapid climate change in the Arctic rely on an accurate representation of region-specific ecosystem properties and processes. However, this is limited by the scarcity and patchy distribution of field measurements. Here, we use a comprehensive, geo-referenced database of primary field measurements in 1,840 published studies across the Arctic to identify statistically significant spatial biases in field sampling and study citation across this globally important region. We find that 31% of all study citations are derived from sites located within 50 km of just two research sites: Toolik Lake in the USA and Abisko in Sweden. Furthermore, relatively colder, more rapidly warming and sparsely vegetated sites are under-sampled and under-recognized in terms of citations, particularly among microbiology-related studies. The poorly sampled and cited areas, mainly in the Canadian high-Arctic archipelago and the Arctic coastline of Russia, constitute a large fraction of the Arctic ice-free land area. Our results suggest that the current pattern of sampling and citation may bias the scientific consensuses that underpin attempts to accurately predict and effectively mitigate climate change in the region. Further work is required to increase both the quality and quantity of sampling, and incorporate existing literature from poorly cited areas to generate a more representative picture of Arctic climate change and its environmental impacts. Article in Journal/Newspaper Abisko Arctic Archipelago Arctic Climate change Lund University Publications (LUP) Nature Ecology & Evolution 2 9 1443 1448 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Lund University Publications (LUP) |
op_collection_id |
ftulundlup |
language |
English |
topic |
Physical Geography Environmental Sciences Climate Research Arctic Global change ecology |
spellingShingle |
Physical Geography Environmental Sciences Climate Research Arctic Global change ecology Metcalfe, Daniel B. Hermans, Thirze D.G. Ahlstrand, Jenny Becker, Michael Berggren, Martin Björk, Robert G. Björkman, Mats P. Blok, Daan Chaudhary, Nitin Chisholm, Chelsea Classen, Aimée T. Hasselquist, Niles J. Jonsson, Micael Kristensen, Jeppe A. Kumordzi, Bright B. Lee, Hanna Mayor, Jordan R. Prevéy, Janet Pantazatou, Karolina Rousk, Johannes Sponseller, Ryan A. Sundqvist, Maja K. Tang, Jing Uddling, Johan Wallin, Göran Zhang, Wenxin Ahlström, Anders Tenenbaum, David E. Abdi, Abdulhakim M. Patchy field sampling biases understanding of climate change impacts across the Arctic |
topic_facet |
Physical Geography Environmental Sciences Climate Research Arctic Global change ecology |
description |
Effective societal responses to rapid climate change in the Arctic rely on an accurate representation of region-specific ecosystem properties and processes. However, this is limited by the scarcity and patchy distribution of field measurements. Here, we use a comprehensive, geo-referenced database of primary field measurements in 1,840 published studies across the Arctic to identify statistically significant spatial biases in field sampling and study citation across this globally important region. We find that 31% of all study citations are derived from sites located within 50 km of just two research sites: Toolik Lake in the USA and Abisko in Sweden. Furthermore, relatively colder, more rapidly warming and sparsely vegetated sites are under-sampled and under-recognized in terms of citations, particularly among microbiology-related studies. The poorly sampled and cited areas, mainly in the Canadian high-Arctic archipelago and the Arctic coastline of Russia, constitute a large fraction of the Arctic ice-free land area. Our results suggest that the current pattern of sampling and citation may bias the scientific consensuses that underpin attempts to accurately predict and effectively mitigate climate change in the region. Further work is required to increase both the quality and quantity of sampling, and incorporate existing literature from poorly cited areas to generate a more representative picture of Arctic climate change and its environmental impacts. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Metcalfe, Daniel B. Hermans, Thirze D.G. Ahlstrand, Jenny Becker, Michael Berggren, Martin Björk, Robert G. Björkman, Mats P. Blok, Daan Chaudhary, Nitin Chisholm, Chelsea Classen, Aimée T. Hasselquist, Niles J. Jonsson, Micael Kristensen, Jeppe A. Kumordzi, Bright B. Lee, Hanna Mayor, Jordan R. Prevéy, Janet Pantazatou, Karolina Rousk, Johannes Sponseller, Ryan A. Sundqvist, Maja K. Tang, Jing Uddling, Johan Wallin, Göran Zhang, Wenxin Ahlström, Anders Tenenbaum, David E. Abdi, Abdulhakim M. |
author_facet |
Metcalfe, Daniel B. Hermans, Thirze D.G. Ahlstrand, Jenny Becker, Michael Berggren, Martin Björk, Robert G. Björkman, Mats P. Blok, Daan Chaudhary, Nitin Chisholm, Chelsea Classen, Aimée T. Hasselquist, Niles J. Jonsson, Micael Kristensen, Jeppe A. Kumordzi, Bright B. Lee, Hanna Mayor, Jordan R. Prevéy, Janet Pantazatou, Karolina Rousk, Johannes Sponseller, Ryan A. Sundqvist, Maja K. Tang, Jing Uddling, Johan Wallin, Göran Zhang, Wenxin Ahlström, Anders Tenenbaum, David E. Abdi, Abdulhakim M. |
author_sort |
Metcalfe, Daniel B. |
title |
Patchy field sampling biases understanding of climate change impacts across the Arctic |
title_short |
Patchy field sampling biases understanding of climate change impacts across the Arctic |
title_full |
Patchy field sampling biases understanding of climate change impacts across the Arctic |
title_fullStr |
Patchy field sampling biases understanding of climate change impacts across the Arctic |
title_full_unstemmed |
Patchy field sampling biases understanding of climate change impacts across the Arctic |
title_sort |
patchy field sampling biases understanding of climate change impacts across the arctic |
publisher |
Nature Publishing Group |
publishDate |
2018 |
url |
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/8b00784d-e307-457f-bf16-79cc2af867d1 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-018-0612-5 |
genre |
Abisko Arctic Archipelago Arctic Climate change |
genre_facet |
Abisko Arctic Archipelago Arctic Climate change |
op_source |
Nature Ecology and Evolution; 2(9), pp 1443-1448 (2018) ISSN: 2397-334X |
op_relation |
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/8b00784d-e307-457f-bf16-79cc2af867d1 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41559-018-0612-5 scopus:85049951683 pmid:30013133 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-018-0612-5 |
container_title |
Nature Ecology & Evolution |
container_volume |
2 |
container_issue |
9 |
container_start_page |
1443 |
op_container_end_page |
1448 |
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1797579731097354240 |