Sub-Arctic alpine Vaccinium vitis-idaea exhibits resistance to strong variation in snowmelt timing and frost exposure, suggesting high resilience under climatic change
In tundra ecosystems, snow cover protects plants from low temperatures in winter and buffers temperature fluctuations in spring. Climate change may lead to reduced snowfall and earlier snowmelt, potentially exposing plants to more frequent and more severe frosts in the future. Frost can cause cell d...
Published in: | Polar Biology |
---|---|
Main Authors: | , , , |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
Published: |
Umeå universitet, Institutionen för ekologi, miljö och geovetenskap
2020
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-174873 https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-020-02721-3 |
id |
ftumeauniv:oai:DiVA.org:umu-174873 |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
ftumeauniv:oai:DiVA.org:umu-174873 2023-10-09T21:48:40+02:00 Sub-Arctic alpine Vaccinium vitis-idaea exhibits resistance to strong variation in snowmelt timing and frost exposure, suggesting high resilience under climatic change Gehrmann, Friederike Lehtimäki, Iida-Maria Hänninen, Heikki Saarinen, Timo 2020 application/pdf http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-174873 https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-020-02721-3 eng eng Umeå universitet, Institutionen för ekologi, miljö och geovetenskap Organismal and Evolutionary Biology Research Programme, Viikki Plant Science Centre, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland Polar Biology, 0722-4060, 2020, 43:10, s. 1453-1467 orcid:0000-0002-1925-3265 http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-174873 doi:10.1007/s00300-020-02721-3 ISI:000563041000001 Scopus 2-s2.0-85089785690 info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess Chlorophyll fluorescence Electrolyte leakage Microclimate Snowmelt gradient Tundra Ecology Ekologi Article in journal info:eu-repo/semantics/article text 2020 ftumeauniv https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-020-02721-3 2023-09-22T13:57:58Z In tundra ecosystems, snow cover protects plants from low temperatures in winter and buffers temperature fluctuations in spring. Climate change may lead to reduced snowfall and earlier snowmelt, potentially exposing plants to more frequent and more severe frosts in the future. Frost can cause cell damage and, in combination with high solar irradiance, reduce the photochemical yield of photosystem II (ΦPSII). Little is known about the natural variation in frost exposure within individual habitats of tundra plant populations and the populations' resilience to this climatic variation. Here, we assessed how natural differences in snowmelt timing affect microclimatic variability of frost exposure in habitats of the evergreen Vaccinium vitis-idaea in sub-Arctic alpine Finland and whether this variability affects the extent of cell damage and reduction in ΦPSII. Plants in early melting plots were exposed to more frequent and more severe frost events, and exhibited a more pronounced decrease in ΦPSII, during winter and spring compared to plants in late-melting plots. Snowmelt timing did not have a clear effect on the degree of cell damage as assessed by relative electrolyte leakage. Our results show that sub-Arctic alpine V. vitis-idaea is currently exposed to strong climatic variation on a small spatial scale, similar to that projected to be caused by climate change, without significant resultant damage. We conclude that V. vitis-idaea is effective in mitigating the effects of large variations in frost exposure caused by differences in snowmelt timing. This suggests that V. vitis-idaea will be resilient to the ongoing climate change. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Climate change Polar Biology Tundra Umeå University: Publications (DiVA) Arctic Polar Biology 43 10 1453 1467 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Umeå University: Publications (DiVA) |
op_collection_id |
ftumeauniv |
language |
English |
topic |
Chlorophyll fluorescence Electrolyte leakage Microclimate Snowmelt gradient Tundra Ecology Ekologi |
spellingShingle |
Chlorophyll fluorescence Electrolyte leakage Microclimate Snowmelt gradient Tundra Ecology Ekologi Gehrmann, Friederike Lehtimäki, Iida-Maria Hänninen, Heikki Saarinen, Timo Sub-Arctic alpine Vaccinium vitis-idaea exhibits resistance to strong variation in snowmelt timing and frost exposure, suggesting high resilience under climatic change |
topic_facet |
Chlorophyll fluorescence Electrolyte leakage Microclimate Snowmelt gradient Tundra Ecology Ekologi |
description |
In tundra ecosystems, snow cover protects plants from low temperatures in winter and buffers temperature fluctuations in spring. Climate change may lead to reduced snowfall and earlier snowmelt, potentially exposing plants to more frequent and more severe frosts in the future. Frost can cause cell damage and, in combination with high solar irradiance, reduce the photochemical yield of photosystem II (ΦPSII). Little is known about the natural variation in frost exposure within individual habitats of tundra plant populations and the populations' resilience to this climatic variation. Here, we assessed how natural differences in snowmelt timing affect microclimatic variability of frost exposure in habitats of the evergreen Vaccinium vitis-idaea in sub-Arctic alpine Finland and whether this variability affects the extent of cell damage and reduction in ΦPSII. Plants in early melting plots were exposed to more frequent and more severe frost events, and exhibited a more pronounced decrease in ΦPSII, during winter and spring compared to plants in late-melting plots. Snowmelt timing did not have a clear effect on the degree of cell damage as assessed by relative electrolyte leakage. Our results show that sub-Arctic alpine V. vitis-idaea is currently exposed to strong climatic variation on a small spatial scale, similar to that projected to be caused by climate change, without significant resultant damage. We conclude that V. vitis-idaea is effective in mitigating the effects of large variations in frost exposure caused by differences in snowmelt timing. This suggests that V. vitis-idaea will be resilient to the ongoing climate change. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Gehrmann, Friederike Lehtimäki, Iida-Maria Hänninen, Heikki Saarinen, Timo |
author_facet |
Gehrmann, Friederike Lehtimäki, Iida-Maria Hänninen, Heikki Saarinen, Timo |
author_sort |
Gehrmann, Friederike |
title |
Sub-Arctic alpine Vaccinium vitis-idaea exhibits resistance to strong variation in snowmelt timing and frost exposure, suggesting high resilience under climatic change |
title_short |
Sub-Arctic alpine Vaccinium vitis-idaea exhibits resistance to strong variation in snowmelt timing and frost exposure, suggesting high resilience under climatic change |
title_full |
Sub-Arctic alpine Vaccinium vitis-idaea exhibits resistance to strong variation in snowmelt timing and frost exposure, suggesting high resilience under climatic change |
title_fullStr |
Sub-Arctic alpine Vaccinium vitis-idaea exhibits resistance to strong variation in snowmelt timing and frost exposure, suggesting high resilience under climatic change |
title_full_unstemmed |
Sub-Arctic alpine Vaccinium vitis-idaea exhibits resistance to strong variation in snowmelt timing and frost exposure, suggesting high resilience under climatic change |
title_sort |
sub-arctic alpine vaccinium vitis-idaea exhibits resistance to strong variation in snowmelt timing and frost exposure, suggesting high resilience under climatic change |
publisher |
Umeå universitet, Institutionen för ekologi, miljö och geovetenskap |
publishDate |
2020 |
url |
http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-174873 https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-020-02721-3 |
geographic |
Arctic |
geographic_facet |
Arctic |
genre |
Arctic Climate change Polar Biology Tundra |
genre_facet |
Arctic Climate change Polar Biology Tundra |
op_relation |
Polar Biology, 0722-4060, 2020, 43:10, s. 1453-1467 orcid:0000-0002-1925-3265 http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-174873 doi:10.1007/s00300-020-02721-3 ISI:000563041000001 Scopus 2-s2.0-85089785690 |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-020-02721-3 |
container_title |
Polar Biology |
container_volume |
43 |
container_issue |
10 |
container_start_page |
1453 |
op_container_end_page |
1467 |
_version_ |
1779311757147242496 |