Interpretations of climate change on grazing systems: the comparison of Arctic and Subarctic carex
Thesis (M.S.) University of Alaska Fairbanks, 2022 Stresses imposed by climate change are altering arctic and subarctic ecosystem structure and function. On the Yukon-Kuskokwim River Delta (YKD) in subarctic western Alaska, Pacific Black Brant geese (Branta bernicla nigricans) are losing their avail...
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ftunivalaska:oai:scholarworks.alaska.edu:11122/12937 2023-05-15T14:33:36+02:00 Interpretations of climate change on grazing systems: the comparison of Arctic and Subarctic carex Harritt, Iris Cato Wolf, Diana Ruess, Roger Takebayashi, Naoki Flint, Paul 2022-05 http://hdl.handle.net/11122/12937 en_US eng http://hdl.handle.net/11122/12937 Department of Biology and Wildlife Carex Global warming Grazing Morphology Temperature Growth Master of Science in Biological Sciences Thesis ms 2022 ftunivalaska 2023-02-23T21:38:01Z Thesis (M.S.) University of Alaska Fairbanks, 2022 Stresses imposed by climate change are altering arctic and subarctic ecosystem structure and function. On the Yukon-Kuskokwim River Delta (YKD) in subarctic western Alaska, Pacific Black Brant geese (Branta bernicla nigricans) are losing their available grazing lawns of shortstatured Carex subspathacea due to its conversion into a taller, less nutritious growth form. However, C. subspathacea on Alaska's Arctic Coastal Plain (ACP) grows in extensive lawns that remain short even when ungrazed. Our goal was to compare the growth responses between arctic C. subspathacea and subarctic C. subspathacea when grown in arctic and subarctic conditions. We used reciprocal common gardens to study the variation in height, tiller density, aboveground biomass, and green leaf nitrogen percentage between these reputed taxa. We explored the growth responses that occur in C. subspathacea when grown in the arctic and subarctic using linear mixed effect models. We found that environmental differences between these regions influence the morphology of these taxa. Subarctic C. subspathacea is phenotypically plastic, and was able to grow tall in subarctic conditions, while remaining short in the Arctic. However, arctic C. subspathacea was short in both gardens, suggesting arctic C. subspathacea will not grow tall under warming conditions. Understanding the functional causes of the difference between these two grazing systems is important for predicting the effects of future climate change on both regions. This study provides insight to how changing climate will impact these different growth forms and affect future grazing dynamics along arctic and subarctic coasts. Unites States Geological Survey (USGS) Alaska Science Center, the University of Alaska Fairbanks Institute of Arctic Biology Summer Graduate Fellowship, Alaska Idea Network of Biomedical Research Excellence (INBRE) Special Requests, the Kathryn E. and John P. Doyle Scholarship, and the Robert and Judy Belous Global Change ... Thesis Arctic Branta bernicla Climate change Global warming Institute of Arctic Biology Kuskokwim Subarctic Alaska Yukon University of Alaska: ScholarWorks@UA Arctic Brant ENVELOPE(7.105,7.105,62.917,62.917) Doyle ENVELOPE(-65.300,-65.300,-66.000,-66.000) Fairbanks Pacific Yukon |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
University of Alaska: ScholarWorks@UA |
op_collection_id |
ftunivalaska |
language |
English |
topic |
Carex Global warming Grazing Morphology Temperature Growth Master of Science in Biological Sciences |
spellingShingle |
Carex Global warming Grazing Morphology Temperature Growth Master of Science in Biological Sciences Harritt, Iris Cato Interpretations of climate change on grazing systems: the comparison of Arctic and Subarctic carex |
topic_facet |
Carex Global warming Grazing Morphology Temperature Growth Master of Science in Biological Sciences |
description |
Thesis (M.S.) University of Alaska Fairbanks, 2022 Stresses imposed by climate change are altering arctic and subarctic ecosystem structure and function. On the Yukon-Kuskokwim River Delta (YKD) in subarctic western Alaska, Pacific Black Brant geese (Branta bernicla nigricans) are losing their available grazing lawns of shortstatured Carex subspathacea due to its conversion into a taller, less nutritious growth form. However, C. subspathacea on Alaska's Arctic Coastal Plain (ACP) grows in extensive lawns that remain short even when ungrazed. Our goal was to compare the growth responses between arctic C. subspathacea and subarctic C. subspathacea when grown in arctic and subarctic conditions. We used reciprocal common gardens to study the variation in height, tiller density, aboveground biomass, and green leaf nitrogen percentage between these reputed taxa. We explored the growth responses that occur in C. subspathacea when grown in the arctic and subarctic using linear mixed effect models. We found that environmental differences between these regions influence the morphology of these taxa. Subarctic C. subspathacea is phenotypically plastic, and was able to grow tall in subarctic conditions, while remaining short in the Arctic. However, arctic C. subspathacea was short in both gardens, suggesting arctic C. subspathacea will not grow tall under warming conditions. Understanding the functional causes of the difference between these two grazing systems is important for predicting the effects of future climate change on both regions. This study provides insight to how changing climate will impact these different growth forms and affect future grazing dynamics along arctic and subarctic coasts. Unites States Geological Survey (USGS) Alaska Science Center, the University of Alaska Fairbanks Institute of Arctic Biology Summer Graduate Fellowship, Alaska Idea Network of Biomedical Research Excellence (INBRE) Special Requests, the Kathryn E. and John P. Doyle Scholarship, and the Robert and Judy Belous Global Change ... |
author2 |
Wolf, Diana Ruess, Roger Takebayashi, Naoki Flint, Paul |
format |
Thesis |
author |
Harritt, Iris Cato |
author_facet |
Harritt, Iris Cato |
author_sort |
Harritt, Iris Cato |
title |
Interpretations of climate change on grazing systems: the comparison of Arctic and Subarctic carex |
title_short |
Interpretations of climate change on grazing systems: the comparison of Arctic and Subarctic carex |
title_full |
Interpretations of climate change on grazing systems: the comparison of Arctic and Subarctic carex |
title_fullStr |
Interpretations of climate change on grazing systems: the comparison of Arctic and Subarctic carex |
title_full_unstemmed |
Interpretations of climate change on grazing systems: the comparison of Arctic and Subarctic carex |
title_sort |
interpretations of climate change on grazing systems: the comparison of arctic and subarctic carex |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/11122/12937 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(7.105,7.105,62.917,62.917) ENVELOPE(-65.300,-65.300,-66.000,-66.000) |
geographic |
Arctic Brant Doyle Fairbanks Pacific Yukon |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Brant Doyle Fairbanks Pacific Yukon |
genre |
Arctic Branta bernicla Climate change Global warming Institute of Arctic Biology Kuskokwim Subarctic Alaska Yukon |
genre_facet |
Arctic Branta bernicla Climate change Global warming Institute of Arctic Biology Kuskokwim Subarctic Alaska Yukon |
op_relation |
http://hdl.handle.net/11122/12937 Department of Biology and Wildlife |
_version_ |
1766306810403225600 |