Effects of warming on shrub abundance and chemistry drive ecosystem-level changes in a forest-tundra ecotone.
Tundra vegetation is responding rapidly to on-going climate warming. The changes in plant abundance and chemistry might have cascading effects on tundra food webs, but an integrated understanding of how the responses vary between habitats and across environmental gradients is lacking. We assessed re...
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Online Access: | http://dro.dur.ac.uk/13492/ http://dro.dur.ac.uk/13492/1/13492.pdf https://doi.org/10.1007/s10021-012-9580-9 |
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ftunivdurham:oai:dro.dur.ac.uk.OAI2:13492 2023-05-15T15:44:29+02:00 Effects of warming on shrub abundance and chemistry drive ecosystem-level changes in a forest-tundra ecotone. Kaarlejärvi, E. Baxter, R. Hofgaard, A. Hytteborn, H. Khittun, O. Molau, U. Sjögersten, S. Wookey, P. Olofsson, J. 2012-12-01 application/pdf http://dro.dur.ac.uk/13492/ http://dro.dur.ac.uk/13492/1/13492.pdf https://doi.org/10.1007/s10021-012-9580-9 unknown Springer dro:13492 issn:1432-9840 issn: 1435-0629 doi:10.1007/s10021-012-9580-9 http://dro.dur.ac.uk/13492/ http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10021-012-9580-9 http://dro.dur.ac.uk/13492/1/13492.pdf The final publication is available at Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10021-012-9580-9. Ecosystems, 2012, Vol.15(8), pp.1219-1233 [Peer Reviewed Journal] Treeline Reindeer Shrub Global warming Grazing Secondary plant metabolite CBSC N P Article PeerReviewed 2012 ftunivdurham https://doi.org/10.1007/s10021-012-9580-9 2020-05-28T22:31:21Z Tundra vegetation is responding rapidly to on-going climate warming. The changes in plant abundance and chemistry might have cascading effects on tundra food webs, but an integrated understanding of how the responses vary between habitats and across environmental gradients is lacking. We assessed responses in plant abundance and plant chemistry to warmer climate, both at species and community levels, in two different habitats. We used a long-term and multisite warming (OTC) experiment in the Scandinavian forest–tundra ecotone to investigate (i) changes in plant community composition and (ii) responses in foliar nitrogen, phosphorus, and carbon-based secondary compound concentrations in two dominant evergreen dwarf-shrubs (Empetrum hermaphroditum and Vaccinium vitis-idaea) and two deciduous shrubs (Vaccinium myrtillus and Betula nana). We found that initial plant community composition, and the functional traits of these plants, will determine the responsiveness of the community composition, and thus community traits, to experimental warming. Although changes in plant chemistry within species were minor, alterations in plant community composition drive changes in community-level nutrient concentrations. In view of projected climate change, our results suggest that plant abundance will increase in the future, but nutrient concentrations in the tundra field layer vegetation will decrease. These effects are large enough to have knock-on consequences for major ecosystem processes like herbivory and nutrient cycling. The reduced food quality could lead to weaker trophic cascades and weaker top down control of plant community biomass and composition in the future. However, the opposite effects in forest indicate that these changes might be obscured by advancing treeline forests. Article in Journal/Newspaper Betula nana Tundra Durham University: Durham Research Online Ecosystems 15 8 1219 1233 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Durham University: Durham Research Online |
op_collection_id |
ftunivdurham |
language |
unknown |
topic |
Treeline Reindeer Shrub Global warming Grazing Secondary plant metabolite CBSC N P |
spellingShingle |
Treeline Reindeer Shrub Global warming Grazing Secondary plant metabolite CBSC N P Kaarlejärvi, E. Baxter, R. Hofgaard, A. Hytteborn, H. Khittun, O. Molau, U. Sjögersten, S. Wookey, P. Olofsson, J. Effects of warming on shrub abundance and chemistry drive ecosystem-level changes in a forest-tundra ecotone. |
topic_facet |
Treeline Reindeer Shrub Global warming Grazing Secondary plant metabolite CBSC N P |
description |
Tundra vegetation is responding rapidly to on-going climate warming. The changes in plant abundance and chemistry might have cascading effects on tundra food webs, but an integrated understanding of how the responses vary between habitats and across environmental gradients is lacking. We assessed responses in plant abundance and plant chemistry to warmer climate, both at species and community levels, in two different habitats. We used a long-term and multisite warming (OTC) experiment in the Scandinavian forest–tundra ecotone to investigate (i) changes in plant community composition and (ii) responses in foliar nitrogen, phosphorus, and carbon-based secondary compound concentrations in two dominant evergreen dwarf-shrubs (Empetrum hermaphroditum and Vaccinium vitis-idaea) and two deciduous shrubs (Vaccinium myrtillus and Betula nana). We found that initial plant community composition, and the functional traits of these plants, will determine the responsiveness of the community composition, and thus community traits, to experimental warming. Although changes in plant chemistry within species were minor, alterations in plant community composition drive changes in community-level nutrient concentrations. In view of projected climate change, our results suggest that plant abundance will increase in the future, but nutrient concentrations in the tundra field layer vegetation will decrease. These effects are large enough to have knock-on consequences for major ecosystem processes like herbivory and nutrient cycling. The reduced food quality could lead to weaker trophic cascades and weaker top down control of plant community biomass and composition in the future. However, the opposite effects in forest indicate that these changes might be obscured by advancing treeline forests. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Kaarlejärvi, E. Baxter, R. Hofgaard, A. Hytteborn, H. Khittun, O. Molau, U. Sjögersten, S. Wookey, P. Olofsson, J. |
author_facet |
Kaarlejärvi, E. Baxter, R. Hofgaard, A. Hytteborn, H. Khittun, O. Molau, U. Sjögersten, S. Wookey, P. Olofsson, J. |
author_sort |
Kaarlejärvi, E. |
title |
Effects of warming on shrub abundance and chemistry drive ecosystem-level changes in a forest-tundra ecotone. |
title_short |
Effects of warming on shrub abundance and chemistry drive ecosystem-level changes in a forest-tundra ecotone. |
title_full |
Effects of warming on shrub abundance and chemistry drive ecosystem-level changes in a forest-tundra ecotone. |
title_fullStr |
Effects of warming on shrub abundance and chemistry drive ecosystem-level changes in a forest-tundra ecotone. |
title_full_unstemmed |
Effects of warming on shrub abundance and chemistry drive ecosystem-level changes in a forest-tundra ecotone. |
title_sort |
effects of warming on shrub abundance and chemistry drive ecosystem-level changes in a forest-tundra ecotone. |
publisher |
Springer |
publishDate |
2012 |
url |
http://dro.dur.ac.uk/13492/ http://dro.dur.ac.uk/13492/1/13492.pdf https://doi.org/10.1007/s10021-012-9580-9 |
genre |
Betula nana Tundra |
genre_facet |
Betula nana Tundra |
op_source |
Ecosystems, 2012, Vol.15(8), pp.1219-1233 [Peer Reviewed Journal] |
op_relation |
dro:13492 issn:1432-9840 issn: 1435-0629 doi:10.1007/s10021-012-9580-9 http://dro.dur.ac.uk/13492/ http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10021-012-9580-9 http://dro.dur.ac.uk/13492/1/13492.pdf |
op_rights |
The final publication is available at Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10021-012-9580-9. |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10021-012-9580-9 |
container_title |
Ecosystems |
container_volume |
15 |
container_issue |
8 |
container_start_page |
1219 |
op_container_end_page |
1233 |
_version_ |
1766378872357519360 |