Snow cover is a neglected driver of Arctic biodiversity loss
Snow has far-reaching effects on ecosystem processes and biodiversity in high-latitude ecosystems, but these have been poorly considered in climate change impact models1,2. Here, to forecast future trends in species occurrences and richness, we fitted species-environment models with temperature data...
Published in: | Nature Climate Change |
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ftunivhelsihelda:oai:helda.helsinki.fi:10138/322024 2024-01-07T09:40:39+01:00 Snow cover is a neglected driver of Arctic biodiversity loss Niittynen, Pekka Heikkinen, Risto K. Luoto, Miska Department of Geosciences and Geography BioGeoClimate Modelling Lab 2020-11-26T18:17:01Z 7 application/pdf http://hdl.handle.net/10138/322024 eng eng Nature Publishing Group 10.1038/s41558-018-0311-x Niittynen , P , Heikkinen , R K & Luoto , M 2018 , ' Snow cover is a neglected driver of Arctic biodiversity loss ' , Nature Climate Change , vol. 8 , no. 11 , pp. 997-1001 . https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-018-0311-x ORCID: /0000-0001-6203-5143/work/50282813 ORCID: /0000-0002-7290-029X/work/50291078 85055551740 07ab872d-db9e-41a3-a4cb-5553f5656c79 http://hdl.handle.net/10138/322024 000448839600020 openAccess info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess 1172 Environmental sciences Article acceptedVersion 2020 ftunivhelsihelda 2023-12-14T00:04:55Z Snow has far-reaching effects on ecosystem processes and biodiversity in high-latitude ecosystems, but these have been poorly considered in climate change impact models1,2. Here, to forecast future trends in species occurrences and richness, we fitted species-environment models with temperature data from three climate scenarios and simulated up to a 40% decrease in snow cover duration (SCD)3. We used plot-scale data on 273 vascular plant, moss and lichen species in 1,200 study sites spanning a wide range of environmental conditions typical for mountainous Arctic landscapes (within 165 km2). According to the models, a rise in temperature increased overall species richness and caused only one species to lose all suitable habitat. In contrast, a shorter SCD tempered the effect of increasing temperature on species richness and led to accelerated rates of species’ local extinctions after a tipping point at 20-30% SCD decrease. All three species groups showed similar extinction rates but contrasting species richness responses. Our simulations indicate that future biodiversity patterns in Arctic regions are highly dependent on the evolution of snow conditions. Climate impact models that ignore the effects of snow cover change may provide biased biodiversity projections, with potentially erratic implications for Arctic nature conservation planning. Peer reviewed Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Arctic biodiversity Arctic Climate change HELDA – University of Helsinki Open Repository Arctic Nature Climate Change 8 11 997 1001 |
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Open Polar |
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HELDA – University of Helsinki Open Repository |
op_collection_id |
ftunivhelsihelda |
language |
English |
topic |
1172 Environmental sciences |
spellingShingle |
1172 Environmental sciences Niittynen, Pekka Heikkinen, Risto K. Luoto, Miska Snow cover is a neglected driver of Arctic biodiversity loss |
topic_facet |
1172 Environmental sciences |
description |
Snow has far-reaching effects on ecosystem processes and biodiversity in high-latitude ecosystems, but these have been poorly considered in climate change impact models1,2. Here, to forecast future trends in species occurrences and richness, we fitted species-environment models with temperature data from three climate scenarios and simulated up to a 40% decrease in snow cover duration (SCD)3. We used plot-scale data on 273 vascular plant, moss and lichen species in 1,200 study sites spanning a wide range of environmental conditions typical for mountainous Arctic landscapes (within 165 km2). According to the models, a rise in temperature increased overall species richness and caused only one species to lose all suitable habitat. In contrast, a shorter SCD tempered the effect of increasing temperature on species richness and led to accelerated rates of species’ local extinctions after a tipping point at 20-30% SCD decrease. All three species groups showed similar extinction rates but contrasting species richness responses. Our simulations indicate that future biodiversity patterns in Arctic regions are highly dependent on the evolution of snow conditions. Climate impact models that ignore the effects of snow cover change may provide biased biodiversity projections, with potentially erratic implications for Arctic nature conservation planning. Peer reviewed |
author2 |
Department of Geosciences and Geography BioGeoClimate Modelling Lab |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Niittynen, Pekka Heikkinen, Risto K. Luoto, Miska |
author_facet |
Niittynen, Pekka Heikkinen, Risto K. Luoto, Miska |
author_sort |
Niittynen, Pekka |
title |
Snow cover is a neglected driver of Arctic biodiversity loss |
title_short |
Snow cover is a neglected driver of Arctic biodiversity loss |
title_full |
Snow cover is a neglected driver of Arctic biodiversity loss |
title_fullStr |
Snow cover is a neglected driver of Arctic biodiversity loss |
title_full_unstemmed |
Snow cover is a neglected driver of Arctic biodiversity loss |
title_sort |
snow cover is a neglected driver of arctic biodiversity loss |
publisher |
Nature Publishing Group |
publishDate |
2020 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/10138/322024 |
geographic |
Arctic |
geographic_facet |
Arctic |
genre |
Arctic Arctic biodiversity Arctic Climate change |
genre_facet |
Arctic Arctic biodiversity Arctic Climate change |
op_relation |
10.1038/s41558-018-0311-x Niittynen , P , Heikkinen , R K & Luoto , M 2018 , ' Snow cover is a neglected driver of Arctic biodiversity loss ' , Nature Climate Change , vol. 8 , no. 11 , pp. 997-1001 . https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-018-0311-x ORCID: /0000-0001-6203-5143/work/50282813 ORCID: /0000-0002-7290-029X/work/50291078 85055551740 07ab872d-db9e-41a3-a4cb-5553f5656c79 http://hdl.handle.net/10138/322024 000448839600020 |
op_rights |
openAccess info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
container_title |
Nature Climate Change |
container_volume |
8 |
container_issue |
11 |
container_start_page |
997 |
op_container_end_page |
1001 |
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1787421489270620160 |