Cryogenic land surface processes shape vegetation biomass patterns in northern European tundra

• Published in: Communications Earth & Environment
• Main Authors: Aalto, Juha, Niittynen, Pekka, Riihimaki, Henri, Luoto, Miska
• Other Authors: Institute of Biotechnology (-2009), Department of Geosciences and Geography, Helsinki Institute of Sustainability Science (HELSUS), BioGeoClimate Modelling Lab
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Springer 2021
• Subjects: ICE-WEDGE DEGRADATION; CLIMATE-CHANGE; ARCTIC VEGETATION; FEEDBACKS; EQUATIONS; DYNAMICS; IMPACTS; PERFORMANCE; DISTURBANCE; PERMAFROST; 1172 Environmental sciences; Arctic; Climate change; Ice; permafrost; Tundra; wedge*
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10138/336294

Tundra ecosystems have experienced changes in vegetation composition, distribution, and productivity over the past century due to climate warming. However, the increase in above-ground biomass may be constrained by cryogenic land surface processes that cause topsoil disturbance and variable microsite conditions. These effects have remained unaccounted for in tundra biomass models, although they can impact multiple opposing feedbacks between the biosphere and atmosphere, ecosystem functioning and biodiversity. Here, by using field-quantified data from northern Europe, remote sensing, and machine learning, we show that cryogenic land surface processes substantially constrain above-ground biomass in tundra. The three surveyed processes (cryoturbation, solifluction, and nivation) collectively reduced biomass by an average of 123.0 g m(-2) (-30.0%). This effect was significant over landscape positions and was especially pronounced in snowbed environments, where the mean reduction in biomass was 57.3%. Our results imply that cryogenic land surface processes are pivotal in shaping future patterns of tundra biomass, as long as cryogenic ground activity is retained by climate warming. Vegetation in tundra ecosystems is constrained by cryogenic land surface processes, despite the fact that models of future biomass changes rarely take these into account, according to field and remote sensing data from northern Europe. Peer reviewed