Expansion of subalpine woody vegetation over 40 years on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada
Climate change is leading to the global loss of open montane meadows by facilitating tree and shrub encroachment at high elevations. North America’s coastal mountains are particularly vulnerable to these changes, as they are relatively low elevation compared to interior mountains and contain only sm...
Published in: | Canadian Journal of Forest Research |
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2016
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Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/11577/3171725 https://doi.org/10.1139/cjfr-2015-0186 http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/abs/10.1139/cjfr-2015-0186?src=recsys |
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ftunivpadovairis:oai:www.research.unipd.it:11577/3171725 2024-04-14T08:20:35+00:00 Expansion of subalpine woody vegetation over 40 years on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada Jackson, Michelle Topp, Emmeline Natalie Gergel, Sarah E. Martin, Kathy PIROTTI, FRANCESCO SITZIA, TOMMASO Jackson, Michelle Topp, Emmeline Natalie Gergel, Sarah E. Martin, Kathy Pirotti, Francesco Sitzia, Tommaso 2016 STAMPA http://hdl.handle.net/11577/3171725 https://doi.org/10.1139/cjfr-2015-0186 http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/abs/10.1139/cjfr-2015-0186?src=recsys eng eng Canadian Science Publishing info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/wos/WOS:000375944900015 volume:46 firstpage:437 lastpage:443 numberofpages:7 journal:CANADIAN JOURNAL OF FOREST RESEARCH http://hdl.handle.net/11577/3171725 doi:10.1139/cjfr-2015-0186 info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/scopus/2-s2.0-84959307205 http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/abs/10.1139/cjfr-2015-0186?src=recsys climate change ecosystem structure subalpine Vancouver Island woody vegetation info:eu-repo/semantics/article 2016 ftunivpadovairis https://doi.org/10.1139/cjfr-2015-0186 2024-03-21T19:23:56Z Climate change is leading to the global loss of open montane meadows by facilitating tree and shrub encroachment at high elevations. North America’s coastal mountains are particularly vulnerable to these changes, as they are relatively low elevation compared to interior mountains and contain only small areas of alpine tundra. We compared aerial photographs from 1962 with photos from 2005 covering three subalpine regions on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, in order to document the extent of changes in woody vegetation and investigate associations between vegetation change and topography. Mean proportional woody vegetation cover increased significantly from 0.75 (± 0.03) to 0.81 (± 0.03) between 1962 and 2005 (p < 0.0001). Relative increase in woody vegetation cover was greater at higher elevations and on northerly aspects. These findings confirm an upward expansion and infilling of trees and shrubs and a reduction of the area encompassed by open alpine tundra on Vancouver Island. Loss of open meadow conditions at high elevations in this region will likely have consequences for alpine plant and animal communities. Article in Journal/Newspaper Tundra Padua Research Archive (IRIS - Università degli Studi di Padova) Canada British Columbia ENVELOPE(-125.003,-125.003,54.000,54.000) Canadian Journal of Forest Research 46 3 437 443 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Padua Research Archive (IRIS - Università degli Studi di Padova) |
op_collection_id |
ftunivpadovairis |
language |
English |
topic |
climate change ecosystem structure subalpine Vancouver Island woody vegetation |
spellingShingle |
climate change ecosystem structure subalpine Vancouver Island woody vegetation Jackson, Michelle Topp, Emmeline Natalie Gergel, Sarah E. Martin, Kathy PIROTTI, FRANCESCO SITZIA, TOMMASO Expansion of subalpine woody vegetation over 40 years on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada |
topic_facet |
climate change ecosystem structure subalpine Vancouver Island woody vegetation |
description |
Climate change is leading to the global loss of open montane meadows by facilitating tree and shrub encroachment at high elevations. North America’s coastal mountains are particularly vulnerable to these changes, as they are relatively low elevation compared to interior mountains and contain only small areas of alpine tundra. We compared aerial photographs from 1962 with photos from 2005 covering three subalpine regions on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, in order to document the extent of changes in woody vegetation and investigate associations between vegetation change and topography. Mean proportional woody vegetation cover increased significantly from 0.75 (± 0.03) to 0.81 (± 0.03) between 1962 and 2005 (p < 0.0001). Relative increase in woody vegetation cover was greater at higher elevations and on northerly aspects. These findings confirm an upward expansion and infilling of trees and shrubs and a reduction of the area encompassed by open alpine tundra on Vancouver Island. Loss of open meadow conditions at high elevations in this region will likely have consequences for alpine plant and animal communities. |
author2 |
Jackson, Michelle Topp, Emmeline Natalie Gergel, Sarah E. Martin, Kathy Pirotti, Francesco Sitzia, Tommaso |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Jackson, Michelle Topp, Emmeline Natalie Gergel, Sarah E. Martin, Kathy PIROTTI, FRANCESCO SITZIA, TOMMASO |
author_facet |
Jackson, Michelle Topp, Emmeline Natalie Gergel, Sarah E. Martin, Kathy PIROTTI, FRANCESCO SITZIA, TOMMASO |
author_sort |
Jackson, Michelle |
title |
Expansion of subalpine woody vegetation over 40 years on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada |
title_short |
Expansion of subalpine woody vegetation over 40 years on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada |
title_full |
Expansion of subalpine woody vegetation over 40 years on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada |
title_fullStr |
Expansion of subalpine woody vegetation over 40 years on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada |
title_full_unstemmed |
Expansion of subalpine woody vegetation over 40 years on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada |
title_sort |
expansion of subalpine woody vegetation over 40 years on vancouver island, british columbia, canada |
publisher |
Canadian Science Publishing |
publishDate |
2016 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/11577/3171725 https://doi.org/10.1139/cjfr-2015-0186 http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/abs/10.1139/cjfr-2015-0186?src=recsys |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-125.003,-125.003,54.000,54.000) |
geographic |
Canada British Columbia |
geographic_facet |
Canada British Columbia |
genre |
Tundra |
genre_facet |
Tundra |
op_relation |
info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/wos/WOS:000375944900015 volume:46 firstpage:437 lastpage:443 numberofpages:7 journal:CANADIAN JOURNAL OF FOREST RESEARCH http://hdl.handle.net/11577/3171725 doi:10.1139/cjfr-2015-0186 info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/scopus/2-s2.0-84959307205 http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/abs/10.1139/cjfr-2015-0186?src=recsys |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1139/cjfr-2015-0186 |
container_title |
Canadian Journal of Forest Research |
container_volume |
46 |
container_issue |
3 |
container_start_page |
437 |
op_container_end_page |
443 |
_version_ |
1796298913608630272 |