Arctic-alpine vegetation biomass is driven by fine-scale abiotic heterogeneity
During recent decades large changes in vegetation biomass have been observed in arctic and alpine areas. While these temporal trends have been clearly linked to changing climatic conditions, the drivers of local spatial variation in biomass are still relatively poorly understood. Thus, we examine th...
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Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/2263/44139 https://doi.org/10.1111/geoa.12050 |
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ftunivpretoria:oai:repository.up.ac.za:2263/44139 2023-05-15T14:25:22+02:00 Arctic-alpine vegetation biomass is driven by fine-scale abiotic heterogeneity Suvanto, Susanne Le Roux, Peter Christiaan Luoto, Miska 2014-04 http://hdl.handle.net/2263/44139 https://doi.org/10.1111/geoa.12050 en eng Wiley http://hdl.handle.net/2263/44139 Suvanto, S, Le Roux, PC & Luoto, M 2014, 'Arctic-alpine vegetation biomass is driven by fine-scale abiotic heterogeneity', Geografiska Annaler, Series A : Physical Geography, vol. 96, no. 4, pp. 549-560. 0435-3676 (print) 1468-0459 (online) doi:10.1111/geoa.12050 © 2014 Swedish Society for Anthropology and Geography. The definite version is available at : http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/(ISSN)1468-0459. Topography Vegetation volume Arctic-alpine areas Biomass Changing climatic conditions Carbon budget Clip-harvesting Postprint Article 2014 ftunivpretoria https://doi.org/10.1111/geoa.12050 2022-05-31T13:30:47Z During recent decades large changes in vegetation biomass have been observed in arctic and alpine areas. While these temporal trends have been clearly linked to changing climatic conditions, the drivers of local spatial variation in biomass are still relatively poorly understood. Thus, we examine the effects of abiotic conditions (as measured by ten variables representing topography, soil properties and geomorphological processes) on variation in aboveground vascular plant biomass to understand the determinants of contemporary fine scale heterogeneity in this variable. We also compare the results from one destructive biomass estimation method (clipharvesting) to three non-destructive biomass estimates: vegetation cover, height and volume. To investigate the local drivers of biomass we analysed an extensive data set of 960 1 m2 cells in arctic–alpine tundra using spatially-explicit generalized estimation equations to conduct variation partitioning. The abiotic environment had a clear impact on the fine scale distribution of biomass (variance explained 32.89 % with full model for sampled biomass). Soil properties (temperature, moisture, pH and calcium content) were most strongly related to aboveground biomass (independent effect in variation partitioning 7.03 % and combined effect including joined effects with topography and geomorphology 19.6 %). Topography had only a small influence after soil and geomorphology were taken into account (independent effect only 2.23 % and combined effect 18.73 %), implying that topography has only indirect effects on vegetation biomass. Of the three non destructive biomass estimates, the results for vegetation volume were most similar to those for clipharvested biomass samples. Thus, we recommend utilizing vegetation volume as a cost-efficient and robust non-destructive biomass estimate in arctic-alpine areas. Our results indicate that the fine scale environmental variation has to be taken into account more carefully when modelling vegetation biomass and carbon budget, especially ... Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Arctic Tundra University of Pretoria: UPSpace Arctic Geografiska Annaler: Series A, Physical Geography n/a n/a |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
University of Pretoria: UPSpace |
op_collection_id |
ftunivpretoria |
language |
English |
topic |
Topography Vegetation volume Arctic-alpine areas Biomass Changing climatic conditions Carbon budget Clip-harvesting |
spellingShingle |
Topography Vegetation volume Arctic-alpine areas Biomass Changing climatic conditions Carbon budget Clip-harvesting Suvanto, Susanne Le Roux, Peter Christiaan Luoto, Miska Arctic-alpine vegetation biomass is driven by fine-scale abiotic heterogeneity |
topic_facet |
Topography Vegetation volume Arctic-alpine areas Biomass Changing climatic conditions Carbon budget Clip-harvesting |
description |
During recent decades large changes in vegetation biomass have been observed in arctic and alpine areas. While these temporal trends have been clearly linked to changing climatic conditions, the drivers of local spatial variation in biomass are still relatively poorly understood. Thus, we examine the effects of abiotic conditions (as measured by ten variables representing topography, soil properties and geomorphological processes) on variation in aboveground vascular plant biomass to understand the determinants of contemporary fine scale heterogeneity in this variable. We also compare the results from one destructive biomass estimation method (clipharvesting) to three non-destructive biomass estimates: vegetation cover, height and volume. To investigate the local drivers of biomass we analysed an extensive data set of 960 1 m2 cells in arctic–alpine tundra using spatially-explicit generalized estimation equations to conduct variation partitioning. The abiotic environment had a clear impact on the fine scale distribution of biomass (variance explained 32.89 % with full model for sampled biomass). Soil properties (temperature, moisture, pH and calcium content) were most strongly related to aboveground biomass (independent effect in variation partitioning 7.03 % and combined effect including joined effects with topography and geomorphology 19.6 %). Topography had only a small influence after soil and geomorphology were taken into account (independent effect only 2.23 % and combined effect 18.73 %), implying that topography has only indirect effects on vegetation biomass. Of the three non destructive biomass estimates, the results for vegetation volume were most similar to those for clipharvested biomass samples. Thus, we recommend utilizing vegetation volume as a cost-efficient and robust non-destructive biomass estimate in arctic-alpine areas. Our results indicate that the fine scale environmental variation has to be taken into account more carefully when modelling vegetation biomass and carbon budget, especially ... |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Suvanto, Susanne Le Roux, Peter Christiaan Luoto, Miska |
author_facet |
Suvanto, Susanne Le Roux, Peter Christiaan Luoto, Miska |
author_sort |
Suvanto, Susanne |
title |
Arctic-alpine vegetation biomass is driven by fine-scale abiotic heterogeneity |
title_short |
Arctic-alpine vegetation biomass is driven by fine-scale abiotic heterogeneity |
title_full |
Arctic-alpine vegetation biomass is driven by fine-scale abiotic heterogeneity |
title_fullStr |
Arctic-alpine vegetation biomass is driven by fine-scale abiotic heterogeneity |
title_full_unstemmed |
Arctic-alpine vegetation biomass is driven by fine-scale abiotic heterogeneity |
title_sort |
arctic-alpine vegetation biomass is driven by fine-scale abiotic heterogeneity |
publisher |
Wiley |
publishDate |
2014 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/2263/44139 https://doi.org/10.1111/geoa.12050 |
geographic |
Arctic |
geographic_facet |
Arctic |
genre |
Arctic Arctic Tundra |
genre_facet |
Arctic Arctic Tundra |
op_relation |
http://hdl.handle.net/2263/44139 Suvanto, S, Le Roux, PC & Luoto, M 2014, 'Arctic-alpine vegetation biomass is driven by fine-scale abiotic heterogeneity', Geografiska Annaler, Series A : Physical Geography, vol. 96, no. 4, pp. 549-560. 0435-3676 (print) 1468-0459 (online) doi:10.1111/geoa.12050 |
op_rights |
© 2014 Swedish Society for Anthropology and Geography. The definite version is available at : http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/(ISSN)1468-0459. |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1111/geoa.12050 |
container_title |
Geografiska Annaler: Series A, Physical Geography |
container_start_page |
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op_container_end_page |
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1766297782934568960 |