Growth rings show limited evidence for ungulates’ potential to suppress shrubs across the Arctic
Global warming has pronounced effects on tundra vegetation, and rising mean temperatures increase plant growth potential across the Arctic biome. Herbivores may counteract the warming impacts by reducing plant growth, but the strength of this effect may depend on prevailing regional climatic conditi...
Published in: | Environmental Research Letters |
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Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
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Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ac5207 https://repository.up.ac.za/handle/2263/86386 |
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ftunivpretoria:oai:repository.up.ac.za:2263/86386 2023-12-24T10:12:16+01:00 Growth rings show limited evidence for ungulates’ potential to suppress shrubs across the Arctic Vuorinen, Katariina E.M. Austrheim, Gunnar Tremblay, Jean-Pierre Myers-Smith, Isla H. Hortman, Hans I. Frank, Peter Barrio, Isabel C. Dalerum, Fredrik Bjorkman, Mats P. Bjork, Robert G. Ehrich, Dorothee Sokolov, Aleksandr Sokolova, Natalya Ropars, Pascale Boudreau, Stephane Normand, Signe Prendin, Angela L. Schmid, Niels Martin Pacheco-Solana, Arturo Post, Eric John, Christian Kerby, Jeff Sullivan, Patrick F. Le Moullec, Mathilde Hansen, Brage B. Van der Wal, Rene Pedersen, Ashild O. Sandal, Lisa Gough, Laura Young, Amanda Li, Bingxi Magnusson, Runa I. Sass-Klaassen, Ute Buchwal, Agata Welker, Jeffrey Grogan, Paul Andruko, Rhett Morrissette-Boileau, Clara Volkovitskiy, Alexander Terekhina, Alexandra Speed, James D.M. 2022-02-22 application/pdf https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ac5207 https://repository.up.ac.za/handle/2263/86386 en eng MDPI Vuorinen, K.E.M., Austrheim, G., Tremblay, J.-P. et al. 2022, 'Growth rings show limited evidence for ungulates' potential to suppress shrubs across the Arctic', Environmental Research Letters, vol. 17, no. 3, art. 034013, pp. 1-12, doi : 10.1088/1748-9326/ac5207. 1748-9326 (online) doi:10.1088/1748-9326/ac5207 https://repository.up.ac.za/handle/2263/86386 © 2022 The Author(s). This work may be used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence. Arctic Browsing Climate change Dendroecology Herbivory Shrub Tundra Global warming Article 2022 ftunivpretoria https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ac5207 2023-11-28T01:30:11Z Global warming has pronounced effects on tundra vegetation, and rising mean temperatures increase plant growth potential across the Arctic biome. Herbivores may counteract the warming impacts by reducing plant growth, but the strength of this effect may depend on prevailing regional climatic conditions. To study how ungulates interact with temperature to influence growth of tundra shrubs across the Arctic tundra biome, we assembled dendroecological data from 20 sites, comprising 1153 individual shrubs and 223 63 annual growth rings. Evidence for ungulates suppressing shrub radial growth was only observed at intermediate summer temperatures (6.5 ◦C–9 ◦C), and even at these temperatures the effect was not strong. Multiple factors, including forage preferences and landscape use by the ungulates, and favourable climatic conditions enabling effective compensatory growth of shrubs, may weaken the effects of ungulates on shrubs, possibly explaining the weakness of observed ungulate effects. Earlier local studies have shown that ungulates may counteract the impacts of warming on tundra shrub growth, but we demonstrate that ungulates’ potential to suppress shrub radial growth is not always evident, and may be limited to certain climatic conditions. Research Council of Norway http://iopscience.iop.org/1748-9326 dm2022 Mammal Research Institute Zoology and Entomology Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Arctic Climate change Global warming Tundra University of Pretoria: UPSpace Arctic Norway Environmental Research Letters |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
University of Pretoria: UPSpace |
op_collection_id |
ftunivpretoria |
language |
English |
topic |
Arctic Browsing Climate change Dendroecology Herbivory Shrub Tundra Global warming |
spellingShingle |
Arctic Browsing Climate change Dendroecology Herbivory Shrub Tundra Global warming Vuorinen, Katariina E.M. Austrheim, Gunnar Tremblay, Jean-Pierre Myers-Smith, Isla H. Hortman, Hans I. Frank, Peter Barrio, Isabel C. Dalerum, Fredrik Bjorkman, Mats P. Bjork, Robert G. Ehrich, Dorothee Sokolov, Aleksandr Sokolova, Natalya Ropars, Pascale Boudreau, Stephane Normand, Signe Prendin, Angela L. Schmid, Niels Martin Pacheco-Solana, Arturo Post, Eric John, Christian Kerby, Jeff Sullivan, Patrick F. Le Moullec, Mathilde Hansen, Brage B. Van der Wal, Rene Pedersen, Ashild O. Sandal, Lisa Gough, Laura Young, Amanda Li, Bingxi Magnusson, Runa I. Sass-Klaassen, Ute Buchwal, Agata Welker, Jeffrey Grogan, Paul Andruko, Rhett Morrissette-Boileau, Clara Volkovitskiy, Alexander Terekhina, Alexandra Speed, James D.M. Growth rings show limited evidence for ungulates’ potential to suppress shrubs across the Arctic |
topic_facet |
Arctic Browsing Climate change Dendroecology Herbivory Shrub Tundra Global warming |
description |
Global warming has pronounced effects on tundra vegetation, and rising mean temperatures increase plant growth potential across the Arctic biome. Herbivores may counteract the warming impacts by reducing plant growth, but the strength of this effect may depend on prevailing regional climatic conditions. To study how ungulates interact with temperature to influence growth of tundra shrubs across the Arctic tundra biome, we assembled dendroecological data from 20 sites, comprising 1153 individual shrubs and 223 63 annual growth rings. Evidence for ungulates suppressing shrub radial growth was only observed at intermediate summer temperatures (6.5 ◦C–9 ◦C), and even at these temperatures the effect was not strong. Multiple factors, including forage preferences and landscape use by the ungulates, and favourable climatic conditions enabling effective compensatory growth of shrubs, may weaken the effects of ungulates on shrubs, possibly explaining the weakness of observed ungulate effects. Earlier local studies have shown that ungulates may counteract the impacts of warming on tundra shrub growth, but we demonstrate that ungulates’ potential to suppress shrub radial growth is not always evident, and may be limited to certain climatic conditions. Research Council of Norway http://iopscience.iop.org/1748-9326 dm2022 Mammal Research Institute Zoology and Entomology |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Vuorinen, Katariina E.M. Austrheim, Gunnar Tremblay, Jean-Pierre Myers-Smith, Isla H. Hortman, Hans I. Frank, Peter Barrio, Isabel C. Dalerum, Fredrik Bjorkman, Mats P. Bjork, Robert G. Ehrich, Dorothee Sokolov, Aleksandr Sokolova, Natalya Ropars, Pascale Boudreau, Stephane Normand, Signe Prendin, Angela L. Schmid, Niels Martin Pacheco-Solana, Arturo Post, Eric John, Christian Kerby, Jeff Sullivan, Patrick F. Le Moullec, Mathilde Hansen, Brage B. Van der Wal, Rene Pedersen, Ashild O. Sandal, Lisa Gough, Laura Young, Amanda Li, Bingxi Magnusson, Runa I. Sass-Klaassen, Ute Buchwal, Agata Welker, Jeffrey Grogan, Paul Andruko, Rhett Morrissette-Boileau, Clara Volkovitskiy, Alexander Terekhina, Alexandra Speed, James D.M. |
author_facet |
Vuorinen, Katariina E.M. Austrheim, Gunnar Tremblay, Jean-Pierre Myers-Smith, Isla H. Hortman, Hans I. Frank, Peter Barrio, Isabel C. Dalerum, Fredrik Bjorkman, Mats P. Bjork, Robert G. Ehrich, Dorothee Sokolov, Aleksandr Sokolova, Natalya Ropars, Pascale Boudreau, Stephane Normand, Signe Prendin, Angela L. Schmid, Niels Martin Pacheco-Solana, Arturo Post, Eric John, Christian Kerby, Jeff Sullivan, Patrick F. Le Moullec, Mathilde Hansen, Brage B. Van der Wal, Rene Pedersen, Ashild O. Sandal, Lisa Gough, Laura Young, Amanda Li, Bingxi Magnusson, Runa I. Sass-Klaassen, Ute Buchwal, Agata Welker, Jeffrey Grogan, Paul Andruko, Rhett Morrissette-Boileau, Clara Volkovitskiy, Alexander Terekhina, Alexandra Speed, James D.M. |
author_sort |
Vuorinen, Katariina E.M. |
title |
Growth rings show limited evidence for ungulates’ potential to suppress shrubs across the Arctic |
title_short |
Growth rings show limited evidence for ungulates’ potential to suppress shrubs across the Arctic |
title_full |
Growth rings show limited evidence for ungulates’ potential to suppress shrubs across the Arctic |
title_fullStr |
Growth rings show limited evidence for ungulates’ potential to suppress shrubs across the Arctic |
title_full_unstemmed |
Growth rings show limited evidence for ungulates’ potential to suppress shrubs across the Arctic |
title_sort |
growth rings show limited evidence for ungulates’ potential to suppress shrubs across the arctic |
publisher |
MDPI |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ac5207 https://repository.up.ac.za/handle/2263/86386 |
geographic |
Arctic Norway |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Norway |
genre |
Arctic Arctic Climate change Global warming Tundra |
genre_facet |
Arctic Arctic Climate change Global warming Tundra |
op_relation |
Vuorinen, K.E.M., Austrheim, G., Tremblay, J.-P. et al. 2022, 'Growth rings show limited evidence for ungulates' potential to suppress shrubs across the Arctic', Environmental Research Letters, vol. 17, no. 3, art. 034013, pp. 1-12, doi : 10.1088/1748-9326/ac5207. 1748-9326 (online) doi:10.1088/1748-9326/ac5207 https://repository.up.ac.za/handle/2263/86386 |
op_rights |
© 2022 The Author(s). This work may be used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence. |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ac5207 |
container_title |
Environmental Research Letters |
_version_ |
1786173549483917312 |