Ecosystem feedbacks and cascade processes: understanding their role in the responses of arctic and alpine ecosystems to environmental change
Global environmental change, related to climate change and the deposition of airborne N-containing contaminants, has already resulted in shifts in plant community composition among plant functional types in arctic and temperate alpine regions. In this paper, we review how key ecosystem processes wil...
Published in: | Global Change Biology |
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Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , |
Other Authors: | , , , , , , , |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
Published: |
Blackwell Publishing
2009
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Subjects: | |
Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/1893/941 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2486.2008.01801.x http://dspace.stir.ac.uk/bitstream/1893/941/2/Wookey_Fig2%28GCB_08_228%29.tif http://dspace.stir.ac.uk/bitstream/1893/941/3/Wookey_Fig1%28GCB_08_228%29.tif http://dspace.stir.ac.uk/bitstream/1893/941/4/Wookey_Plate1%28GCB_08_228%29.tif http://dspace.stir.ac.uk/bitstream/1893/941/1/WookeyManuscript_final_.pdf |
id |
ftunivstirling:oai:dspace.stir.ac.uk:1893/941 |
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record_format |
openpolar |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
University of Stirling: Stirling Digital Research Repository |
op_collection_id |
ftunivstirling |
language |
English |
topic |
Arctic Alpine Carbon Ecosystem Energy Global change Feedback Nitrogen Herbivory Plant functional type Plants Effect of global warming on Arctic regions Effect of global warming on Alpine regions Plant ecophysiology Arctic regions Plant ecophysiology Alpine regions Climatic changes Environmental aspects Global environmental change |
spellingShingle |
Arctic Alpine Carbon Ecosystem Energy Global change Feedback Nitrogen Herbivory Plant functional type Plants Effect of global warming on Arctic regions Effect of global warming on Alpine regions Plant ecophysiology Arctic regions Plant ecophysiology Alpine regions Climatic changes Environmental aspects Global environmental change Wookey, Philip Aerts, Rien Bardgett, Richard D Baptist, Florence Brathen, Kari Anne Cornelissen, J Hans C Gough, Laura Hartley, Iain Hopkins, David Lavorel, Sandra Shaver, Gaius R Ecosystem feedbacks and cascade processes: understanding their role in the responses of arctic and alpine ecosystems to environmental change |
topic_facet |
Arctic Alpine Carbon Ecosystem Energy Global change Feedback Nitrogen Herbivory Plant functional type Plants Effect of global warming on Arctic regions Effect of global warming on Alpine regions Plant ecophysiology Arctic regions Plant ecophysiology Alpine regions Climatic changes Environmental aspects Global environmental change |
description |
Global environmental change, related to climate change and the deposition of airborne N-containing contaminants, has already resulted in shifts in plant community composition among plant functional types in arctic and temperate alpine regions. In this paper, we review how key ecosystem processes will be altered by these transformations, the complex biological cascades and feedbacks that may result, and some of the potential broader consequences for the earth system. Firstly, we consider how patterns of growth and allocation, and nutrient uptake, will be altered by the shifts in plant dominance. The ways in which these changes may disproportionately affect the consumer communities, and rates of decomposition, are then discussed. We show that the occurrence of a broad spectrum of plant growth forms in these regions (from cryptogams to deciduous and evergreen dwarf shrubs, graminoids and forbs), together with hypothesized low functional redundancy, will mean that shifts in plant dominance result in a complex series of biotic cascades, couplings and feedbacks which are supplemental to the direct responses of ecosystem components to the primary global change drivers. The nature of these complex interactions is highlighted using the example of the climate-driven increase in shrub cover in low arctic tundra, and the contrasting transformations in plant functional composition in mid-latitude alpine systems. Finally, the potential effects of the transformations on ecosystem properties and processes which link with the earth system are reviewed. We conclude that the effects of global change on these ecosystems, and potential climate-change feedbacks, can not be predicted from simple empirical relationships between processes and driving variables. Rather, the effects of changes in species distributions and dominances on key ecosystem processes and properties must also be considered, based upon best estimates of the trajectories of key transformations, their magnitude and rates of change. |
author2 |
Biological and Environmental Sciences Vrije University Amsterdam Lancaster University Université Joseph Fourier University of Tromso University of Texas at Arlington Marine Biological Laboratory orcid:0000-0001-5957-6424 |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Wookey, Philip Aerts, Rien Bardgett, Richard D Baptist, Florence Brathen, Kari Anne Cornelissen, J Hans C Gough, Laura Hartley, Iain Hopkins, David Lavorel, Sandra Shaver, Gaius R |
author_facet |
Wookey, Philip Aerts, Rien Bardgett, Richard D Baptist, Florence Brathen, Kari Anne Cornelissen, J Hans C Gough, Laura Hartley, Iain Hopkins, David Lavorel, Sandra Shaver, Gaius R |
author_sort |
Wookey, Philip |
title |
Ecosystem feedbacks and cascade processes: understanding their role in the responses of arctic and alpine ecosystems to environmental change |
title_short |
Ecosystem feedbacks and cascade processes: understanding their role in the responses of arctic and alpine ecosystems to environmental change |
title_full |
Ecosystem feedbacks and cascade processes: understanding their role in the responses of arctic and alpine ecosystems to environmental change |
title_fullStr |
Ecosystem feedbacks and cascade processes: understanding their role in the responses of arctic and alpine ecosystems to environmental change |
title_full_unstemmed |
Ecosystem feedbacks and cascade processes: understanding their role in the responses of arctic and alpine ecosystems to environmental change |
title_sort |
ecosystem feedbacks and cascade processes: understanding their role in the responses of arctic and alpine ecosystems to environmental change |
publisher |
Blackwell Publishing |
publishDate |
2009 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/1893/941 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2486.2008.01801.x http://dspace.stir.ac.uk/bitstream/1893/941/2/Wookey_Fig2%28GCB_08_228%29.tif http://dspace.stir.ac.uk/bitstream/1893/941/3/Wookey_Fig1%28GCB_08_228%29.tif http://dspace.stir.ac.uk/bitstream/1893/941/4/Wookey_Plate1%28GCB_08_228%29.tif http://dspace.stir.ac.uk/bitstream/1893/941/1/WookeyManuscript_final_.pdf |
geographic |
Arctic |
geographic_facet |
Arctic |
genre |
Arctic Arctic Climate change Global warming Tundra |
genre_facet |
Arctic Arctic Climate change Global warming Tundra |
op_relation |
Wookey P, Aerts R, Bardgett RD, Baptist F, Brathen KA, Cornelissen JHC, Gough L, Hartley I, Hopkins D, Lavorel S & Shaver GR (2009) Ecosystem feedbacks and cascade processes: understanding their role in the responses of arctic and alpine ecosystems to environmental change. Global Change Biology, 15 (5), pp. 1153-1172. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2486.2008.01801.x http://hdl.handle.net/1893/941 doi:10.1111/j.1365-2486.2008.01801.x WOS:000265033700008 2-s2.0-64949117302 832845 http://dspace.stir.ac.uk/bitstream/1893/941/2/Wookey_Fig2%28GCB_08_228%29.tif http://dspace.stir.ac.uk/bitstream/1893/941/3/Wookey_Fig1%28GCB_08_228%29.tif http://dspace.stir.ac.uk/bitstream/1893/941/4/Wookey_Plate1%28GCB_08_228%29.tif http://dspace.stir.ac.uk/bitstream/1893/941/1/WookeyManuscript_final_.pdf |
op_rights |
Published by Blackwell Publishing, copyright 2008. The definitive version is available at onlinelibrary.wiley.com 2010-07-01 [Wookey_Plate1(GCB_08_228).tif] Publisher requires 12 month embargo [WookeyManuscript_final_.pdf] Publisher requires 12 month embargo |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2486.2008.01801.x |
container_title |
Global Change Biology |
container_volume |
15 |
container_issue |
5 |
container_start_page |
1153 |
op_container_end_page |
1172 |
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1766302082335244288 |
spelling |
ftunivstirling:oai:dspace.stir.ac.uk:1893/941 2023-05-15T14:27:58+02:00 Ecosystem feedbacks and cascade processes: understanding their role in the responses of arctic and alpine ecosystems to environmental change Wookey, Philip Aerts, Rien Bardgett, Richard D Baptist, Florence Brathen, Kari Anne Cornelissen, J Hans C Gough, Laura Hartley, Iain Hopkins, David Lavorel, Sandra Shaver, Gaius R Biological and Environmental Sciences Vrije University Amsterdam Lancaster University Université Joseph Fourier University of Tromso University of Texas at Arlington Marine Biological Laboratory orcid:0000-0001-5957-6424 2009-05 image/tiff application/pdf http://hdl.handle.net/1893/941 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2486.2008.01801.x http://dspace.stir.ac.uk/bitstream/1893/941/2/Wookey_Fig2%28GCB_08_228%29.tif http://dspace.stir.ac.uk/bitstream/1893/941/3/Wookey_Fig1%28GCB_08_228%29.tif http://dspace.stir.ac.uk/bitstream/1893/941/4/Wookey_Plate1%28GCB_08_228%29.tif http://dspace.stir.ac.uk/bitstream/1893/941/1/WookeyManuscript_final_.pdf en eng Blackwell Publishing Wookey P, Aerts R, Bardgett RD, Baptist F, Brathen KA, Cornelissen JHC, Gough L, Hartley I, Hopkins D, Lavorel S & Shaver GR (2009) Ecosystem feedbacks and cascade processes: understanding their role in the responses of arctic and alpine ecosystems to environmental change. Global Change Biology, 15 (5), pp. 1153-1172. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2486.2008.01801.x http://hdl.handle.net/1893/941 doi:10.1111/j.1365-2486.2008.01801.x WOS:000265033700008 2-s2.0-64949117302 832845 http://dspace.stir.ac.uk/bitstream/1893/941/2/Wookey_Fig2%28GCB_08_228%29.tif http://dspace.stir.ac.uk/bitstream/1893/941/3/Wookey_Fig1%28GCB_08_228%29.tif http://dspace.stir.ac.uk/bitstream/1893/941/4/Wookey_Plate1%28GCB_08_228%29.tif http://dspace.stir.ac.uk/bitstream/1893/941/1/WookeyManuscript_final_.pdf Published by Blackwell Publishing, copyright 2008. The definitive version is available at onlinelibrary.wiley.com 2010-07-01 [Wookey_Plate1(GCB_08_228).tif] Publisher requires 12 month embargo [WookeyManuscript_final_.pdf] Publisher requires 12 month embargo Arctic Alpine Carbon Ecosystem Energy Global change Feedback Nitrogen Herbivory Plant functional type Plants Effect of global warming on Arctic regions Effect of global warming on Alpine regions Plant ecophysiology Arctic regions Plant ecophysiology Alpine regions Climatic changes Environmental aspects Global environmental change Journal Article NA - Not Applicable (or Unknown) AM - Accepted Manuscript 2009 ftunivstirling https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2486.2008.01801.x 2022-06-13T18:45:32Z Global environmental change, related to climate change and the deposition of airborne N-containing contaminants, has already resulted in shifts in plant community composition among plant functional types in arctic and temperate alpine regions. In this paper, we review how key ecosystem processes will be altered by these transformations, the complex biological cascades and feedbacks that may result, and some of the potential broader consequences for the earth system. Firstly, we consider how patterns of growth and allocation, and nutrient uptake, will be altered by the shifts in plant dominance. The ways in which these changes may disproportionately affect the consumer communities, and rates of decomposition, are then discussed. We show that the occurrence of a broad spectrum of plant growth forms in these regions (from cryptogams to deciduous and evergreen dwarf shrubs, graminoids and forbs), together with hypothesized low functional redundancy, will mean that shifts in plant dominance result in a complex series of biotic cascades, couplings and feedbacks which are supplemental to the direct responses of ecosystem components to the primary global change drivers. The nature of these complex interactions is highlighted using the example of the climate-driven increase in shrub cover in low arctic tundra, and the contrasting transformations in plant functional composition in mid-latitude alpine systems. Finally, the potential effects of the transformations on ecosystem properties and processes which link with the earth system are reviewed. We conclude that the effects of global change on these ecosystems, and potential climate-change feedbacks, can not be predicted from simple empirical relationships between processes and driving variables. Rather, the effects of changes in species distributions and dominances on key ecosystem processes and properties must also be considered, based upon best estimates of the trajectories of key transformations, their magnitude and rates of change. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Arctic Climate change Global warming Tundra University of Stirling: Stirling Digital Research Repository Arctic Global Change Biology 15 5 1153 1172 |