Will borealization of Arctic tundra herbivore communities be driven by climate warming or vegetation change?
Poleward shifts in species distributions are expected and frequently observed with a warming climate. In Arctic ecosystems, the strong warming trends are associated with increasing greenness and shrubification. Vertebrate herbivores have the potential to limit greening and shrub advance and expansio...
Published in: | Global Change Biology |
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Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/10037/23154 https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.15910 |
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ftunivtroemsoe:oai:munin.uit.no:10037/23154 2023-05-15T14:26:41+02:00 Will borealization of Arctic tundra herbivore communities be driven by climate warming or vegetation change? Speed, James David Mervyn Chimal Ballesteros, Jesus Adrian Martin, Michael David Barrio, Isabel C. Vuorinen, Katariina Elsa Maria Soininen, Eeva Marjatta 2021-09-30 https://hdl.handle.net/10037/23154 https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.15910 eng eng Wiley Global Change Biology info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/RCN/FRIMEDBIO/262064/Norway/Disentangling the impacts of herbivory and climate on ecological dynamics// Speed, Chimal Ballesteros, Martin, Barrio, Vuorinen, Soininen. Will borealization of Arctic tundra herbivore communities be driven by climate warming or vegetation change?. Global Change Biology. 2021;27(24):6568-6577 FRIDAID 1955084 doi:10.1111/gcb.15910 1354-1013 1365-2486 https://hdl.handle.net/10037/23154 openAccess Copyright 2021 The Author(s) VDP::Mathematics and natural science: 400::Zoology and botany: 480 VDP::Matematikk og Naturvitenskap: 400::Zoologiske og botaniske fag: 480 Journal article Tidsskriftartikkel Peer reviewed publishedVersion 2021 ftunivtroemsoe https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.15910 2021-11-24T23:54:47Z Poleward shifts in species distributions are expected and frequently observed with a warming climate. In Arctic ecosystems, the strong warming trends are associated with increasing greenness and shrubification. Vertebrate herbivores have the potential to limit greening and shrub advance and expansion on the tundra, posing the question of whether changes in herbivore communities could partly mediate the impacts of climate warming on Arctic tundra. Therefore, future changes in the herbivore community in the Arctic tundra will depend on whether the community tracks the changing climates directly (i.e. occurs in response to temperature) or indirectly, in response to vegetation changes (which can be modified by trophic interactions). In this study, we used biogeographic and remotely sensed data to quantify spatial variation in vertebrate herbivore communities across the boreal forest and Arctic tundra biomes. We then tested whether present-day herbivore community structure is determined primarily by temperature or vegetation. We demonstrate that vertebrate herbivore communities are significantly more diverse in the boreal forest than in the Arctic tundra in terms of species richness, phylogenetic diversity and functional diversity. A clear shift in community structure was observed at the biome boundary, with stronger northward declines in diversity in the Arctic tundra. Interestingly, important functional traits characterizing the role of herbivores in limiting tundra vegetation change, such as body mass and woody plant feeding, did not show threshold changes across the biome boundary. Temperature was a more important determinant of herbivore community structure across these biomes than vegetation productivity or woody plant cover. Thus, our study does not support the premise that herbivore-driven limitation of Arctic tundra shrubification or greening would limit herbivore community change in the tundra. Instead, borealization of tundra herbivore communities is likely to result from the direct effect of climate warming. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Arctic Tundra University of Tromsø: Munin Open Research Archive Arctic Global Change Biology 27 24 6568 6577 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
University of Tromsø: Munin Open Research Archive |
op_collection_id |
ftunivtroemsoe |
language |
English |
topic |
VDP::Mathematics and natural science: 400::Zoology and botany: 480 VDP::Matematikk og Naturvitenskap: 400::Zoologiske og botaniske fag: 480 |
spellingShingle |
VDP::Mathematics and natural science: 400::Zoology and botany: 480 VDP::Matematikk og Naturvitenskap: 400::Zoologiske og botaniske fag: 480 Speed, James David Mervyn Chimal Ballesteros, Jesus Adrian Martin, Michael David Barrio, Isabel C. Vuorinen, Katariina Elsa Maria Soininen, Eeva Marjatta Will borealization of Arctic tundra herbivore communities be driven by climate warming or vegetation change? |
topic_facet |
VDP::Mathematics and natural science: 400::Zoology and botany: 480 VDP::Matematikk og Naturvitenskap: 400::Zoologiske og botaniske fag: 480 |
description |
Poleward shifts in species distributions are expected and frequently observed with a warming climate. In Arctic ecosystems, the strong warming trends are associated with increasing greenness and shrubification. Vertebrate herbivores have the potential to limit greening and shrub advance and expansion on the tundra, posing the question of whether changes in herbivore communities could partly mediate the impacts of climate warming on Arctic tundra. Therefore, future changes in the herbivore community in the Arctic tundra will depend on whether the community tracks the changing climates directly (i.e. occurs in response to temperature) or indirectly, in response to vegetation changes (which can be modified by trophic interactions). In this study, we used biogeographic and remotely sensed data to quantify spatial variation in vertebrate herbivore communities across the boreal forest and Arctic tundra biomes. We then tested whether present-day herbivore community structure is determined primarily by temperature or vegetation. We demonstrate that vertebrate herbivore communities are significantly more diverse in the boreal forest than in the Arctic tundra in terms of species richness, phylogenetic diversity and functional diversity. A clear shift in community structure was observed at the biome boundary, with stronger northward declines in diversity in the Arctic tundra. Interestingly, important functional traits characterizing the role of herbivores in limiting tundra vegetation change, such as body mass and woody plant feeding, did not show threshold changes across the biome boundary. Temperature was a more important determinant of herbivore community structure across these biomes than vegetation productivity or woody plant cover. Thus, our study does not support the premise that herbivore-driven limitation of Arctic tundra shrubification or greening would limit herbivore community change in the tundra. Instead, borealization of tundra herbivore communities is likely to result from the direct effect of climate warming. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Speed, James David Mervyn Chimal Ballesteros, Jesus Adrian Martin, Michael David Barrio, Isabel C. Vuorinen, Katariina Elsa Maria Soininen, Eeva Marjatta |
author_facet |
Speed, James David Mervyn Chimal Ballesteros, Jesus Adrian Martin, Michael David Barrio, Isabel C. Vuorinen, Katariina Elsa Maria Soininen, Eeva Marjatta |
author_sort |
Speed, James David Mervyn |
title |
Will borealization of Arctic tundra herbivore communities be driven by climate warming or vegetation change? |
title_short |
Will borealization of Arctic tundra herbivore communities be driven by climate warming or vegetation change? |
title_full |
Will borealization of Arctic tundra herbivore communities be driven by climate warming or vegetation change? |
title_fullStr |
Will borealization of Arctic tundra herbivore communities be driven by climate warming or vegetation change? |
title_full_unstemmed |
Will borealization of Arctic tundra herbivore communities be driven by climate warming or vegetation change? |
title_sort |
will borealization of arctic tundra herbivore communities be driven by climate warming or vegetation change? |
publisher |
Wiley |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
https://hdl.handle.net/10037/23154 https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.15910 |
geographic |
Arctic |
geographic_facet |
Arctic |
genre |
Arctic Arctic Tundra |
genre_facet |
Arctic Arctic Tundra |
op_relation |
Global Change Biology info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/RCN/FRIMEDBIO/262064/Norway/Disentangling the impacts of herbivory and climate on ecological dynamics// Speed, Chimal Ballesteros, Martin, Barrio, Vuorinen, Soininen. Will borealization of Arctic tundra herbivore communities be driven by climate warming or vegetation change?. Global Change Biology. 2021;27(24):6568-6577 FRIDAID 1955084 doi:10.1111/gcb.15910 1354-1013 1365-2486 https://hdl.handle.net/10037/23154 |
op_rights |
openAccess Copyright 2021 The Author(s) |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.15910 |
container_title |
Global Change Biology |
container_volume |
27 |
container_issue |
24 |
container_start_page |
6568 |
op_container_end_page |
6577 |
_version_ |
1766299981436682240 |