Topographic controls on the leaf area index and plant functional type of a tundra ecosystem
Leaf area index (LAI) is an emergent property of vascular plants closely linked to primary production and surface energy balance. LAI can vary by an order of magnitude among Arctic tundra communities and is closely associated with plant functional type. We examined topographic controls on vegetation...
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ftunivwagenin:oai:library.wur.nl:wurpubs/369665 2024-02-04T09:57:55+01:00 Topographic controls on the leaf area index and plant functional type of a tundra ecosystem Spadavecchia, L. Williams, M. Bell, R. Stoy, P.C. Huntley, B. van Wijk, M.T. 2008 application/pdf https://research.wur.nl/en/publications/topographic-controls-on-the-leaf-area-index-and-plant-functional- https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2745.2008.01424.x en eng https://edepot.wur.nl/18736 https://research.wur.nl/en/publications/topographic-controls-on-the-leaf-area-index-and-plant-functional- doi:10.1111/j.1365-2745.2008.01424.x info:eu-repo/semantics/restrictedAccess Wageningen University & Research Journal of Ecology 96 (2008) 6 ISSN: 0022-0477 alaska arctic ecosystems biomass co2 flux global change principal components soil properties statistical variables tussock tundra vegetation info:eu-repo/semantics/article Article/Letter to editor info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion 2008 ftunivwagenin https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2745.2008.01424.x 2024-01-10T23:24:14Z Leaf area index (LAI) is an emergent property of vascular plants closely linked to primary production and surface energy balance. LAI can vary by an order of magnitude among Arctic tundra communities and is closely associated with plant functional type. We examined topographic controls on vegetation type and LAI distribution at two different scales in an Arctic tundra ecosystem in northern Sweden. `Micro-scale' measurements were made at 0.2-m resolution over a 40 m × 40 m domain, while `macro-scale' data were collected at approximately 10-m resolution over a 500 m × 500 m domain. Tundra LAI varied from 0.1-3.6 at the micro-scale resolution, and from 0.1-1.6 at the macro-scale resolution. The correlation between dominant vascular species and LAI at the micro-scale (r2 = 0.40) was greater than the correlation between dominant vegetation and LAI at the macro-scale (r2 = 0.14). At the macro-scale, LAI was better explained by topographic parameters and spatial auto-correlation (pseudo r2 = 0.32) than it was at the micro-scale (r2 = 0.16). Exposure and elevation were significantly but weakly correlated with LAI at the micro-scale, while on the macro-scale the most significant explanatory topographic variable was elevation (r2 = 0.12). The distribution of plant communities at both scales was significantly associated with topography. Shrub communities, dominated by Betula nana, were associated with low elevation sites at both scales, while more exposed and/or high elevation sites were dominated by cryptogams. Synthesis. Dominant vegetation, topography and LAI were linked at both scales of investigation but, for explaining LAI, topography became more important and dominant vegetation less important at the coarser scale. The explanatory power of dominant species/functional type for LAI variation was weaker at coarser scales, because communities often contained more than one functional type at 10 m resolution. The data suggest that remotely sensed topography can be combined with remotely sensed optical measurements to ... Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Betula nana Northern Sweden Tundra Alaska Wageningen UR (University & Research Centre): Digital Library Arctic Journal of Ecology 96 6 1238 1251 |
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Open Polar |
collection |
Wageningen UR (University & Research Centre): Digital Library |
op_collection_id |
ftunivwagenin |
language |
English |
topic |
alaska arctic ecosystems biomass co2 flux global change principal components soil properties statistical variables tussock tundra vegetation |
spellingShingle |
alaska arctic ecosystems biomass co2 flux global change principal components soil properties statistical variables tussock tundra vegetation Spadavecchia, L. Williams, M. Bell, R. Stoy, P.C. Huntley, B. van Wijk, M.T. Topographic controls on the leaf area index and plant functional type of a tundra ecosystem |
topic_facet |
alaska arctic ecosystems biomass co2 flux global change principal components soil properties statistical variables tussock tundra vegetation |
description |
Leaf area index (LAI) is an emergent property of vascular plants closely linked to primary production and surface energy balance. LAI can vary by an order of magnitude among Arctic tundra communities and is closely associated with plant functional type. We examined topographic controls on vegetation type and LAI distribution at two different scales in an Arctic tundra ecosystem in northern Sweden. `Micro-scale' measurements were made at 0.2-m resolution over a 40 m × 40 m domain, while `macro-scale' data were collected at approximately 10-m resolution over a 500 m × 500 m domain. Tundra LAI varied from 0.1-3.6 at the micro-scale resolution, and from 0.1-1.6 at the macro-scale resolution. The correlation between dominant vascular species and LAI at the micro-scale (r2 = 0.40) was greater than the correlation between dominant vegetation and LAI at the macro-scale (r2 = 0.14). At the macro-scale, LAI was better explained by topographic parameters and spatial auto-correlation (pseudo r2 = 0.32) than it was at the micro-scale (r2 = 0.16). Exposure and elevation were significantly but weakly correlated with LAI at the micro-scale, while on the macro-scale the most significant explanatory topographic variable was elevation (r2 = 0.12). The distribution of plant communities at both scales was significantly associated with topography. Shrub communities, dominated by Betula nana, were associated with low elevation sites at both scales, while more exposed and/or high elevation sites were dominated by cryptogams. Synthesis. Dominant vegetation, topography and LAI were linked at both scales of investigation but, for explaining LAI, topography became more important and dominant vegetation less important at the coarser scale. The explanatory power of dominant species/functional type for LAI variation was weaker at coarser scales, because communities often contained more than one functional type at 10 m resolution. The data suggest that remotely sensed topography can be combined with remotely sensed optical measurements to ... |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Spadavecchia, L. Williams, M. Bell, R. Stoy, P.C. Huntley, B. van Wijk, M.T. |
author_facet |
Spadavecchia, L. Williams, M. Bell, R. Stoy, P.C. Huntley, B. van Wijk, M.T. |
author_sort |
Spadavecchia, L. |
title |
Topographic controls on the leaf area index and plant functional type of a tundra ecosystem |
title_short |
Topographic controls on the leaf area index and plant functional type of a tundra ecosystem |
title_full |
Topographic controls on the leaf area index and plant functional type of a tundra ecosystem |
title_fullStr |
Topographic controls on the leaf area index and plant functional type of a tundra ecosystem |
title_full_unstemmed |
Topographic controls on the leaf area index and plant functional type of a tundra ecosystem |
title_sort |
topographic controls on the leaf area index and plant functional type of a tundra ecosystem |
publishDate |
2008 |
url |
https://research.wur.nl/en/publications/topographic-controls-on-the-leaf-area-index-and-plant-functional- https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2745.2008.01424.x |
geographic |
Arctic |
geographic_facet |
Arctic |
genre |
Arctic Betula nana Northern Sweden Tundra Alaska |
genre_facet |
Arctic Betula nana Northern Sweden Tundra Alaska |
op_source |
Journal of Ecology 96 (2008) 6 ISSN: 0022-0477 |
op_relation |
https://edepot.wur.nl/18736 https://research.wur.nl/en/publications/topographic-controls-on-the-leaf-area-index-and-plant-functional- doi:10.1111/j.1365-2745.2008.01424.x |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/restrictedAccess Wageningen University & Research |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2745.2008.01424.x |
container_title |
Journal of Ecology |
container_volume |
96 |
container_issue |
6 |
container_start_page |
1238 |
op_container_end_page |
1251 |
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1789962259698548736 |