Design of the tundra rainfall experiment (TRainEx) to simulate future summer precipitation scenarios

• Main Authors: Grysko, Raleigh, Plekhanova, Elena, Oehri, Jacqueline, Karsanaev, Sergey V, Maximov, Trofim C, Schaepman-Strub, Gabriela
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier 2021
• Subjects: Institute of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies; Global Change and Biodiversity; 570 Life sciences; biology; 590 Animals (Zoology); Medical Laboratory Technology; Clinical Biochemistry; Arctic; Tundra
• Online Access: https://www.zora.uzh.ch/id/eprint/207430/; https://www.zora.uzh.ch/id/eprint/207430/1/1-s2.0-S2215016121001242-main.pdf; https://doi.org/10.5167/uzh-207430; https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mex.2021.101331

The majority of climate models predict severe increases in future temperature and precipitation in the Arctic. Increases in temperature and precipitation can lead to an intensification of the hydrologic cycle that strongly impacts Arctic environmental conditions. In order to investigate effects of future precipitation scenarios on ecosystems, precipitation manipulation experiments are being performed to simulate drought and extreme precipitation conditions. However, most of the existing research so far has been unevenly distributed, primarily focusing on temperate grasslands and woodlands. Despite large changes in the predicted precipitation and potentially high sensitivity of the Arctic tundra ecosystem to these changes, it is among the most understudied ecosystems for precipitation manipulation experiments.