International polar year (ipy) back to the future (btf): Changes in arctic ecosystem structure over decadal times scales

• Main Author: Villarreal, Sandra
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: ScholarWorks@UTEP 2013
• Subjects: Biology|Plant biology|Ecology|Climate Change; Arctic; Baffin Island; Canada; Nunavut; Baffin; Barrow; Climate change; International Polar Year; IPY; Tundra; Alaska
• Online Access: https://scholarworks.utep.edu/dissertations/AAI3601092

Arctic vegetation communities are responding to climate warming through shifts in species composition and diversity but most observations have been made over relatively short time frames, and/or in association with experimental manipulations. Because vegetation plays a key role in regulating ecosystem productivity, nutrient cycling, surface energy budgets, and trophic interactions in the Arctic, there is a need to better understand shifts in tundra vegetation communities over decadal time scales. Understanding these shifts and their impact on ecosystem structure and function in the Arctic has important implications for predicting the future state of both the Arctic and the Earth System. Long term monitoring, and/or rediscovering, rescuing, securing, and resampling historic research sites to ascertain past and future trajectories of decadal time scale change are among the few approaches for advancing knowledge of how Arctic terrestrial ecosystem properties and processes are likely to change decadal time scales. The primary objective of this International Polar Year (IPY) dissertation project was to determine how key structural characteristics of high-latitude arctic terrestrial ecosystems have changed over the past three to five decades at three different historic research locations spanning the high and low Arctic. Historic sites were established by Dr Patrick J. Webber early in his career using the same methodology and include (1) the International Biological Program (IBP) research sites established in 1972 near Barrow, Alaska, (2) the Research on Arctic Tundra Environments (RATE) research sites established in 1975 near Atqasuk, Alaska, and (3) his dissertation research sites established in 1964 in North-Central Baffin Island, Nunavut, Canada. Historic IBP sites established in alpine tundra on Niwot Ridge, Colorado were also used in a synthesis that compared change across all locations and tundra vegetation types. All sites measured 1 m x 10 m and consisted of ten contiguous 1 m2 plots that were resampled ...