Environmental changes in the lower Peel River watershed, Northwest Territories, Canada: Scientific and Gwich'in perpectives
The circumpolar Arctic is experiencing dramatic environmental changes that are already impacting tundra ecosystems and northern communities that are intimately linked to the land. Increasing permafrost degradation, shrub encroachment, larger and more frequent fires, and increasing human development...
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ftuvicpubl:oai:dspace.library.uvic.ca:1828/5105 2023-05-15T13:03:26+02:00 Environmental changes in the lower Peel River watershed, Northwest Territories, Canada: Scientific and Gwich'in perpectives Gill, Harneet Kaur Lantz, Trevor Charles 2013 application/pdf http://hdl.handle.net/1828/5105 English en eng http://hdl.handle.net/1828/5105 Available to the World Wide Web ecosystems permafrost alder Peel Plateau Thesis 2013 ftuvicpubl 2022-05-19T06:12:54Z The circumpolar Arctic is experiencing dramatic environmental changes that are already impacting tundra ecosystems and northern communities that are intimately linked to the land. Increasing permafrost degradation, shrub encroachment, larger and more frequent fires, and increasing human development have significant effects on biotic and abiotic conditions in the lower Peel River watershed, NT. To understand and respond to rapid environmental changes, diverse knowledge perspectives are needed, so my M.Sc. research uses scientific and social scientific approaches to investigate environmental change in the lower Peel River watershed. I investigated the impacts of the Dempster highway on plants, soils and permafrost in the Peel Plateau by conducting field surveys at sites dominated either by tall alder (Alnus crispa) shrubs or by dwarf shrubs, at 30 m and 500 m from the highway. At each site I measured vegetation composition, alder growth, soil nutrients, litter and organic layer thickness, active layer thickness, and snow depth. We found that alder growth and recruitment were enhanced adjacent to the Dempster Highway, and dramatic alterations to plant community composition, soil properties and ground temperatures were observed where alder shrubs had formed closed canopies. Tall shrub sites adjacent to the road exhibited lower abundance of understory vegetation including mosses, greater litter and organic soil thickness, higher nutrient availability, and deeper snowpack. Biotic and abiotic changes associated with road effects feedback with alder canopy development, and have important implications for permafrost conditions adjacent to the roadbed, and potentially on road bed performance. This research contributes to our understanding of environmental changes caused by the highway and their consequences for infrastructure stability and pan-Arctic changes in vegetation cover. In a separate but complementary effort, I worked with Teetl’it Gwich’in land users and youth from Fort McPherson, NT to map observations of ... Thesis Active layer thickness Arctic Fort McPherson Gwich’in Northwest Territories Peel River permafrost Tundra University of Victoria (Canada): UVicDSpace Arctic Canada Fort McPherson ENVELOPE(-134.826,-134.826,67.433,67.433) Northwest Territories Peel River ENVELOPE(-135.005,-135.005,67.000,67.000) |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
University of Victoria (Canada): UVicDSpace |
op_collection_id |
ftuvicpubl |
language |
English |
topic |
ecosystems permafrost alder Peel Plateau |
spellingShingle |
ecosystems permafrost alder Peel Plateau Gill, Harneet Kaur Environmental changes in the lower Peel River watershed, Northwest Territories, Canada: Scientific and Gwich'in perpectives |
topic_facet |
ecosystems permafrost alder Peel Plateau |
description |
The circumpolar Arctic is experiencing dramatic environmental changes that are already impacting tundra ecosystems and northern communities that are intimately linked to the land. Increasing permafrost degradation, shrub encroachment, larger and more frequent fires, and increasing human development have significant effects on biotic and abiotic conditions in the lower Peel River watershed, NT. To understand and respond to rapid environmental changes, diverse knowledge perspectives are needed, so my M.Sc. research uses scientific and social scientific approaches to investigate environmental change in the lower Peel River watershed. I investigated the impacts of the Dempster highway on plants, soils and permafrost in the Peel Plateau by conducting field surveys at sites dominated either by tall alder (Alnus crispa) shrubs or by dwarf shrubs, at 30 m and 500 m from the highway. At each site I measured vegetation composition, alder growth, soil nutrients, litter and organic layer thickness, active layer thickness, and snow depth. We found that alder growth and recruitment were enhanced adjacent to the Dempster Highway, and dramatic alterations to plant community composition, soil properties and ground temperatures were observed where alder shrubs had formed closed canopies. Tall shrub sites adjacent to the road exhibited lower abundance of understory vegetation including mosses, greater litter and organic soil thickness, higher nutrient availability, and deeper snowpack. Biotic and abiotic changes associated with road effects feedback with alder canopy development, and have important implications for permafrost conditions adjacent to the roadbed, and potentially on road bed performance. This research contributes to our understanding of environmental changes caused by the highway and their consequences for infrastructure stability and pan-Arctic changes in vegetation cover. In a separate but complementary effort, I worked with Teetl’it Gwich’in land users and youth from Fort McPherson, NT to map observations of ... |
author2 |
Lantz, Trevor Charles |
format |
Thesis |
author |
Gill, Harneet Kaur |
author_facet |
Gill, Harneet Kaur |
author_sort |
Gill, Harneet Kaur |
title |
Environmental changes in the lower Peel River watershed, Northwest Territories, Canada: Scientific and Gwich'in perpectives |
title_short |
Environmental changes in the lower Peel River watershed, Northwest Territories, Canada: Scientific and Gwich'in perpectives |
title_full |
Environmental changes in the lower Peel River watershed, Northwest Territories, Canada: Scientific and Gwich'in perpectives |
title_fullStr |
Environmental changes in the lower Peel River watershed, Northwest Territories, Canada: Scientific and Gwich'in perpectives |
title_full_unstemmed |
Environmental changes in the lower Peel River watershed, Northwest Territories, Canada: Scientific and Gwich'in perpectives |
title_sort |
environmental changes in the lower peel river watershed, northwest territories, canada: scientific and gwich'in perpectives |
publishDate |
2013 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/1828/5105 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-134.826,-134.826,67.433,67.433) ENVELOPE(-135.005,-135.005,67.000,67.000) |
geographic |
Arctic Canada Fort McPherson Northwest Territories Peel River |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Canada Fort McPherson Northwest Territories Peel River |
genre |
Active layer thickness Arctic Fort McPherson Gwich’in Northwest Territories Peel River permafrost Tundra |
genre_facet |
Active layer thickness Arctic Fort McPherson Gwich’in Northwest Territories Peel River permafrost Tundra |
op_relation |
http://hdl.handle.net/1828/5105 |
op_rights |
Available to the World Wide Web |
_version_ |
1766336748635291648 |