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Understanding effects of recent climate warming and changes in catchment conditions on nutrient cycling and the biology of shallow subarctic lakes is necessary to predict their evolution. Here, we use multiple analytical methods on sediment cores to identify effects of change in catchment conditions on nutrient availability and biotic assemblages in two subarctic lakes on the Seward Peninsula (Alaska, USA). We compare limnological and biotic responses to flooding and expansion of a thermokarst lake basin (late 1950s), increased shrub growth in the catchment of another lake (since the mid-1980s), and regional warming (since the late 1970s). Among these three environmental drivers, the largest biotic responses occurred because of flooding and expansion of the thermokarst lake. An increase in the nitrogen isotope composition and decline in organic carbon isotope composition in sediments are interpreted to reflect an elevated supply of dissolved inorganic carbon and nitrogen. This was associated with significant shifts in composition of chironomid and diatom assemblages. In contrast, increases in particulate organic carbon and nitrogen from enhanced shrub growth had less influence on the biota. Declines in cold-water biotic indicators typical of warming lakes in Arctic regions occurred several decades after catchment-induced changes to the nutrient supply in both systems. This indicates that initial lake catchment condition may mediate lake-specific changes in nutrient cycling and aquatic productivity within regions undergoing warming. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ectomycorrhizal fungi (ECMF) are an important biotic factor in the survival of conifer seedlings under stressful conditions and therefore have the potential to facilitate conifer establishment into alpine and tundra habitats. In order to assess patterns of ectomycorrhizal availability and community structure above treeline, we conducted soil bioassays in which Picea mariana (black spruce) seedlings were grown in field-collected soils under controlled conditions. Soils were collected from distinct alpine habitats, each dominated by a different ectomycorrhizal host shrub: Betula glandulosa, Arctostaphylos alpina or Salix herbacaea. Within each habitat, half of the soils collected contained roots of ectomycorrhizal shrubs (host+) and the other half were free of host plants (host−). Forest and glacial moraine soils were also included for comparison. Fungi forming ectomycorrhizae during the bioassays were identified by DNA sequencing. Our results indicate that ECMF capable of colonizing black spruce are widespread above the current tree line in Eastern Labrador and that the level of available inoculum has a significant influence on the growth of seedlings under controlled conditions. Many of the host− soils possessed appreciable levels of ectomycorrhizal inoculum, likely in the form of spore banks. Inoculum levels in these soils may be influenced by spore production from neighboring soils where ectomycorrhizal shrubs are present. Under predicted temperature increases, ectomycorrhizal inoculum in soils with host shrubs as well as in nearby soils without host shrubs have the potential to facilitate conifer establishment above the present tree line. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Arctic tundra is currently experiencing an unprecedented combination of climate change, change in grazing pressure by large herbivores and growing human activity. Thickets of tall shrubs represent a conspicuous vegetation state in northern and temperate ecosystems, where it serves important ecological functions, including habitat for wildlife. Thickets are however labile, as tall shrubs respond rapidly to both abiotic and biotic environmental drivers. Our aim was to assess how large-scale spatial variation in willow thicket areal extent, configuration and habitat structure affected bird abundance, occupancy rates and species richness so as to provide an empirical basis for predicting the outcome of environmental change for riparian tundra bird communities. Based on a 4-year count data series, obtained through a large-scale study design in low arctic tundra in northern Norway, statistical hierarchical community models were deployed to assess relations between habitat configuration and bird species occupancy and community richness. We found that species abundance, occupancy and richness were greatly affected by willow areal extent and configuration, habitat features likely to be affected by intense ungulate browsing as well as climate warming. In sum, total species richness was maximized in large and tall willow patches of small to intermediate degree of fragmentation. These community effects were mainly driven by responses in the occupancy rates of species depending on tall willows for foraging and breeding, while species favouring other vegetation states were not affected. In light of the predicted climate driven willow shrub encroachment in riparian tundra habitats, our study predicts that many bird species would increase in abundance, and that the bird community as a whole could become enriched. Conversely, in tundra regions where overabundance of large herbivores leads to decreased areal extent, reduced height and increased fragmentation of willow thickets, bird community richness and species-specific abundance are likely to be significantly reduced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies of species range determinants have traditionally focused on abiotic variables (typically climatic conditions), and therefore the recent explicit consideration of biotic interactions represents an important advance in the field. While these studies clearly support the role of biotic interactions in shaping species distributions, most examine only the influence of a single species and/or a single interaction, failing to account for species being subject to multiple concurrent interactions. By fitting species distribution models (SDMs), we examine the influence of multiple vertical (i.e., grazing, trampling, and manuring by mammalian herbivores) and horizontal (i.e., competition and facilitation; estimated from the cover of dominant plant species) interspecific interactions on the occurrence and cover of 41 alpine tundra plant species. Adding plant-plant interactions to baseline SDMs (using five field-quantified abiotic variables) significantly improved models' predictive power for independent data, while herbivore-related variables had only a weak influence. Overall, abiotic variables had the strongest individual contributions to the distribution of alpine tundra plants, with the importance of horizontal interaction variables exceeding that of vertical interaction variables. These results were consistent across three modeling techniques, for both species occurrence and cover, demonstrating the pattern to be robust. Thus, the explicit consideration of multiple biotic interactions reveals that plant-plant interactions exert control over the fine-scale distribution of vascular species that is comparable to abiotic drivers and considerably stronger than herbivores in this low-energy system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Arctic tundra ecosystems contain 14% of the global soil carbon ( C) store which is becoming vulnerable to decomposition. Arctic soil organic matter ( SOM) contains large amounts of old, recalcitrant, high molecular weight ( MW) C compounds which are protected from decomposition whilst soils remain frozen. Climatic change alters soil temperature and water regimes in the Arctic, however, the impact of these changes on C decomposition and storage is poorly understood., We investigated vegetation emergence, microbial dynamics and nutrient fluxes in response to snow melt on the high Arctic Svalbard archipelago using field and laboratory studies. Using bacterial and archaeal genetic material (16 S rRNA) and ammonia-oxidising genes, microbial communities were quantified in transects across the active snow melt front. The effects of soil temperature and water content on SOM decomposition rates were measured using 14 C-labelled low and high MW compounds., Vegetation and below-ground microbial communities, in the field, responded rapidly with peaks in nutrient availability and soil respiration observed within 72 h of snowmelt. Temperature strongly drives early growing season C dynamics in the Arctic. We suggest the nutrient peaks following snowmelt, coupled with higher levels of DNA in the subniveal zone are due to the decomposition of bacteria and archaea from previous years., We show, in the laboratory, when soils thaw, mineralisation of recalcitrant C (high MW) compounds was sensitive to soil water but not to increasing temperatures. In contrast, low MW compounds exhibited sensitivity to both temperature and soil water. We suggest that if future soil water content increases under climate change, high MW compounds could become more susceptible to decomposition, releasing more C to the atmosphere. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper evaluates the relative contribution of light and temperature on net ecosystem CO2 uptake during the 2006 growing season in a polygonal tundra ecosystem in the Lena River Delta in Northern Siberia (72º220 N, 126º300 E). We demonstrate that the timing of warm periods may be an important determinant of the magnitude of the ecosystem's carbon sink function, as they drive temperature-induced changes in respiration. Hot spells during the early portion of the growing season are shown to be more influential in creating mid-day surface-to-atmosphere net ecosystem CO2 exchange fluxes than those occurring later in the season. In this work we also develop and present a bulk flux partition model to better account for tundra plant physiology and the specific light conditions of the arctic region that preclude the successful use of traditional partition methods that derive a respiration-temperature relationship from all night-time data. Night-time, growing season measurements are rare during the arctic summer, however, so the new method allows for temporal variation in the parameters describing both ecosystem respiration and gross uptake by fitting both processes at the same time. Much of the apparent temperature sensitivity of respiration seen in the traditional partition method is revealed in the new method to reflect seasonal changes in basal respiration rates. Understanding and quantifying the flux partition is an essential precursor to describing links between assimilation and respiration at different time scales, as it allows a more confident evaluation of measured net exchange over a broader range of environmental conditions. The growing season CO2 sink estimated by this study is similar to those reported previously for this site, and is substantial enough to withstand the long, low-level respiratory CO2 release during the rest of the year to maintain the site's CO2 sink function on an annual basis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Whole-system fluxes of isoprene from a moist acidic tundra ecosystem and leaflevel emission rates of isoprene from a common species (Salix pulchra) in that same ecosystem were measured during three separate field campaigns. The field campaigns were conducted during the summers of 2005, 2010 and 2011 and took place at the Toolik Field Station (68.6° N, 149.6° W) on the north slope of the Brooks Range in Alaska, USA. The maximum rate of whole-system isoprene flux measured was over 1.2mgCm-2 h-1 with an air temperature of 22 °C and a PAR level over 1500 µmolm-2 s-1. Leaf-level isoprene emission rates for S. pulchra averaged 12.4 nmolm-2 s-1 (27.4 µgCgdw-1 h-1) extrapolated to standard conditions (PAR = 1000 µmolm-2 s-1 and leaf temperature = 30 °C). Leaf-level isoprene emission rates were well characterized by the Guenther algorithm for temperature, but less so for light. Chamber measurements from a nearby moist acidic tundra ecosystem with less S. pulchra emitted significant amounts of isoprene, but at lower rates (0.45mgCm-2 h-1). Comparison of our results to predictions from a global model found broad agreement, but a detailed analysis revealed some significant discrepancies. An atmospheric chemistry box model predicts that the observed isoprene emissions have a significant impact on Arctic atmospheric chemistry, including the hydroxyl radical (OH). Our results support the prediction that isoprene emissions from Arctic ecosystems will increase with global climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Arctic ecosystems play a key role in the terrestrial carbon cycle. Our aim was to combine satellite-based normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) with field measurements of CO2 fluxes to investigate changes in gross primary production (GPP) for the peak growing seasons 1992–2008 in Rylekærene, a wet tundra ecosystem in the Zackenberg valley, north-eastern Greenland. A method to incorporate controls on GPP through satellite data is the light use efficiency (LUE) model, here expressed as GPP= ɛ peak ×PARin ×FAPARgreen_peak; where ɛ peak was peak growing season light use efficiency of the vegetation, PARin was incoming photosynthetically active radiation, and FAPARgreen_peak was peak growing season fraction of PAR absorbed by the green vegetation. The ɛ peak was measured for seven different high-Arctic plant communities in the field, and it was on average 1.63g CO2 MJ−1. We found a significant linear relationship between FAPARgreen_peak measured in the field and satellite-based NDVI. The linear regression was applied to peak growing season NDVI 1992–2008 and derived FAPARgreen_peak was entered into the LUE-model. It was shown that when several empirical models are combined, propagation errors are introduced, which results in considerable model uncertainties. The LUE-model was evaluated against field-measured GPP and the model captured field-measured GPP well (RMSE was 192mg CO2 m−2 h−1). The model showed an increase in peak growing season GPP of 42mg CO2 m−2 h−1 y−1 in Rylekærene 1992–2008. There was also a strong increase in air temperature (0.15°Cy−1), indicating that the GPP trend may have been climate driven. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary 1. Macroparasites may be a major factor shaping animal behaviour. Tundra ecosystems inhabited by caribou and reindeer ( Rangifer tarandus) are known for large concentrations of ectoparasites including mosquitoes (Culicidae) and black flies (Simuliidae), as well as endoparasitic oestrid flies (Oestridae). 2. Increased intensity and duration of insect harassment because of climatic warming is hypothesized as a potential factor in recent declines of Rangifer across the circumpolar north. Although there is a well-observed relationship between insect harassment and caribou/reindeer behaviour, the influence of ecto- relative to endoparasitic species is unclear. Climatic changes may favour the activity patterns, distribution or abundance of certain insect species; thus, understanding differential effects on the behaviour of Rangifer is important. 3. We recorded caribou behaviour using group scan and focal sampling methods, while simultaneously trapping insects and recording weather conditions on the postcalving/summer range of the Bathurst barren-ground caribou herd in Northwest Territories and Nunavut, Canada, during 2007-2009. 4. We developed statistical model sets representing hypotheses about the effects of insects, weather, habitat/location, and date/time on caribou behaviour. We used multinomial logistic regression models to explore factors affecting the relative dominance of behaviour types within groups of caribou and fractional multinomial logistic regression models to determine factors influencing time allocation by individual caribou. We examined changes in feeding intensity using fractional logistic regression. 5. Relative dominance of insect avoidance behaviour within caribou groups and time allocation to insect avoidance by individual caribou increased when oestrid flies were present or black flies were active at moderate-high levels. Mosquito activity had relatively little effect on caribou behaviour. Time spent feeding was reduced by the greatest degree when all three insect types were present in combination. Feeding intensity was influenced to a greater extent by the accumulation of growing degree days over the course of the postcalving/summer season than by insect activity. Changes in Arctic systems that increase the activity/abundance of ecto- and endoparasites could have implications for the productivity of Rangifer populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding the responses of tundra systems to global change has global implications. Most tundra regions lack sustained environmental monitoring and one of the only ways to document multi-decadal change is to resample historic research sites. The International Polar Year (IPY) provided a unique opportunity for such research through the Back to the Future (BTF) project (IPY project #512). This article synthesizes the results from 13 papers within this Ambio Special Issue. Abiotic changes include glacial recession in the Altai Mountains, Russia; increased snow depth and hardness, permafrost warming, and increased growing season length in sub-arctic Sweden; drying of ponds in Greenland; increased nutrient availability in Alaskan tundra ponds, and warming at most locations studied. Biotic changes ranged from relatively minor plant community change at two sites in Greenland to moderate change in the Yukon, and to dramatic increases in shrub and tree density on Herschel Island, and in sub-arctic Sweden. The population of geese tripled at one site in northeast Greenland where biomass in non-grazed plots doubled. A model parameterized using results from a BTF study forecasts substantial declines in all snowbeds and increases in shrub tundra on Niwot Ridge, Colorado over the next century. In general, results support and provide improved capacities for validating experimental manipulation, remote sensing, and modeling studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dinitrogen fixation by cyanobacteria is of particular importance for the nutrient economy of cold biomes, constituting the main pathway for new N supplies to tundra ecosystems. It is prevalent in cyanobacterial colonies on bryophytes and in obligate associations within cyanolichens. Recent studies, applying interspecific variation in plant functional traits to upscale species effects on ecosystems, have all but neglected cryptogams and their association with cyanobacteria. Here we looked for species-specific patterns that determine cryptogam-mediated rates of N2 fixation in the Subarctic. We hypothesised a contrast in N2 fixation rates (1) between the structurally and physiologically different lichens and bryophytes, and (2) within bryophytes based on their respective plant functional types. Throughout the survey we supplied 15N-labelled N2 gas to quantify fixation rates for monospecific moss, liverwort and lichen turfs. We sampled fifteen species in a design that captures spatial and temporal variations during the growing season in Abisko region, Sweden. We measured N2 fixation potential of each turf in a common environment and in its field sampling site, in order to embrace both comparativeness and realism. Cyanolichens and bryophytes differed significantly in their cyanobacterial N2 fixation capacity, which was not driven by microhabitat characteristics, but rather by morphology and physiology. Cyanolichens were much more prominent fixers than bryophytes per unit dry weight, but not per unit area due to their low specific thallus weight. Mosses did not exhibit consistent differences in N2 fixation rates across species and functional types. Liverworts did not fix detectable amounts of N2. Despite the very high rates of N2 fixation associated with cyanolichens, large cover of mosses per unit area at the landscape scale compensates for their lower fixation rates, thereby probably making them the primary regional atmospheric nitrogen sink. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

•Biogenic volatile organic compound (BVOC) emissions from arctic ecosystems are important in view of their role in global atmospheric chemistry and unknown feedbacks to global warming. These cold ecosystems are hotspots of climate warming, which will be more severe here than averaged over the globe. We assess the effects of climatic warming on non-methane BVOC emissions from a subarctic heath. •We performed ecosystem-based chamber measurements and gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analyses of the BVOCs collected on adsorbent over two growing seasons at a wet subarctic tundra heath hosting a long-term warming and mountain birch ( Betula pubescens ssp. czerepanovii) litter addition experiment. •The relatively low emissions of monoterpenes and sesquiterpenes were doubled in response to an air temperature increment of only 1.9–2.5°C, while litter addition had a minor influence. BVOC emissions were seasonal, and warming combined with litter addition triggered emissions of specific compounds. •The unexpectedly high rate of release of BVOCs measured in this conservative warming scenario is far above the estimates produced by the current models, which underlines the importance of a focus on BVOC emissions during climate change. The observed changes have implications for ecological interactions and feedback effects on climate change via impacts on aerosol formation and indirect greenhouse effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Satellite observations have shown greening trends in tundra in response to climate change, suggesting increases in productivity. To better understand the ability of remote sensing to detect climate impacts on tundra vegetation productivity, we applied a photosynthetic light use efficiency model to simulated climate change treatments of tundra vegetation. We examined changes in the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and photosynthetic light use efficiency (ε) in experimental warming and moisture treatments designed to simulate climate change in northern Alaska. Plots were warmed either passively, using Open Top Chambers, or actively using electric heaters in the soil. In one set of plots water table depth was actively altered, while other plots were established in locations that were naturally wet or dry. Over two growing seasons, plot-level carbon flux and spectral reflectance measurements were collected, and the results were used to derive a light use efficiency model that could explore the effects of moisture and temperature treatments using remote sensing. Warming increased values of canopy greenness (NDVI) relative to control plots, this effect being more pronounced in wet plots than in dry plots. Light use efficiency (LUE), the relationship between absorbed photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) and gross ecosystem production (GEP), was consistent across warming treatments, growing season, subsequent years, and sites. However, LUE was affected by vegetation type, which varied with moisture; plots in naturally dry locations showed reduced light use efficiency relative to moist plots. Additionally moss exhibited reduced LUE relative to vascular plants. Understory moss production, not accounted for by the usual definition of the fraction of absorbed PAR (f APAR), was found to be a significant part of total GEP, particularly in areas with low vascular plant cover. These results support the use of light use efficiency models driven by spectral reflectance for estimating GEP in tundra vegetation, provided effects of vegetation functional type (e.g. mosses versus vascular plants) and microtopography are considered. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Herbivory and climate are key environmental drivers, shaping ecosystems at high latitudes. Here, we focus on how these two drivers act in concert, influencing the high arctic tundra. We aim to investigate mechanisms through which herbivory by geese influences vegetation and soil processes in tundra ecosystems under ambient and warmed conditions. To achieve this, two grazing treatments, clipping plus faecal additions and moss removal, were implemented in conjunction with passive warming. Our key finding was that, in many cases, the tundra ecosystem response was determined by treatment impacts on the moss layer. Moss removal reduced the remaining moss layer depth by 30% and increased peak grass biomass by 27%. These impacts were probably due to observed higher soil temperatures and decomposition rates associated with moss removal. The positive impact of moss removal on grass biomass was even greater with warming, further supporting this conclusion. In contrast, moss removal reduced dwarf shrub biomass possibly resulting from increased exposure to desiccating winds. An intact moss layer buffered the soil to increased air temperature and as a result there was no response of vascular plant productivity to warming over the course of this study. In fact, moss removal impacts on soil temperature were nearly double those of warming, suggesting that the moss layer is a key component in controlling soil conditions. The moss layer also absorbed nutrients from faeces, promoting moss growth. We conclude that both herbivory and warming influence this high arctic ecosystem but that herbivory is the stronger driver of the two. Disturbance to the moss layer resulted in a shift towards a more grass-dominated system with less abundant mosses and shrubs, a trend that was further enhanced by warming. Thus herbivore impacts to the moss layer are key to understanding arctic ecosystem response to grazing and warming. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transferring ecological information across scale often involves spatial aggregation, which alters information content and may bias estimates if the scaling process is nonlinear. Here, a potential solution, the preservation of the information content of finescale measurements, is highlighted using modeled net ecosystem exchange (NEE) of an Arctic tundra landscape as an example. The variance of aggregated normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), measured from an airborne platform, decreased linearly with log(scale), resulting in a linear relationship between log(scale) and the scale-wise modeled NEE estimate. Preserving three units of information, the mean, variance and skewness of fine-scale NDVI observations, resulted in upscaled NEE estimates that deviated less than 4% from the fine-scale estimate. Preserving only the mean and variance resulted in nearly 23% NEE bias, and preserving only the mean resulted in larger error and a change in sign from CO2 sink to source. Compressing NDVI maps by 70-75% using wavelet thresholding with the Haar and Coiflet basis functions resulted in 13% NEE bias across the study domain. Applying unique scale-dependent transfer functions between NDVI and leaf area index (LAI) decreased, but did not remove, bias in modeled flux in a smaller expanse using handheld NDVI observations. Quantifying the parameters of statistical distributions to preserve ecological information reduces bias when upscaling and makes possible spatial data assimilation to further reduce errors in estimates of ecological processes across scale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The Bering Land Bridge (BLB) connected the two principal arctic biological refugia, Western and Eastern Beringia, during intervals of lowered sea level in the Pleistocene. Fossil evidence from lowland BLB organic deposits dating to the Last Glaciation indicates that this broad region was dominated by shrub tundra vegetation, and had a mesic climate. The dominant ecosystem in Western Beringia and the interior regions of Eastern Beringia was steppe–tundra, with herbaceous plant communities and arid climate. Although Western and Eastern Beringia shared many species in common during the Late Pleistocene, there were a number of species that were restricted to only one side of the BLB. Among the vertebrate fauna, the woolly rhinoceros was found only to the west of the BLB, North American camels, bonnet-horned musk-oxen and some horse species were found only to the east of the land bridge. These were all steppe–tundra inhabitants, adapted to grazing. The same phenomenon can be seen in the insect faunas of the Western and Eastern Beringia. The steppe–tundra beetle fauna of Western Beringia was dominated by weevils of the genus Stephanocleonus, a group that was virtually absent from Eastern Beringia. The dry-adapted weevils, Lepidophorus lineaticollis and Vitavitus thulius were important members of steppe–tundra communities in Eastern Beringia, but were either absent or rare in Western Beringia. The leaf beetles Chrysolina arctica, C. brunnicornis bermani, and Galeruca interrupta circumdata were typical members of the Pleistocene steppe–tundra communities of Western Beringia, but absent from Eastern Beringia. On the other hand, some steppe tundra-adapted leaf beetles managed to occupy both sides of the BLB, such as Phaedon armoraciae. Much of the BLB remains unstudied, but on biogeographic grounds, it appears that there was some kind of biological filter that blocked the movements of some steppe–tundra plants and animals across the BLB. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Terrestrial ecosystems in northern high latitudes exchange large amounts of methane (CH4) with the atmosphere. Climate warming could have a great impact on CH4 exchange, in particular in regions where degradation of permafrost is induced. In order to improve the understanding of the present and future methane dynamics in permafrost regions, we studied CH4 fluxes of typical landscape structures in a small catchment in the forest tundra ecotone in northern Siberia. Gas fluxes were measured using a closed-chamber technique from August to November 2003 and from August 2006 to July 2007 on tree-covered mineral soils with and without permafrost, on a frozen bog plateau, and on a thermokarst pond. For areal integration of the CH4 fluxes, we combined field observations and classification of functional landscape structures based on a high-resolution Quickbird satellite image. All mineral soils were net sinks of atmospheric CH4. The magnitude of annual CH4 uptake was higher for soils without permafrost (1.19 kg CH4 ha−1 yr−1) than for soils with permafrost (0.37 kg CH4 ha−1 yr−1). In well-drained soils, significant CH4 uptake occurred even after the onset of ground frost. Bog plateaux, which stored large amounts of frozen organic carbon, were also a net sink of atmospheric CH4 (0.38 kg CH4 ha−1 yr−1). Thermokarst ponds, which developed from permafrost collapse in bog plateaux, were hot spots of CH4 emission (approximately 200 kg CH4 ha−1 yr−1). Despite the low area coverage of thermokarst ponds (only 2.1% of the total catchment area), emissions from these sites resulted in a mean catchment CH4 emission of 3.8 kg CH4 ha−1 yr−1. Export of dissolved CH4 with stream water was insignificant. The results suggest that mineral soils and bog plateaux in this region will respond differently to increasing temperatures and associated permafrost degradation. Net uptake of atmospheric CH4 in mineral soils is expected to gradually increase with increasing active layer depth and soil drainage. Changes in bog plateaux will probably be much more rapid and drastic. Permafrost collapse in frozen bog plateaux would result in high CH4 emissions that act as positive feedback to climate warming. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Eddy covariance measurements of methane flux were carried out in an arctic tundra landscape in the central Lena River Delta at 72°N. The measurements covered the seasonal course of mid-summer to early winter in 2003 and early spring to mid-summer in 2004, including the periods of spring thaw and autumnal freeze back. The study site is characterized by very cold and deep permafrost and a continental climate with a mean annual air temperature of −14.7 °C. The surface is characterized by wet polygonal tundra, with a micro-relief consisting of raised moderately dry sites, depressed wet sites, polygonal ponds, and lakes. We found relatively low fluxes of typically 30 mg CH4 m−2 day−1 during mid-summer and identified soil temperature and near-surface atmospheric turbulence as the factors controlling methane emission. The influence of atmospheric turbulence was attributed to the high coverage of open water surfaces in the tundra. The soil thaw depth and water table position were found to have no clear effect on methane fluxes. The excess emission during spring thaw was estimated to be about 3% of the total flux measured during June–October. Winter emissions were modeled based on the functional relationships found in the measured data. The annual methane emission was estimated to be 3.15 g m−2. This is low compared with values reported for similar ecosystems. Reason for this were thought to be the very low permafrost temperature in the study region, the sandy soil texture and low bio-availability of nutrients in the soils, and the high surface coverage of moist to dry micro-sites. The methane emission accounted for about 14% of the annual ecosystem carbon balance. Considering the global warming potential of methane, the methane emission turned the tundra into an effective greenhouse gas source. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study was to assess initial effects of warming on the CO2 balance of a lichen-rich dwarf shrub tundra, a widespread but little studied ecosystem type in the Arctic. We analyzed whole ecosystem carbon exchange rates as well as nutrient dynamics, microbial and plant community composition and biomass after 2 years of experimental temperature increase. Plant biomass increased significantly with warming, mainly due to the strong response of lichens, the dominant plant group within this ecosystem. Experimental warming also increased soil nitrogen pools and nitrogen turnover rates. Major changes in soil microbial and plant composition, however, were not detected. Although experimental warming increased gross ecosystem productivity, the higher plant biomass did not compensate for the much greater increase in C losses. Ecosystem respiration and net ecosystem CO2 losses were significantly higher in warmed plots compared to control ones. We suggest that this was due to increased soil respiration, since soil carbon pools were lower in warmed soils, at least in the upper horizons. Our study thus supports the general hypothesis that tundra ecosystems turn from a carbon sink to a carbon source when temperatures increase in the short-term. Since lichens, which produce low quality litter, increased their biomass significantly with warming in this specific ecosystem type, CO2 losses may slow down in the long-term. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Forest–alpine tundra ecotones (FTEs) are dynamic transition zones between forest and alpine tundra ecosystems that play an important role in regulating ecological processes, which are in turn directly influenced by the spatial patterns of trees and environmental constraints such as topography and climate. Our objectives were to characterize the spatial patterns of tree species and size classes, determine whether spatial patterns of trees differed among three FTE types, and examine FTE- and tree-environmental relationships in our study area on Niwot Ridge, CO, USA. Overall, spatial aggregation was more extensive for seedlings than saplings or trees. Distributions were largely random in limber pine but were highly aggregated in Engelmann spruce and especially subalpine fir, reflecting these species’ relative shade tolerance and expected sequence of establishment following disturbance. Fragmented and patchy tree distributions were observed in the FTE with the most heterogeneous topography, characterized by high relief and associated physical disturbances. The least patchy distributions were associated with the FTE containing a relative absence of disturbance. Intermediate levels of tree aggregation were associated with low topographic relief and presence of meadows and wetlands. Our results emphasize the importance of spatial structure as an initial controlling factor of vegetation pattern in FTEs occurring in the same landscape. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: We studied the vertical patterns of δ 15nitrogen in total N and exchangeable NH4 +-N through soil profiles in diverse alpine and tundra ecosystems. Soil samples were analyzed from 11 sites located in three mountain areas: NW Caucasus (Russia), the Khibiny Mountains (NW Russia) and Abisko region (N Sweden). Despite differences in the profile patterns of organic matter, nitrogen accumulation and nitrogen availability, we found consistent patterns of 15N distribution through all studied soil profiles. The δ 15N values of total N were in general about zero or positive in the surface horizon and increased with soil depth. In contrast with total N, the δ 15N values of exchangeable NH4 +-N were in general about zero or negative in the surface horizons and decreased with soil depth. NH4 +-N was significantly 15N-depleted compared with total N in all mineral horizons, while in the surface organic horizons differences between isotopic composition of total N and NH4 +-N were mostly not significant. We do not know the exact mechanism responsible for 15N depletion of NH4 +-N with soil depth and further research needs to evaluate the contributions of natural processes (higher nitrification activity and biological immobilization of “lighter” NH4 +-N near the soil surface) or artifacts of methodological procedure (contribution of the 15N-enriched microbial N and dissolved organic N near the soil surface). Nevertheless, our finding gives a new possibility to interpret variability in foliar δ 15N values of plant species with different rooting depth in alpine and tundra ecosystems, because plants with deeper root systems can probably consume “lighter” rather than “heavier” NH4 +-N. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Studies on terrestrial ecosystems in the high Arctic region have focused on the response of these ecosystems to global environmental change and their carbon sequestration capacity in relation to ecosystem function. We report here our study of the photosynthetic characteristics and biomass distribution of the dominant vascular plant species, Salix polaris, Dryas octopetala and Saxifraga oppositifolia, in the high Arctic tundra ecosystem at Ny-Ålesund, Svalbard (78.5°N, 11.5°E). We also estimated net primary production (NPP) along both the successional gradient created by the proglacial chronosequence and the topographical gradient. The light-saturated photosynthesis rate ( A max) differed among the species, with approximately 124.1 nmol CO2 g−1leaf s−1 for Sal. polaris, 57.8 for D. octopetala and 24.4 for Sax. oppositifolia, and was highly correlated with the leaf nitrogen (N) content for all three species. The photosynthetic N use efficiency was the highest in Sal. polaris and lowest in Sax. oppositifolia. Distributions of Sal. polaris and D. octopetala were restricted to the area where soil nutrient availability was high, while Sax. oppositifolia was able to establish at the front of a glacier, where nutrient availability is low, but tended to be dominated by other vascular plants in high nutrient areas. The NPP reflected the photosynthetic capacity and biomass distribution in that it increased with the successional status; the contribution of Sal. polaris reached as high as 12-fold that of Sax. oppositifolia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

1. Plant species affect ecosystem carbon uptake via biomass production and carbon release via decomposition processes. Differences in their responses to climate change and effects on ecosystem carbon cycling processes may thus feedback to the atmospheric carbon balance and the climate at a global scale. Hierarchical species classifications based on plant growth forms are widely used in cold, northern biomes to generalize and predict these differences. This review investigates the usefulness of broad (vascular, non-vascular), intermediate (woody, non-woody) and narrow (evergreen shrubs, deciduous shrubs, graminoids, forbs) plant growth-form-based groups in these biomes for predicting plant responses to climate change and effects on the main processes of the full carbon cycle by looking at the similarity of species within growth-form groups and the consistency of differences among groups under changing environmental conditions. 2. Production responses to climate change differ between broad growth-form groups, but their opposite responses do not imply that the responses of non-vascular plants are consistently negative. Within vascular growth forms, production responses to climate change are not always similar among species under identical conditions, and average differences among narrow vascular growth forms are usually small. Moreover, differences in production responses among growth forms strongly depend upon the duration of the study, the region and the ecosystem type. 3. Species within narrow growth forms show a high similarity for a range of leaf litter chemistry variables and differences among narrow growth forms are often large and consistent. However, differences in leaf litter decomposability are large between broad growth-form groups, but small and environment-dependent among important narrow vascular growth forms. Litter feedback effects to plant production vary among narrow vascular growth forms, but the differences strongly depend on the study duration. Data on the climate dependence of growth-form differences regarding this aspect of the carbon cycle are currently lacking. 4. Synthesis: Overall, the usefulness of growth-form-based groups clearly differs between carbon cycling processes. Different aggregation levels are therefore needed for different processes. For most processes there is evidence that the differences among growth forms depend on environmental conditions, which hampers their use for generalizations and modelling. Future studies should therefore explicitly test for differences among growth-form groups and aim to unravel the dependence of growth-form differences on environmental conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Boreal and Tundra ecosystems of the mid to high latitudes are sensitive indicators of environmental impacts from both climate change and direct human activities. This study uses inter-annual and inter-seasonal SPOT-VGT mosaics for recent years from 1998 to 2005 covering the entire boreal ecosystems of northern Eurasia. Linear trends could be detected in the NDVI and NDWI time series that differ by season, land-cover type, and latitude. Significant positive NDVI trends are described for spring and related negative trends for NDWI over the boreal forest zone. They indicate an earlier onset of the vegetation green-up. Similar vegetation dynamics can be described for autumn. The tundra ecosystems of the northern Eurasia latitudes exhibit trends of negative NDVI and positive NDWI. This may be explained by earlier snowmelt and increasing amounts of surface water from positive temperature anomalies. The non-ambiguous coarse-scale indicators require further detailed studies to identify driving factors and amount for positive feedbacks in boreal ecosystems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines long-term eddy covariance data from 18 European and 17 North American and Asian forest, wetland, tundra, grassland, and cropland sites under non-water-stressed conditions with an empirical rectangular hyperbolic light response model and a single layer two light-class carboxylase-based model. Relationships according to ecosystem functional type are demonstrated between empirical and physiological parameters, suggesting linkages between easily estimated parameters and those with greater potential for process interpretation. Relatively sparse documentation of leaf area index dynamics at flux tower sites is found to be a major difficulty in model inversion and flux interpretation. Therefore, a simplification of the physiological model is carried out for a subset of European network sites with extensive ancillary data. The results from these selected sites are used to derive a new parameter and means for comparing empirical and physiologically based methods across all sites, regardless of ancillary data. The results from the European analysis are then compared with results from the other Northern Hemisphere sites and similar relationships for the simplified process-based parameter were found to hold for European, North American, and Asian temperate and boreal climate zones. This parameter is useful for bridging between flux network observations and continental scale spatial simulations of vegetation/atmosphere carbon dioxide exchange. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We synthesize recent results from lake-sediment studies of Holocene fire-climate-vegetation interactions in Alaskan boreal ecosystems. At the millennial time scale, the most robust feature of these records is an increase in fire occurrence with the establishment of boreal forests dominated by Picea mariana: estimated mean fire-return intervals decreased from ≥300 yrs to as low as ∼80 yrs. This fire-vegetation relationship occurred at all sites in interior Alaska with charcoal-based fire reconstructions, regardless of the specific time of P. mariana arrival during the Holocene. The establishment of P. mariana forests was associated with a regional climatic trend toward cooler/wetter conditions. Because such climatic change should not directly enhance fire occurrence, the increase in fire frequency most likely reflects the influence of highly flammable P. mariana forests, which are more conducive to fire ignition and spread than the preceding vegetation types (tundra, and woodlands/forests dominated by Populus or Picea glauca). Increased lightning associated with altered atmospheric circulation may have also played a role in certain areas where fire frequency increased around 4000 calibrated years before present (BP) without an apparent increase in the abundance of P. mariana. When viewed together, the paleo-fire records reveal that fire histories differed among sites in the same modern fire regime and that the fire regime and plant community similar to those of today became established at different times. Thus the spatial array of regional fire regimes was non-static through the Holocene. However, the patterns and causes of the spatial variation remain largely unknown. Advancing our understanding of climate-fire-vegetation interactions in the Alaskan boreal biome will require a network of charcoal records across various ecoregions, quantitative paleoclimate reconstructions, and improved knowledge of how sedimentary charcoal records fire events. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We applied a terrestrial net primary production (NPP) model driven by satellite remote sensing observations of vegetation properties and daily surface meteorology from a regional weather forecast model to assess NPP spatial and temporal variability for the pan-Arctic basin and Alaska from 1982 to 2000. Our results show a general decadal trend of increasing NPP for the region of approximately 2.7%, with respective higher (3.4%) and lower (2.2%) rates for North America and Eurasia. NPP is both spatially and temporally dynamic for the region, driven largely by differences in productivity rates among major biomes and temporal changes in photosynthetic canopy structure and spring and summer air temperatures. Mean annual NPP for boreal forests was approximately 3 times greater than for Arctic tundra on a unit area basis and accounted for approximately 55% of total annual carbon sequestration for the region. The timing of growing season onset inferred from regional network measurements of atmospheric CO2 drawdown in spring was inversely proportional to annual NPP calculations. Our findings indicate that recent regional warming trends in spring and summer and associated advances in the growing season are stimulating net photosynthesis and annual carbon sequestration by vegetation at high latitudes, partially mitigating anthropogenic increases in atmospheric CO2. These results also imply that regional sequestration and storage of atmospheric CO2 is being altered, with potentially greater instability and acceleration of the carbon cycle at high latitudes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Shifts in the carbon balance of high-latitude ecosystems could result from differential responses of vegetation and soil processes to changing moisture and temperature regimes and to a lengthening of the growing season. Although shrub expansion and northward movement of treeline should increase carbon inputs, the effects of these vegetation changes on net carbon exchange have not been evaluated. We selected low shrub, tall shrub, and forest tundra sites near treeline in northwestern Alaska, representing the major structural transitions expected in response to warming. In these sites, we measured aboveground net primary production (ANPP) and vegetation and soil carbon and nitrogen pools, and used these data to parameterize the Terrestrial Ecosystem Model. We simulated the response of carbon balance components to air temperature and precipitation trends during 1981-2000. In areas experiencing warmer and dryer conditions, Net Primary Production (NPP) decreased and heterotrophic respiration (RH) increased, leading to a decrease in Net Ecosystem Production (NEP). In warmer and wetter conditions NPP increased, but the response was exceeded by an increase in RH; therefore, NEP also decreased. Lastly, in colder and wetter regions, the increase in NPP exceeded a small decline in RH, leading to an increase in NEP. The net effect for the region was a slight gain in ecosystem carbon storage over the 20 year period. This research highlights the potential importance of spatial variability in ecosystem responses to climate change in assessing the response of carbon storage in northern Alaska over the last two decades. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[1] We used a simple hydrological-biogeochemical mixing model to test the hypothesis that export of total organic carbon occurring mainly during spring in taiga and tundra watersheds might be compensated by production and export of bicarbonate (HCO3-) from groundwater during the rest of the year. The investigated watersheds are located in northern Sweden close to the Arctic Circle. An elevated spring flow peak due to snowmelt characterizes the hydrology of boreal and arctic river systems. During this snowmelt, total organic carbon (TOC), previously stored as soil carbon, is flushed and exported from the watersheds, and can be released to the atmosphere via heterotrophic remineralization during riverine transport to the sea, thereby contributing to atmospheric CO2. The TOC yields of the watersheds investigated increased with vegetation and peat cover and ranged across watersheds from 0.5 to 2.8 tons km-2 yr-1. During frozen periods, streamflow is dominated by ‘old’ groundwater. This water has percolated through the soils and is rich in DSi and bicarbonate; that is, atmospheric carbon that has been ‘consumed’ in chemical weathering processes is partly exported as bicarbonate to the sea, where carbon is stored as CaCO3 for geological time. The bicarbonate export of the watersheds investigated was between 0.4 and 1.2 tons C km-2 yr-1 corresponding to 15–73% of the TOC export. Very likely, global warming will affect water flow through the soils in taiga and tundra ecosystems and thus will have an effect on watershed carbon budgets. This bicarbonate export may compensate for significant amounts of the exported TOC, thereby reducing the positive feedback to atmospheric CO2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Alpine tundra ecosystems are characterised by low productivity, due in part to low nutrient availability. These ecosystems are often dominated by ‘stress tolerant’ species such as Empetrum hermaphroditum, which contribute to stress by producing and releasing biologically active phenolic compounds into the environment. In a nine-year field experiment in alpine tundra, we investigated changes in growth and the levels (concentrations and contents) of foliar redox-active phenolics of current-year shoots of E. hermaphroditum in response to nine long-term environmental manipulation treatments. The treatments were aimed at reducing ecological stresses commonly present in high-latitude ecosystems, primarily stresses associated with low availability of N and other nutrients. Treatments included additions of various forms of N (single and combined applications of NH4+ and NO3−, inorganic N as a component of a full nutrient treatment, and protein as a source of organic N), and additions of glucose, activated carbon, and lime. Shoot growth and levels of foliar phenolics varied greatly between years, but the variation was not clearly explained by the inter-annual variation in macroclimate. Addition of inorganic N generally stimulated growth (especially stem biomass) and increased levels of leaf phenolics. The responses were, however, slow, and varied both between years and between individual inorganic N treatments. Compared to the other treatments, application of inorganic N as a component of a full nutrient treatment had the most consistent positive effect on shoot growth and phenolic content, but it did not affect the concentration of phenolics, suggesting that the treatment did not affect the net rate of phenolic production per unit shoot biomass. During some years of the experiment, the combined application of NH4+ and NO3− resulted in increased production of phenolics per unit biomass accumulation. In contrast to inorganic N fertilisation, application of organic N generally reduced both shoot biomass and phenolic content. Non-N treatments had no substantial effects on either the growth or levels of foliar phenolics of E. hermaphroditum. The observed long-term responses of E. hermaphroditum to environmental manipulation treatments may be important for evaluating potential effects of variation in phenolics production and interference potential of this species under conditions of environmental change and for predicting long-term responses of nutrient-poor communities to environmental changes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

1 In the northern foothills of the Brooks Range, Alaska, moist non-acidic tundra dominates more recently deglaciated upland landscapes, whereas moist acidic tundra dominates older upland landscapes. In previous studies, experimental fertilization of moist acidic tussock tundra greatly increased the abundance and productivity of the deciduous dwarf shrub Betula nana. However, this species is largely absent from moist non-acidic tundra. 2 These two common upland tundra community types exhibited markedly different responses to fertilization with nitrogen and phosphorus. In moist acidic tundra, cover of deciduous shrubs (primarily B. nana) increased after only 2 years, and by 4 years vascular biomass and above-ground net primary productivity (ANPP) had increased significantly, almost entirely because of Betula. In moist non-acidic tundra, both biomass and ANPP were again significantly greater, but no single species dominated the response to fertilization. Instead, the effect was due to a combination of several small, sometimes statistically non-significant responses by forbs, graminoids and prostrate deciduous shrubs. 3 The different growth form and species’ responses suggest that fertilization will cause carbon cycling through plant biomass to diverge in these two tundra ecosystems. Already, production of new stems by apical growth has increased relative to leaf production in acidic tundra, whereas the opposite has occurred in non-acidic tundra. Secondary stem growth has also increased as a component of primary production in acidic tundra, but is unchanged in non-acidic tundra. Thus, fertilization will probably increase carbon sequestration in woody biomass of B. nana in acidic tundra, while increasing carbon turnover (but not storage) of non-woody species in non-acidic tundra. 4 These results indicate that nutrient enrichment can have very different consequences for plant communities that occur on different geological substrates, because of differences in composition, even though they share the same regional species pool. Although the specific edaphic factors that maintain compositional differences in this case are unknown, variation in soil pH and related variability in soil nutrient availability may well play a role. Journal of Ecology (2005) doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2745.2005.01006.x [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At northern high latitudes, biosphere responses to and interactions with climate warming are expected to be significant during the 21st century. Most predictions of climate-biosphere interactions rely on experiments and observations in contemporary landscapes, e.g., modem distributions of vegetation types and their structural features are used to delimit potential biosphere-atmosphere feedbacks. Paleorecords look beyond the present to examine vegetation configurations under climatic regimes that approximate future scenarios. To enhance the knowledge of arctic and subarctic ecosystems under varying climatic conditions, we analyzed pollen and macrofossil data from Beringia (northeast Siberia, Alaska, and northwest Canada; 130° E to 130° W) over the past 21 000 years, with a focus on structural and functional features of the vegetation. During the early Holocene (∼ 13 000- 10 000 cal yr BP), shrub tundra ecosystems responded to climate warming through a shift from shrub tundra to deciduous forest or woodland. Early-Holocene vegetation was structurally, and hence functionally, novel compared with today's dominant vegetation types. "Modern" boreal forest developed in the mid-Holocene (∼ 10 000-6000 cal yr BP), when evergreen conifers expanded in much of the region. The shift froth tundra to deciduous forest could have happened rapidly and in situ as the result of individual (phenotypic) and/ or population-scale responses to climate warming. Because the structural and functional properties of deciduous forest differ from those of evergreen coniferous forest and tundra, deciduous boreal forest should be included in the range of future scenarios used to assess the probable feedbacks of vegetation to the climatic system that result from global warming at northern high latitudes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This study examines the carbon and nitrogen stocks of soils and vegetation in different frost-boil tundra microsites (rims, troughs and bare soil patches) and aims at elucidating differences in controls of organic matter turnover. Troughs, the wettest microsite, stored the greatest part of soil C and N (23.9 and 1.7kgm−2, respectively), while drier rims held only 50% and bare soil patches only about 17% of the C and N found in troughs. Both C and N mineralization rates were higher in rims compared to troughs, suggesting a higher turnover of organic matter in rims. On an areal basis N was predominantly mineralized in mineral horizons, while C mineralization was more or less equally distributed between organic and mineral horizons. Thus, atmospheric warming, which has a stronger effect on the upper soil layers, may increase C mineralization to a higher extent than N mineralization (mainly located in lower soil layers). This suggests that frost-boil tundra ecosystems may be (at least in the short-term) sources of CO2 to the atmosphere. Furthermore, the combined results of gross N mineralization and net N mineralization measurements showed a higher microbial sink strength for N in rims compared to troughs, suggesting that decomposition of organic material in rims is controlled mainly by N availability, while the main factor constraining decomposition in troughs may be unfavourable hydrothermal conditions. This may lead to differential responses of frost-boil tundra microsites to changing climatic conditions. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

A negative, linear relationship between thermal emissions and a spectral vegetation index has been demonstrated for numerous mid-latitude ecosystems. In this study, it is hypothesized that the relationship between surface temperature and the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) will be linear, but positive in Arctic tundra ecosystems due to the contrast between warm vegetation and the cold soil/moss background. This hypothesis is tested using Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) data collected over the North Slope of Alaska on three days during the summer of 1999. Results of the study generally provide support for this hypothesis. However, a consistent relationship observed across two contrasting physiographic provinces on one study day was shown to change the following day and could not be readily explained by differences in satellite zenith angle or observed air temperature. Surface temperatures are shown to respond directly to spatial and temporal variations in air temperature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While population cycles are geographically widespread, it is on arctic tundra that such cycles appear to be most influential for the functioning of the whole ecosystem. We give an overview of tundra species that exhibit population cycles and describe what are currently believed lo he the causal mechanisms. Population cycles most likely originate from trophic interactions within the plant-based tundra food web, where lemmings, either as prey for carnivores or as consumers of plants, play the key role. The predominance of trophic interaction cycles at northern latitudes is ultimately related to climate, and such cycles should therefore be vulnerable to climate change. Recent evidence indicates that changes have already taken place in the dynamics of some key herbivores and their predators, consistent with the expected impacts of climate change. There is a strong need for large-scale integrated monitoring and research efforts to further document such changes and their ecosystem consequences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We tested the hypothesis that large herbivores manipulate their own food supply by modifying soil nutrient availability. This was investigated experimentally the impact of faeces on grasses, mosses and soil biological properties in tundra ecosystems. For this, we increased the density of reindeer Rangifer tarandus platyrhynchus faeces and studied the response of a tundra system on Spitsbergen to this single faecal addition treatment for four subsequent years. From the third year onwards faecal addition had unambiguously enhanced the standing crop of grasses, as evidenced by an increase in both shoot density and mass per shoot. Although reindeer grazing across experimental plots was positively related to the abundance of grasses in anyone year, the increase in grass abundance in fouled plots failed to result in greater grazing pressure in those plots. Faecal addition enhanced soil microbial biomass C and N, particularly under wet conditions where faecal decay rates were greatest, whilst grasses appeared to benefit from faeces under dry conditions. Whilst growth of grasses and soil microbial biomass were stimulated by faecal addition, the depth of the extensive moss layer that is typical of tundra ecosystems was significantly reduced in fouled plots four years after faecal addition. The greatest reduction in moss depth occurred where fouling increased soil microbial biomass most, suggesting that enhanced decomposition of moss by a more abundant microbial community may have caused the reduced moss layer depth in fouled plots. Our field experiment demonstrates that by the production of faeces alone, vertebrate herbivores greatly impact on both above- and belowground components of tundra ecosystems and in doing so manipulate their own food supply. Our findings verify the assertion that grazing is of fundamental importance to tundra ecosystem productivity, and support the hypothesis that herbivory is instrumental in promoting grasses whilst suppressing mosses. The widely observed inverse relationship between grass and moss abundance in the field may therefore reflect the long history of plant-herbivore interactions in tundra ecosystems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Carbon assimilation and allocation were studied in a tundra ecosystem in northern Scandinavia. Seasonal variation in the below-ground carbon allocation to dissolved organic carbon (DOC), coarse-, fine-, and hair roots was investigated using in situ 14C pulse-labelling, adding 2–3 MBq 14CO2 dm−2 to the above-ground vegetation. Combining the allocation data with regression models of the seasonal carbon flux made it possible to estimate a temporally explicit ecosystem carbon allocation budget.The ecosystem was a net source of CO2, losing on average 0.97 g C m−2 d−1 to the atmosphere, with little variation through the season. There was, however, significant temporal variation in partitioning of recently assimilated carbon. Allocation to below-ground compartments over 32 days following labelling increased from 18% in June to 55% in September. Above-ground allocation showed the opposite trend. Hair roots and DOC were strong sinks in the autumn. Transport of newly assimilated carbon occurred rapidly throughout the season, 14C appearing in all sampled pools within 4 h of labelling.The seasonal variation in carbon partitioning observed in this study has implications for the residence time of assimilated carbon in the ecosystem. A relatively greater allocation to rapidly decomposing pools, such as hair roots and DOC, would tend to reduce incorporation into woody tissue, increasing the overall rate of carbon cycling and decreasing ecosystem storage. The results of this study will be of value for building and validating mechanistic models of ecosystem carbon flow in tundra and subarctic ecosystems. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This study explores the relationship between the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), aboveground plant biomass, and ecosystem C fluxes including gross ecosystem production (GEP), ecosystem respiration (ER) and net ecosystem production. We measured NDVI across long-term experimental treatments in wet sedge tundra at the Toolik Lake LTER site, in northern Alaska. Over 13 years, N and P were applied in factorial experiments (N, P and N + P), air temperature was increased using greenhouses with and without N + P fertilizer, and light intensity (photosynthetically active photon flux density) was reduced by 50% using shade cloth. Within each treatment plot, NDVI, aboveground biomass and whole-system CO2 flux measurements were made at the same sampling points during the peak-growing season of 2001. We found that across all treatments, NDVI is correlated with aboveground biomass (r2=0.84), GEP (r2=0.75) and ER (r2=0.71), providing a basis for linking remotely sensed NDVI to aboveground biomass and ecosystem carbon flux. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Rising air temperatures are believed to be hastening heterotrophic respiration (Rh ) in arctic tundra ecosystems, which could lead to substantial losses of soil carbon (C). In order to improve confidence in predicting the likelihood of such loss, the comprehensive ecosystem model ecosys was first tested with carbon dioxide (CO2 ) fluxes measured over a tundra soil in a growth chamber under various temperatures and soil-water contents (θ). The model was then tested with CO2 and energy fluxes measured over a coastal arctic tundra near Barrow, Alaska, under a range of weather conditions during 1998–1999. A rise in growth chamber temperature from 7 to 15 °C caused large, but commensurate, rises in respiration and CO2 fixation, and so no significant effect on net CO2 exchange was modelled or measured. An increase in growth chamber θ from field capacity to saturation caused substantial reductions in respiration but not in CO2 fixation, and so an increase in net CO2 exchange was modelled and measured. Long daylengths over the coastal tundra at Barrow caused an almost continuous C sink to be modelled and measured during most of July (2–4 g C m-2 d-1 ), but shortening daylengths and declining air temperatures caused a C source to be modelled and measured by early September (∼1 g C m-2 d-1 ). At an annual time scale, the coastal tundra was modelled to be a small C sink (4 g C m-2 y-1 ) during 1998 when average air temperatures were 4 °C above normal, and a larger C sink (16 g C m-2 y-1 ) during 1999 when air temperatures were close to long-term normals. During 100 years under rising atmospheric CO2 concentration (Ca ), air temperature and precipitation driven by the IS92a emissions scenario, modelled Rh rose commensurately with... [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focuses on the forest-tundra, a term used to describe the transition zone where the subalpine forest and alpine tundra communities meet. Description of the forest-tundra; Development of biogeographical models to predict the future development of the earth's major biomes; Examination of the global and local structural components of the sub-arctic forest-tundra and their ability to be used as climate-sensitive markers.

Abstract1. Eddy covariance was used to measure the net CO2 flux of Alaskan moist-tussock and wet-sedge tundra ecosystems between 1 June and 31 August 1995. The sites were located within 2·5 km of each other and, depending on wind speed and thermal stability, the eddy-covariance measurements integrated surface fluxes over 0·8–26·5 ha (mean 3·8 ha) at the moist-tussock site and 0·1–4·2 ha (mean 0·6) at the wet-sedge site. 2. Both sites were net sinks for atmospheric CO2 during the 92-day measurement period but wet-sedge tundra accumulated 1·5 times more CO2 than moist-tussock tundra. Wet-sedge tundra was a net CO2 sink of -6·4 mol m-2 and moist-tussock tundra was a net sink of -4·6 mol m-2 over the June–August measurement period. 3. Estimates of whole-ecosystem respiration (R) were made using multiple non-linear regression by quantifying the response of measured nocturnal CO2 efflux (Fn) to fluctuations in air temperature and water-table depth (r2 = 0·68). Partial regression analysis revealed that water-table depth explained relatively more of the variance in Fn (45%) than temperature (11%). R was estimated to be 14·9 mol m-2 for moist-tussock tundra and 5·4 mol m-2 for wet-sedge tundra over the 92-day measurement period. The large difference in R was apparently owing to a substantially higher water table in wet-sedge tundra. 4. Estimated rates of gross primary production (GPP), calculated from measured net CO2 flux and estimated R, were 40% lower for wet-sedge tundra over the 92-day measurement period. Rates of GPP integrated over diel (24 h) periods were substantially larger for moist-tussock tundra ecosystems throughout June and July but during the month of August, total diel rates of GPP for moist-tussock and wet-sedge tundra were... [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Examines the annual exchange of carbon dioxide between the atmosphere and moist tussock and dry heath tundra ecosystems under ambient field conditions and under increased winter snow deposition, increased summer temperatures or both. Methodology of the study; Results and discussion on the study.

Presents research which showed that rapid changes to ecosystem processes will be superimposed upon and modulated by differences in substrate pH. Studies of trace-gas flux in the Arctic; Factors in land-atmosphere exchange; Soil pH boundary along the Arctic Foothills, Alaska, separating ecosystems; Traits of non-acidic tundra.

Determines the effects of climatic changes on the community and the ecosystem processes in moist tussock tundra near Toolik Lake, Alaska. Comparison between the long-term and short-term responses of the community to the climatic changes; Nutrient availability; Growth-form composition; Net primary production; Species richness.

The objectives of this study were to assess the roles of plant species, time, and site on competition for tracer 15N (without carrier) in tussock tundra ecosystems. Six experimental sites were located in northern Alaska. After one year across the experimental sites, the recovery of 15N by litter (11.3-16.3%) and mosses (5.4-16.4%) was significantly greater than for aboveground vascular plants (2.6-5.0%). 15N recoveries by tundra vascular plants (2.6-5.0%) were low when compared to forest trees (9-25%) which suggest that competition for nitrogen is particularly severe in these cold-dominated tundra ecosystems. There were no significant differences among sites in 15N recoveries by vascular plants, by mosses, or by litter. There was a statistically significant decline in 15N recovery with time for Vaccinium vitis-idaea and Eriophorum vaginatum between the second and third year. The shallow rooted Vaccinium vitis-ideae was more highly labeled than the deep rooted Eriophorum vaginatum. Nearness to the source of the applied 15N played a critical role in competition for surface applied nitrogen. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Examines the terrestrial arctic tundra ecosystems. Function of the heat-limited terrestrial systems; Impact of native and Euro-North American peoples in northern systems; Consumption of fresh meat by Inuit and dogs in arctic communities.

The article focuses on the study that contains historical records of biotic responses on climate changes in Alaska. According to the data, high-latitude regions are more affected from the climate change. The study analyzes the pollen records from the north-central part of the country and examines the combination of drier climates and shrubbier tundra at the glacial period of 14,000 to 10,000 years ago, which also contributed to regular fires. The study reveals that increase in shrub biomass and temperature, and tundra fire activity may increase again as an outcome for vegetation dynamics and carbon cycling. The study believes that the findings are accurate with models forecasting a conversion of tundra to boreal forest.