Recent expansion of erect shrubs in the Low Arctic: evidence from Eastern Nunavik
By B. Tremblay, E. Lévesque, S. Boudreau. 2012
139 citations recorded by the source corpus.
In order to characterize shrub response near the treeline in Eastern Nunavik (Québec), a region under extensive warming since the 1990s, we compared two series (1964 and 2003) of vertical aerial photos from the vicinity of Kangiqsualujjuaq. Our study revealed a widespread increase in erect woody vegetation cover. During the 40 years spanning the two photo series, erect shrub and tree cover increased markedly on more than half of the land surface available for new colonization or infilling. Within the 7.2 km2 analysed, areas with dense shrub and tree cover (>90%) increased from 34% to 44% whereas areas with low cover (<10%) shrank from 45% to 29%. This increase in cover of trees and shrubs occurred throughout the landscape regardless of altitude, slope angle and exposure, although to varying extents. The main shrub species involved in this increase was Betula glandulosa Michx. (dwarf birch), which was present in 98% and dominant in 85% of the 345 plots. In addition, numerous seedlings and saplings of Larix laricina (Du Roi) K Koch (eastern larch) were found above the treeline (25% of the plots), suggesting that the altitudinal treeline might shift upslope in the near future. Sites that remained devoid of erect woody vegetation in 2003 were either characterized by the absence of a suitable seedbed or by harsh local microclimatic conditions (wind exposure or excessive drainage). Our results indicate dramatic increases in shrub and tree cover at a Low Arctic site in Eastern Nunavik, contributing to a growing number of observations of woody vegetation change from various areas around the North.
Subfields: Atmospheric Science
View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/45242fe0f6e085bcfb60508a9c2256b1338dfe4b
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In Atmospheric Science
Citations in the corpus
- Arctic tundra shrubification: a review of mechanisms and impacts on ecosystem carbon balance (2021, background): “…photography has revealed tundra shrubification in Alaska (Sturm et al 2001b, Tape et al 2006, 2012, Brodie et al 2019), western Canada (Danby et al 2011,Mackay andBurn 2011,Moffat et al 2016), eastern Canada (Fraser et al 2011, Tremblay et al 2012), and southwest Greenland (Jørgensen et al 2013).”