Shrub expansion in tundra ecosystems: dynamics, impacts and research priorities
By I. Myers-Smith, Bruce C. Forbes, M. Wilmking, M. Hallinger, Trevor C. Lantz, D. Blok, K. Tape, M. Macias‐Fauria, U. Sass-Klaassen, E. Lévesque and 22 more. Environmental Research Letters, 2011
1,389 citations recorded by the source corpus.
Recent research using repeat photography, long-term ecological monitoring and dendrochronology has documented shrub expansion in arctic, high-latitude and alpine tundra ecosystems. Here, we (1) synthesize these findings, (2) present a conceptual framework that identifies mechanisms and constraints on shrub increase, (3) explore causes, feedbacks and implications of the increased shrub cover in tundra ecosystems, and (4) address potential lines of investigation for future research. Satellite observations from around the circumpolar Arctic, showing increased productivity, measured as changes in ‘greenness’, have coincided with a general rise in high-latitude air temperatures and have been partly attributed to increases in shrub cover. Studies indicate that warming temperatures, changes in snow cover, altered disturbance regimes as a result of permafrost thaw, tundra fires, and anthropogenic activities or changes in herbivory intensity are all contributing to observed changes in shrub abundance. A large-scale increase in shrub cover will change the structure of tundra ecosystems and alter energy fluxes, regional climate, soil–atmosphere exchange of water, carbon and nutrients, and ecological interactions between species. In order to project future rates of shrub expansion and understand the feedbacks to ecosystem and climate processes, future research should investigate the species or trait-specific responses of shrubs to climate change including: (1) the temperature sensitivity of shrub growth, (2) factors controlling the recruitment of new individuals, and (3) the relative influence of the positive and negative feedbacks involved in shrub expansion.
Subfields: Atmospheric Science
View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/a0fcd05c2eea25d1077cf0c58e0d353ef5104aab
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In Atmospheric Science
Citations in the corpus
- The snow and the willows: earlier spring snowmelt reduces performance in the low‐lying alpine shrub Salix herbacea (2016, background): “Shrub encroachment, the expansion and increased growth of shrub communities as a response to climate change, is occurring at an unprecedented rate in many tundra ecosystems (e.g. Myers-Smith et al. 2011; Elmendorf et al. 2012).”
- Savanna woody encroachment is widespread across three continents (2017, neutral): “Woody encroachment, the increase in woody biomass, stem densities or woody cover, is a symptom of an alteration in ecosystem processes; it has been documented across continents and biomes (Myers-Smith et al. , 2011; Murphy et al. , 2014; O’Connor et al. , 2014).”