Climate sensitivity of shrub growth across the tundra biome
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Climate sensitivity of shrub growth across the tundra biome. / Myers-Smith, Isla H; Elmendorf, Sarah C; Beck, Pieter S.A.; Wilmking, Martin; Hallinger, Martin; Blok, Daan; Tape, Ken D.; Rayback, Shelly A.; Macias-Fauria, Marc; Forbes, Bruce C.; Speed, James; Boulanger-Lapointe, Noémie; Rixen, Christian; Lévesque, Esther; Schmidt, Niels Martin; Baittinger, Claudia; Trant, Andrew; Hermanutz, Luise; Collier, Laura Siegwart; Dawes, Melissa; Lantz, Trevor; Weijers, Stef; Jørgensen, Rasmus Halfdan; Buchwal, Agata; Buras, Allan; Naito, Adam; Ravolainen, Virve; Schaepman-Strub, Gabriela; Wheeler, Julia; Wipf, Sonja; Guay, Kevin; Hik, David S.; Vellend, Mark.
In: Nature Climate Change, Vol. 5, 2015, p. 887-891.Research output: Contribution to journal › Letter › Research › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Climate sensitivity of shrub growth across the tundra biome
AU - Myers-Smith, Isla H
AU - Elmendorf, Sarah C
AU - Beck, Pieter S.A.
AU - Wilmking, Martin
AU - Hallinger, Martin
AU - Blok, Daan
AU - Tape, Ken D.
AU - Rayback, Shelly A.
AU - Macias-Fauria, Marc
AU - Forbes, Bruce C.
AU - Speed, James
AU - Boulanger-Lapointe, Noémie
AU - Rixen, Christian
AU - Lévesque, Esther
AU - Schmidt, Niels Martin
AU - Baittinger, Claudia
AU - Trant, Andrew
AU - Hermanutz, Luise
AU - Collier, Laura Siegwart
AU - Dawes, Melissa
AU - Lantz, Trevor
AU - Weijers, Stef
AU - Jørgensen, Rasmus Halfdan
AU - Buchwal, Agata
AU - Buras, Allan
AU - Naito, Adam
AU - Ravolainen, Virve
AU - Schaepman-Strub, Gabriela
AU - Wheeler, Julia
AU - Wipf, Sonja
AU - Guay, Kevin
AU - Hik, David S.
AU - Vellend, Mark
N1 - CENPERM[2015]
PY - 2015
Y1 - 2015
N2 - Rapid climate warming in the tundra biome has been linkedto increasing shrub dominance1–4. Shrub expansion can modifyclimate by altering surface albedo, energy and water balance,and permafrost2,5–8, yet the drivers of shrub growthremain poorly understood. Dendroecological data consistingof multi-decadal time series of annual shrub growth providean underused resource to explore climate–growth relationships.Here, we analyse circumpolar data from 37 Arcticand alpine sites in 9 countries, including 25 species, and42,000 annual growth records from 1,821 individuals. Ouranalyses demonstrate that the sensitivity of shrub growth toclimate was: (1) heterogeneous, with European sites showinggreater summer temperature sensitivity than North Americansites, and (2) higher at sites with greater soil moisture andfor taller shrubs (for example, alders and willows) growingat their northern or upper elevational range edges. Acrosslatitude, climate sensitivity of growth was greatest at theboundary between the Low and High Arctic, where permafrostis thawing4 and most of the global permafrost soil carbon poolis stored9. The observed variation in climate–shrub growthrelationships should be incorporated into Earth system modelsto improve future projections of climate change impacts acrossthe tundra biome.
AB - Rapid climate warming in the tundra biome has been linkedto increasing shrub dominance1–4. Shrub expansion can modifyclimate by altering surface albedo, energy and water balance,and permafrost2,5–8, yet the drivers of shrub growthremain poorly understood. Dendroecological data consistingof multi-decadal time series of annual shrub growth providean underused resource to explore climate–growth relationships.Here, we analyse circumpolar data from 37 Arcticand alpine sites in 9 countries, including 25 species, and42,000 annual growth records from 1,821 individuals. Ouranalyses demonstrate that the sensitivity of shrub growth toclimate was: (1) heterogeneous, with European sites showinggreater summer temperature sensitivity than North Americansites, and (2) higher at sites with greater soil moisture andfor taller shrubs (for example, alders and willows) growingat their northern or upper elevational range edges. Acrosslatitude, climate sensitivity of growth was greatest at theboundary between the Low and High Arctic, where permafrostis thawing4 and most of the global permafrost soil carbon poolis stored9. The observed variation in climate–shrub growthrelationships should be incorporated into Earth system modelsto improve future projections of climate change impacts acrossthe tundra biome.
U2 - 10.1038/nclimate2697
DO - 10.1038/nclimate2697
M3 - Letter
VL - 5
SP - 887
EP - 891
JO - Nature Climate Change
JF - Nature Climate Change
SN - 1758-678X
ER -
ID: 141254949