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Status and trends in Arctic vegetation: Evidence from experimental warming and long-term monitoring

  • Terrestrial Biodiversity in a Rapidly Changing Arctic
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Abstract

Changes in Arctic vegetation can have important implications for trophic interactions and ecosystem functioning leading to climate feedbacks. Plot-based vegetation surveys provide detailed insight into vegetation changes at sites around the Arctic and improve our ability to predict the impacts of environmental change on tundra ecosystems. Here, we review studies of changes in plant community composition and phenology from both long-term monitoring and warming experiments in Arctic environments. We find that Arctic plant communities and species are generally sensitive to warming, but trends over a period of time are heterogeneous and complex and do not always mirror expectations based on responses to experimental manipulations. Our findings highlight the need for more geographically widespread, integrated, and comprehensive monitoring efforts that can better resolve the interacting effects of warming and other local and regional ecological factors.

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Acknowledgements

ADB was supported by The Danish Council for Independent Research: Natural Sciences (DFF 4181-00565 to SN); MGC was funded by the University of Edinburgh, IHMS by the UK Natural Environment Research Council (ShrubTundra Project NE/M016323/1); and SN was funded by the Villum Foundation’s Young Investigator Programme (VKR023456).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Senckenberg Gesellschaft für Naturforschung, Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre (SBiK-F), Frankfurt, Germany

    Anne D. Bjorkman

  2. Ecoinformatics and Biodiversity, Department of Bioscience, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark

    Anne D. Bjorkman & Signe Normand

  3. School of GeoSciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK

    Mariana García Criado & Isla H. Myers-Smith

  4. Norwegian Polar Institute, Fram Centre, 9062, Tromsö, Norway

    Virve Ravolainen

  5. Faculty of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Iceland, 101, Reykjavík, Iceland

    Ingibjörg Svala Jónsdóttir

  6. Norwegian Institute for Nature Research, 7485, Trondheim, Norway

    Kristine Bakke Westergaard

  7. Inventory and Monitoring Program, U.S. National Park Service, Anchorage, Alaska, USA

    James P. Lawler

  8. Swedish Species Information Centre, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden

    Mora Aronsson

  9. Yukon Conservation Data Centre, Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada

    Bruce Bennett

  10. Department of Forest Resource Management, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Umeå, Sweden

    Hans Gardfjell

  11. Akureyri Division, Icelandic Institute of Natural History, Borgir vid Nordurslod, 600, Akureyri, Iceland

    Starri Heiðmarsson

  12. Arctic Ecosystem Ecology, Department of Bioscience, Aarhus University, Roskilde, Denmark

    Laerke Stewart

  13. Arctic Research Center, Department of Bioscience, Aarhus University, Ny Munkegade 114-116, 8000, Århus, Denmark

    Signe Normand

  14. Center for Biodiversity Dynamic in a Changing World (BIOCHANGE), Department of Bioscience, Aarhus University, Ny Munkegade 114-116, 8000, Århus, Denmark

    Signe Normand

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  1. Anne D. Bjorkman
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Bjorkman, A.D., García Criado, M., Myers-Smith, I.H. et al. Status and trends in Arctic vegetation: Evidence from experimental warming and long-term monitoring. Ambio 49, 678–692 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13280-019-01161-6

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