Climate sensitivity of shrub growth across the tundra biome

Isla H Myers-Smith; Sarah C Elmendorf; Pieter S.A. Beck; Martin Wilmking; Martin Hallinger; Daan Blok; Ken D. Tape; Shelly A. Rayback; Marc Macias-Fauria; Bruce C. Forbes; James Speed; Noémie Boulanger-Lapointe; Christian Rixen; Esther Lévesque; Niels Martin Schmidt; Claudia Baittinger; Andrew Trant; Luise Hermanutz; Laura Siegwart Collier; Melissa Dawes; Trevor Lantz; Stef Weijers; Rasmus Halfdan Jørgensen; Agata Buchwal; Allan Buras; Adam Naito; Virve Ravolainen; Gabriela Schaepman-Strub; Julia Wheeler; Sonja Wipf; Kevin Guay; David S. Hik; Mark Vellend

doi:10.1038/nclimate2697

Climate sensitivity of shrub growth across the tundra biome

Isla H Myers-Smith, Sarah C Elmendorf, Pieter S.A. Beck, Martin Wilmking, Martin Hallinger, Daan Blok, Ken D. Tape, Shelly A. Rayback, Marc Macias-Fauria, Bruce C. Forbes, James Speed, Noémie Boulanger-Lapointe, Christian Rixen, Esther Lévesque, Niels Martin Schmidt, Claudia Baittinger, Andrew Trant, Luise Hermanutz, Laura Siegwart Collier, Melissa DawesTrevor Lantz, Stef Weijers, Rasmus Halfdan Jørgensen, Agata Buchwal, Allan Buras, Adam Naito, Virve Ravolainen, Gabriela Schaepman-Strub, Julia Wheeler, Sonja Wipf, Kevin Guay, David S. Hik, Mark Vellend

296 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Rapid climate warming in the tundra biome has been linked to increasing shrub dominance. Shrub expansion can modify climate by altering surface albedo, energy and water balance, and permafrost, yet the drivers of shrub growth remain poorly understood. Dendroecological data consisting of multi-decadal time series of annual shrub growth provide an underused resource to explore climate-growth relationships. Here, we analyse circumpolar data from 37 Arctic and alpine sites in 9 countries, including 25 species, and â 1/442,000 annual growth records from 1,821 individuals. Our analyses demonstrate that the sensitivity of shrub growth to climate was: (1) heterogeneous, with European sites showing greater summer temperature sensitivity than North American sites, and (2) higher at sites with greater soil moisture and for taller shrubs (for example, alders and willows) growing at their northern or upper elevational range edges. Across latitude, climate sensitivity of growth was greatest at the boundary between the Low and High Arctic, where permafrost is thawing and most of the global permafrost soil carbon pool is stored. The observed variation in climate-shrub growth relationships should be incorporated into Earth system models to improve future projections of climate change impacts across the tundra biome.

Original language	English
Journal	Nature Climate Change
Volume	5
Pages (from-to)	887-891
Number of pages	5
ISSN	1758-678X
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate2697
Publication status	Published - 21 Aug 2015

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Myers-Smith, I. H., Elmendorf, S. C., Beck, P. S. A., Wilmking, M., Hallinger, M., Blok, D., Tape, K. D., Rayback, S. A., Macias-Fauria, M., Forbes, B. C., Speed, J., Boulanger-Lapointe, N., Rixen, C., Lévesque, E., Schmidt, N. M., Baittinger, C., Trant, A., Hermanutz, L., Collier, L. S., ... Vellend, M. (2015). Climate sensitivity of shrub growth across the tundra biome. Nature Climate Change, 5, 887-891. https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate2697

Myers-Smith, IH, Elmendorf, SC, Beck, PSA, Wilmking, M, Hallinger, M, Blok, D, Tape, KD, Rayback, SA, Macias-Fauria, M, Forbes, BC, Speed, J, Boulanger-Lapointe, N, Rixen, C, Lévesque, E, Schmidt, NM, Baittinger, C, Trant, A, Hermanutz, L, Collier, LS, Dawes, M, Lantz, T, Weijers, S, Jørgensen, RH, Buchwal, A, Buras, A, Naito, A, Ravolainen, V, Schaepman-Strub, G, Wheeler, J, Wipf, S, Guay, K, Hik, DS & Vellend, M 2015, 'Climate sensitivity of shrub growth across the tundra biome', Nature Climate Change, vol. 5, pp. 887-891. https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate2697

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title = "Climate sensitivity of shrub growth across the tundra biome",

abstract = "Rapid climate warming in the tundra biome has been linked to increasing shrub dominance. Shrub expansion can modify climate by altering surface albedo, energy and water balance, and permafrost, yet the drivers of shrub growth remain poorly understood. Dendroecological data consisting of multi-decadal time series of annual shrub growth provide an underused resource to explore climate-growth relationships. Here, we analyse circumpolar data from 37 Arctic and alpine sites in 9 countries, including 25 species, and {\^a} 1/442,000 annual growth records from 1,821 individuals. Our analyses demonstrate that the sensitivity of shrub growth to climate was: (1) heterogeneous, with European sites showing greater summer temperature sensitivity than North American sites, and (2) higher at sites with greater soil moisture and for taller shrubs (for example, alders and willows) growing at their northern or upper elevational range edges. Across latitude, climate sensitivity of growth was greatest at the boundary between the Low and High Arctic, where permafrost is thawing and most of the global permafrost soil carbon pool is stored. The observed variation in climate-shrub growth relationships should be incorporated into Earth system models to improve future projections of climate change impacts across the tundra biome.",

author = "Myers-Smith, {Isla H} and Elmendorf, {Sarah C} and Beck, {Pieter S.A.} and Martin Wilmking and Martin Hallinger and Daan Blok and Tape, {Ken D.} and Rayback, {Shelly A.} and Marc Macias-Fauria and Forbes, {Bruce C.} and James Speed and No{\'e}mie Boulanger-Lapointe and Christian Rixen and Esther L{\'e}vesque and Schmidt, {Niels Martin} and Claudia Baittinger and Andrew Trant and Luise Hermanutz and Collier, {Laura Siegwart} and Melissa Dawes and Trevor Lantz and Stef Weijers and J{\o}rgensen, {Rasmus Halfdan} and Agata Buchwal and Allan Buras and Adam Naito and Virve Ravolainen and Gabriela Schaepman-Strub and Julia Wheeler and Sonja Wipf and Kevin Guay and Hik, {David S.} and Mark Vellend",

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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 - 2015/8/21

Y1 - 2015/8/21

N2 - Rapid climate warming in the tundra biome has been linked to increasing shrub dominance. Shrub expansion can modify climate by altering surface albedo, energy and water balance, and permafrost, yet the drivers of shrub growth remain poorly understood. Dendroecological data consisting of multi-decadal time series of annual shrub growth provide an underused resource to explore climate-growth relationships. Here, we analyse circumpolar data from 37 Arctic and alpine sites in 9 countries, including 25 species, and â 1/442,000 annual growth records from 1,821 individuals. Our analyses demonstrate that the sensitivity of shrub growth to climate was: (1) heterogeneous, with European sites showing greater summer temperature sensitivity than North American sites, and (2) higher at sites with greater soil moisture and for taller shrubs (for example, alders and willows) growing at their northern or upper elevational range edges. Across latitude, climate sensitivity of growth was greatest at the boundary between the Low and High Arctic, where permafrost is thawing and most of the global permafrost soil carbon pool is stored. The observed variation in climate-shrub growth relationships should be incorporated into Earth system models to improve future projections of climate change impacts across the tundra biome.

AB - Rapid climate warming in the tundra biome has been linked to increasing shrub dominance. Shrub expansion can modify climate by altering surface albedo, energy and water balance, and permafrost, yet the drivers of shrub growth remain poorly understood. Dendroecological data consisting of multi-decadal time series of annual shrub growth provide an underused resource to explore climate-growth relationships. Here, we analyse circumpolar data from 37 Arctic and alpine sites in 9 countries, including 25 species, and â 1/442,000 annual growth records from 1,821 individuals. Our analyses demonstrate that the sensitivity of shrub growth to climate was: (1) heterogeneous, with European sites showing greater summer temperature sensitivity than North American sites, and (2) higher at sites with greater soil moisture and for taller shrubs (for example, alders and willows) growing at their northern or upper elevational range edges. Across latitude, climate sensitivity of growth was greatest at the boundary between the Low and High Arctic, where permafrost is thawing and most of the global permafrost soil carbon pool is stored. The observed variation in climate-shrub growth relationships should be incorporated into Earth system models to improve future projections of climate change impacts across the tundra biome.

U2 - 10.1038/nclimate2697

DO - 10.1038/nclimate2697

M3 - Letter

SN - 1758-678X

VL - 5

SP - 887

EP - 891

JO - Nature Climate Change

JF - Nature Climate Change

ER -

Climate sensitivity of shrub growth across the tundra biome

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