Changes in the understory plant community and ecosystem properties along a shrub density gradient
| Autor: | Jennie R. McLaren, Anna L. Crofts, Dennise O. Drury |
|---|---|
| Rok vydání: | 2018 |
| Předmět: |
0106 biological sciences
010504 meteorology & atmospheric sciences ved/biology.organism_classification_rank.species Environmental engineering plant functional group abundance 010603 evolutionary biology 01 natural sciences Shrub deciduous shrubs GE1-350 Ecosystem 0105 earth and related environmental sciences General Environmental Science Ecology ved/biology food and beverages Plant community Understory Soil carbon TA170-171 Tundra Environmental sciences Deciduous ecosystem properties General Earth and Planetary Sciences Forb Environmental science General Agricultural and Biological Sciences alpine tundra |
| Zdroj: | Arctic Science, Vol 4, Iss 4, Pp 485-498 (2018) |
| ISSN: | 2368-7460 |
| DOI: | 10.1139/as-2017-0026 |
| Popis: | Climate warming is projected to alter the vegetation community composition of arctic and alpine ecosystems including an increase in the relative abundance and cover of deciduous shrubs. This change in plant functional group dominance will likely alter tundra ecosystem structure and function. We conducted an observational study to quantify how the understory vegetation community and ecosystem properties varied along a shrub density and altitudinal gradient in a tundra alpine ecosystem in south-west Yukon. Although there was weak association between shrub density and species richness of understory community, there were large differences in functional group abundance between the different shrub densities; forb cover increased at lower elevations with higher shrub density at the expense of cryptogam and dwarf shrub cover. Litter mass, light interception, and soil carbon:nitrogen ratios all increased with shrub density. Sites with shrubs had higher summer soil temperatures, lower summer soil moisture, and lower percent soil nitrogen than the shrub-free site, although there was no difference in available nutrients among sites. This study presents findings from a nonmanipulated, model system where shrubification has been documented and suggests that direct and indirect effects of increasing shrub dominance are likely to affect the surrounding vegetation and abiotic environment controls. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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