Skip to main content
WCS
Menu
Library
Library Catalog
eJournals & eBooks
WCS Research
Archives
Research Use
Finding Aids
Digital Collections
WCS History
WCS Research
Research Publications
Science Data
Services for WCS Researchers
Archives Shop
Bronx Zoo
Department of Tropical Research
Browse By Product
About Us
FAQs
Intern or Volunteer
Staff
Donate
Search WCS.org
Search
search
Popular Search Terms
WCS History
Library and Archives
Library and Archives Menu
Library
Archives
WCS Research
Archives Shop
About Us
Donate
en
fr
Title
Warmer temperatures promote shrub radial growth but not cover in the central Canadian Arctic
Author(s)
Buchkowski, R. W.;Morris, D. W.;Halliday, W. D.;et al.
Published
2020
Publisher
Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine Research
Published Version DOI
https://doi.org/10.1080/15230430.2020.1824558
Abstract
We assessed the response of Salix richardsonii, a deciduous shrub, to climate change by determining the combination of climatic factors that regulated its growth over the past half-century. We tested whether increasing arctic temperatures promote shrub growth and increased cover. We analyzed fifty-four stems (out of seventy sampled) from S. richardsonii shrubs near the Walker Bay research station in Nunavut, Canada (68 degrees 21 ' N, 108 degrees 05 ' W) and surveyed shrub cover in 1996 and 2010. We measured annual growth rings, removed the age-related pattern, and used a response function analysis to explore the climate-growth relationship. The standardized chronology was positively associated with mean July temperature, corroborating other evidence that summer temperature is an important driver of shrub radial growth. Basal area increment revealed a long-term increase in radial growth, although it has stabilized this century. Surveys showed no significant increase in shrub cover at Walker Bay from 1996 to 2010. Our results support a growing body of evidence that increased shrub growth does not necessarily translate into a prolonged increase in shrub cover. Instead, we conclude that the heterogeneity of the arctic shrub response to climate change may be associated with variation in the proximate factors limiting recruitment such as water table saturation and herbivory.
Keywords
Climate change;dendrochronology;response function;Salix richardsonii;Walker Bay;plant community responses;salix-arctica;climate sensitivity;northern;alaska;tundra;expansion;forest;heterogeneity;competition;patterns;Environmental Sciences & Ecology;Physical Geography
Access Full Text
A full-text copy of this article may be available. Please email the
WCS Library
to request.
Back
PUB25856