Snow cover and extreme winter warming events control flower abundance of some, but not all species in high arctic Svalbard
Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review
Standard
Snow cover and extreme winter warming events control flower abundance of some, but not all species in high arctic Svalbard. / Semenchuk, Philipp R.; Elberling, Bo; Cooper, Elisabeth J.
In: Ecology and Evolution, Vol. 3, No. 8, 2013, p. 2586-2599.Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review
Harvard
APA
Vancouver
Author
Bibtex
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
T1 - Snow cover and extreme winter warming events control flower abundance of some, but not all species in high arctic Svalbard
AU - Semenchuk, Philipp R.
AU - Elberling, Bo
AU - Cooper, Elisabeth J.
N1 - CENPERMOA[2013]
PY - 2013
Y1 - 2013
N2 - The High Arctic winter is expected to be altered through ongoing and future climate change. Winter precipitation and snow depth are projected to increase and melt out dates change accordingly. Also, snow cover and depth will play an important role in protecting plant canopy from increasingly more frequent extreme winter warming events. Flower production of many Arctic plants is dependent on melt out timing, since season length determines resource availability for flower preformation. We erected snow fences to increase snow depth and shorten growing season, and counted flowers of six species over 5years, during which we experienced two extreme winter warming events. Most species were resistant to snow cover increase, but two species reduced flower abundance due to shortened growing seasons. Cassiope tetragona responded strongly with fewer flowers in deep snow regimes during years without extreme events, while Stellaria crassipes responded partly. Snow pack thickness determined whether winter warming events had an effect on flower abundance of some species. Warming events clearly reduced flower abundance in shallow but not in deep snow regimes of Cassiope tetragona, but only marginally for Dryas octopetala. However, the affected species were resilient and individuals did not experience any long term effects. In the case of short or cold summers, a subset of species suffered reduced reproductive success, which may affect future plant composition through possible cascading competition effects. Extreme winter warming events were shown to expose the canopy to cold winter air. The following summer most of the overwintering flower buds could not produce flowers. Thus reproductive success is reduced if this occurs in subsequent years. We conclude that snow depth influences flower abundance by altering season length and by protecting or exposing flower buds to cold winter air, but most species studied are resistant to changes.
AB - The High Arctic winter is expected to be altered through ongoing and future climate change. Winter precipitation and snow depth are projected to increase and melt out dates change accordingly. Also, snow cover and depth will play an important role in protecting plant canopy from increasingly more frequent extreme winter warming events. Flower production of many Arctic plants is dependent on melt out timing, since season length determines resource availability for flower preformation. We erected snow fences to increase snow depth and shorten growing season, and counted flowers of six species over 5years, during which we experienced two extreme winter warming events. Most species were resistant to snow cover increase, but two species reduced flower abundance due to shortened growing seasons. Cassiope tetragona responded strongly with fewer flowers in deep snow regimes during years without extreme events, while Stellaria crassipes responded partly. Snow pack thickness determined whether winter warming events had an effect on flower abundance of some species. Warming events clearly reduced flower abundance in shallow but not in deep snow regimes of Cassiope tetragona, but only marginally for Dryas octopetala. However, the affected species were resilient and individuals did not experience any long term effects. In the case of short or cold summers, a subset of species suffered reduced reproductive success, which may affect future plant composition through possible cascading competition effects. Extreme winter warming events were shown to expose the canopy to cold winter air. The following summer most of the overwintering flower buds could not produce flowers. Thus reproductive success is reduced if this occurs in subsequent years. We conclude that snow depth influences flower abundance by altering season length and by protecting or exposing flower buds to cold winter air, but most species studied are resistant to changes.
KW - Cassiope tetragona
KW - climate change
KW - Dryas octopetala
KW - extreme event
KW - growing season
KW - mild periods
KW - reproductive effort
KW - snow depth
KW - snow fence
KW - Spitsbergen
U2 - 10.1002/ece3.648
DO - 10.1002/ece3.648
M3 - Journal article
C2 - 24567826
VL - 3
SP - 2586
EP - 2599
JO - Ecology and Evolution
JF - Ecology and Evolution
SN - 2045-7758
IS - 8
ER -
ID: 119761165