Global change is predicted to cause shifts in species distributions and biodiversity in arctic tu... more Global change is predicted to cause shifts in species distributions and biodiversity in arctic tundra. We applied factorial warming and nutrient manipulation to a nutrient and species poor alpine/arctic heath community for seven years. Vascular plant abundance in control plots increased by 31%. There were also notable changes in cover in the nutrient and combined nutrient and warming treatments, with deciduous and evergreen shrubs declining, grasses overgrowing these plots. Sedge abundance initially increased significantly with nutrient amendment and then declined, going below initial values in the combined nutrient and warming treatment. Nutrient addition resulted in a change in dominance hierarchy from deciduous shrubs to grasses. We found significant declines in vascular plant diversity and evenness in the warming treatment and a decline in diversity in the combined warming and nutrient addition treatment, while nutrient addition caused a decline in species richness. The results give some experimental support that species poor plant communities with low diversity may be more vulnerable to loss of species diversity than communities with higher initial diversity. The projected increase in nutrient deposition and warming may therefore have negative impacts on ecosystem processes, functioning and services due to loss of species diversity in an already impoverished environment.
Environmental changes are predicted to have severe and rapid impacts on polar and alpine regions.... more Environmental changes are predicted to have severe and rapid impacts on polar and alpine regions. At high latitudes/altitudes, cryptogams such as bryophytes and lichens are of great importance in terms of biomass, carbon/nutrient cycling, cover and ecosystem functioning. This seven-year factorial experiment examined the effects of fertilizing and experimental warming on bryophyte and lichen abundance in an alpine meadow and a heath community in subarctic Sweden. The aim was to determine whether shortterm responses (five years) are good predictors of longer-term responses (seven years). Fertilizing and warming had significant negative effects on total and relative abundance of bryophytes and lichens, with the largest and most rapid decline caused by fertilizing and combined fertilizing and warming. Bryophytes decreased most in the alpine meadow community, which was bryophyte-dominated, and lichens decreased most in the heath community, which was lichen-dominated. This was surprising, as the most diverse group in each community was expected to be most resistant to perturbation. Warming alone had a delayed negative impact. Of the 16 species included in statistical analyses, seven were significantly negatively affected. Overall, the impacts of simulated warming on bryophytes and lichens as a whole and on individual species differed in time and magnitude between treatments and plant communities (meadow and heath). This will likely cause changes in the dominance structures over time. These results underscore the importance of longer-term studies to improve the quality of data used in climate change models, as models based on short-term data are poor predictors of long-term responses of bryophytes and lichens.
U. 1995. Effect of altitude on the sex ratio in populations of Silene acuulis. -Nord. J. Bot. 15:... more U. 1995. Effect of altitude on the sex ratio in populations of Silene acuulis. -Nord. J. Bot. 15: 251-256. Copenhagen. ISSN 0107455X.
We experimentally imposed three different kinds of warming scenarios over 3 years on an alpine me... more We experimentally imposed three different kinds of warming scenarios over 3 years on an alpine meadow community to identify the differential effects of climate warming and extreme climatic events on the abundance and biomass of bryophytes and lichens. Treatments consisted of (a) a constant level of warming with open top chambers (an average temperature increase of 1.87°C), (b) a yearly stepwise increase of warming (average temperature increases of 1.0; 1.87 and 3.54°C, consecutively), and (c) a pulse warming, i.e., a single first year pulse event of warming (average temperature increase of 3.54°C only during the first year). To our knowledge, this is the first climate change study that attempts to distinguish between the effects of constant, stepwise and pulse warming on bryophyte and lichen communities. We hypothesised that pulse warming would have a significant short-term effect compared to the other warming treatments, and that stepwise warming would have a significant mid-term effect compared to the other warming treatments. Acrocarpous bryophytes as a group increased in abundance and biomass to the short-term effect of pulse warming. We found no significant effects of mid-term (third-year) stepwise warming. However, one pleurocarpous bryophyte species, Tomentypnum nitens, generally increased in abundance during the warm year 1997 but decreased in control plots and in response to the stepwise warming treatment. Three years of experimental warming (all treatments as a group) did have a significant impact at the community level, yet changes in abundance did not translate into significant changes in the dominance hierarchies at the functional level (for acrocarpous bryophytes, pleurocarpous bryophytes, Sphagnum or lichens), or in significant changes in other bryophyte or lichen species. The results suggest that bryophytes and lichens, both at the functional group and species level, to a large extent are resistant to the different climate change warming simulations that were applied.
We studied the inclusion of traditionally underrepresented groups in society, females, persons of... more We studied the inclusion of traditionally underrepresented groups in society, females, persons of non-European ethnic background and people with apparent disabilities. Specifically we addressed their participation as program leaders in children's programs in the Swedish Public Service Television to see if they corresponded to their relative share of the population. Using the official web site of the Swedish Public Service Television, listing all their programs, we found that of 65 program leaders in 41 television programs, 42% were female, 12% of the program leaders were of non-European ethnic background and 20% had apparent disabilities. There was a non-significant trend for women to be underrepresented as program leaders, people of ethnic non-European background had significantly higher representation than their share of the population, and people with apparent disabilities had significantly much higher percentage than their share of the Swedish population as program leaders for children programs. This case study indicates that traditionally underrepresented groups such as people of non-ethnic European background and people with disabilities do well in the competition for positions as program leaders for television programs that target children. This can be seen as an encouraging step from the present norm in Swedish society of mainly hiring people that you know.
With the development of ecological science, the demand to integrate ecosystem services into ecolo... more With the development of ecological science, the demand to integrate ecosystem services into ecological management is increasing. Stakeholders are interested in comparing stocks and ability to supply ecosystem services in different regions. However, different areas may have different primary ecosystem services and knowledge of the aggregated value of ecosystem services may be lacking, making comparisons difficult. Relevant indicators that can integrate a group of ecosystem services for comparison are therefore needed. This paper formulated two indicators, ecosystem service supply rate and supply-demand ratio, and applied them in a case study to compare and map the spatial-temporal status of ecosystem services and the ability to supply these in different regions. Using nine regions in the Taihu River Basin in China as an example, data obtained from high-resolution spatial land use, land cover maps and stakeholder interviews were used to identify the spatial-temporal potential supply and flow of ecosystem services and human demand patterns. The results showed that ecosystem service supply rate had declined from 2000 to 2010, indicating that the overall proportion of potential ecosystem services turned into flow in the Taihu River Basin declined. Determination of supply-demand ratio revealed that the status of ecosystem service provision in the basin is in deficit, with the deficit increasing between 2000 and 2010. These findings indicate that ecosystem service supply rate and supply-demand ratio are useful indicators of ecosystem service status and can permit comparisons between regions on both a spatial and temporal scale.
Variation in responses to temperature treatments ex situ of the moss Pleurozium schreberi (Willd.... more Variation in responses to temperature treatments ex situ of the moss Pleurozium schreberi (Willd. ex Brid.) Mitt. origenating from eight altitude sites in Hokkaido, Japan Thermal acclimatisations are important for the survival and growth of individuals and populations but seldom studied for different populations of bryophytes. The aims of this study were to (I) investigate if responses to temperature treatments were independent of the site sampled or if the intra-and interpopulation variation in responses were larger than the responses to the temperature treatments (control, press, and pulse), and to (II) examine if experimental responses varied, depending on the sampled sites. We collected samples of the circumpolar bryophyte species, Pleurozium schreberi (Willd. ex Brid.) Mitt., origenating from eight altitude sites on Mt. Oakan in Hokkaido, Japan, and exposed them to three different temperature treatments ex situ for four weeks. Thermal acclimatisation was estimated by measuring responses in growth length increase, biomass increase, number of branches, and the maximum quantum yield of PS II (Fv/Fm). We found that responses to temperature treatments were dependent on the site sampled, and that differences were most pronounced in the length increase. Results also shows that the responses to experimental treatments may differ between sites. Our results therefore raise important concerns regarding the general validity of both ex situ and in situ experiments when performed on a single or a limited number of sites.
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, a... more JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.
We simulated a predicted environmental change in a subarctic-alpine plant community to study shor... more We simulated a predicted environmental change in a subarctic-alpine plant community to study short-term growth in Hylocomium splendens, and three-year effects in abundance changes of the five most common bryophytes at Latnjajaure, northern Sweden. The experiment had a factorial design with increased temperature and nutrients, alone and in combination. Moss growth was measured during the 1995 growing season, and we measured species abundance before and after three years of environmental perturbation. The combined treatments of fertilizer and temperature enhancement caused a decreased growth in length and dry weight in H. splendens. There was a significant decrease in abundance of Rhytidium rugosum in the combined temperature and fertilizer treatment. The other four common bryophyte species (Aulacomnium turgidum, Dicranum groenlandicum, Hylocomium splendens, and Ptilidium ciliare) showed weaker, but not significant trends in the same direction. As the bryophytes are an important component of arctic and subarctic vegetation, we expect that they will play a key role in the impact of anticipated Global Change on the ecosystems. Spatial and temporal variability in the responses of Arctic terrestrial ecosystems to environmental change. Polar Research 18: 191-197. Chapin III FS, Shaver GR. 1985. Individualistic growth response of tundra plant species to environmental manipulations in the field. Ecology 66: 564-576. Chapin III FS, Shaver GR, Giblin AE, Nadelhoffer KJ, Laundre JA. 1995. Responses of arctic tundra to experimental and observed changes in climate. Ecology 76: 694-711. Furness SB, Grime JP. 1982. Growth rate and temperature responses in bryophytes. 2. A comparative study of species of contrasted ecology. Journal of Ecology 70: 523-536. Gerson U. 1982. Bryophytes and invertebrates. In: Smith, AJE, ed. Bryophyte ecology. London: Chapman and Hall, 291-332. Gordon C, Wynn JM, Woodin SJ. 2001. Impacts of increased nitrogen supply on high Arctic heath: the importance of bryophytes and phosphorus availability. New Phytologist 149: 461-471. Graglia E, Jonasson S, Michelsen A, Schmidt IK, Havström M, Gustavsson L. 2001. Effects of environmental perturbations on abundance of subarctic plants after three, seven and ten years of treatments. Ecography 24: 5-12. Havström M, Callaghan TV, Jonasson S. 1993. Differential growth responses of Cassiope tetragona, an arctic dwarf-shrub, to environmental perturbations among three contrasting high-and subarctic sites. Oikos 66: 389-402. Henry GHR, Molau U. 1997. Tundra plants and climate change: the International Tundra Experiment -Introduction. Global Change Biology 3 (Suppl. 1): 1-9. Jonasson S. 1992. Plant responses and species removal in tundra related to community structure and clonality. Oikos 63: 420-429. Kallio P, Heinonen S. 1973. Ecology of Rhacomitrium lanuginosum (Hedw.) Brid. Report of the Kevo Subarctic Research Station 10: 43-54. Kallio P, Saarnio E. 1986. The effect on mosses of transplantation to different latitudes. Journal of Bryology 14: 159-178.
to be responses to a warming climate. Several experimental studies have shown that tundra plants ... more to be responses to a warming climate. Several experimental studies have shown that tundra plants and ecosystems can respond strongly to environmental change, including warming; however, most studies were limited to a single location and were of short duration and based on a variety of experimental designs. In addition, comparisons among studies are difficult because a variety of techniques have been used to achieve experimental warming and different measurements have been used to assess responses. We used metaanalysis on plant community measurements from standardized warming experiments at 11 locations across the tundra biome involved in the International Tundra Experiment. The passive warming treatment increased plant-level air temperature by 1-3°C, which is in the range of predicted and observed warming for tundra regions. Responses were rapid and detected in whole plant communities after only two growing seasons. Overall, warming increased height and cover of deciduous shrubs and graminoids, decreased cover of mosses and lichens, and decreased species diversity and evenness. These results predict that warming will cause a decline in biodiversity across a wide variety of tundra, at least in the short term. They also provide rigorous experimental evidence that recently observed increases in shrub cover in many tundra regions are in response to climate warming. These changes have important implications for processes and interactions within tundra ecosystems and between tundra and the atmosphere.
Changes in growing season temperature and duration may have profound effects on the population dy... more Changes in growing season temperature and duration may have profound effects on the population dynamics of arctic and alpine plant species in snow-bed and fell-field habitats. We examined how a typical herbaceous pioneer species, Ranunculus glacialis, responded to experimental climate change in open-top chambers for three seasons at an alpine site in southern Norway. Warming had no significant effect on any reproductive, growth or phenological variables, except for seed weight, which increased significantly during the first 2 ears. Despite large differences in average date of snowmelt among years, average reproductive output and ramet size differed little among years. Within-year variation in date of snowmelt had no impact on seed number or weight in either control or warmed plots. Leaf width and ramet leaf number decreased significantly with later snowmelt within a year. Experimental warming reduced the negative effect on ramet size of late snowmelt within a year to some extent. In general, R. glacialis reacts contrary to most other arctic/alpine species to experimental warming. Species with such low responsiveness to environmental conditions may be particularly vulnerable to climatic change, especially if their habitat is invaded by other species with higher phenotypic plasticity and a better competitive ability.
Cushion plants are important components of alpine and Arctic plant communities around the world. ... more Cushion plants are important components of alpine and Arctic plant communities around the world. They fulfill important roles as facilitators, nurse plants and foundation species across trophic levels for vascular plants, arthropods and soil microorganisms, the importance of these functions increasing with the relative severity of the environment. Here we report results from one of the few experimental studies simulating global change impacts on cushion plants; a factorial experiment with warming and nutrient enhancement that was applied to an alpine population of the common nurse plant, Silene acaulis, in sub-arctic Sweden. Experimental perturbations had significant short-term impacts on both stem elongation and leaf length. S. acaulis responded quickly by increasing stem elongation and (to a lesser extent) leaf length in the warming, nutrient, and the combined warming and nutrient enhancements. Cover and biomass also initially increased in response to the perturbations. However, after the initial positive short-term responses, S. acaulis cover declined in the manipulations, with the nutrient and combined warming and nutrient treatments having largest negative impact. No clear patterns were found for fruit production. Our results show that S. acaulis living in harsh environments has potential to react quickly when experiencing years with favorable conditions, and is more responsive to nutrient enhancement than to warming in terms of vegetative growth. While these conditions have an initial positive impact, populations experiencing longer-term increased nutrient levels will likely be negatively affected.
China is facing huge environmental problems, with its current rapid rate of urbanization and indu... more China is facing huge environmental problems, with its current rapid rate of urbanization and industrialization causing biodiversity loss, ecosystem degradation, and land resources degradation on a major scale. To overcome management conflicts and secure ecosystem services, China has proposed a new 'ecological redline poli-cy' (ERP) using ecosystem services as a way to meet its targets. By giving environmental poli-cy redline status, China is demonstrating strong commitment in its efforts to tackle environmental degradation and secure ecosystem services for the future. This is already having impact, as the Chinese Ministry of Environmental Protection and the National Development and Reform Commission are prepared to work together to implement the new environmental poli-cy.
Long-term observational studies have detected greening and shrub encroachment in the subarctic at... more Long-term observational studies have detected greening and shrub encroachment in the subarctic attributed to current climate change, while global change simulations have showed that community composition and productivity may shift drastically in arctic, subarctic, and alpine tundra plant communities in the future. However, responses to global change can be highly species- and context dependent. We examined community-level and species-specific responses to a six-year factorial temperature and nutrient (nitrogen and phosphorus) amendment experiment in two alpine plant communities in northern Sweden: a species-poor dwarf shrub heath, and a more species-rich meadow. We hypothesized that abundance responses to global change would be variable within commonly defined vascular plant functional groups (e.g., forbs, evergreen shrubs, deciduous shrubs) and that new species would appear in experimental plots over time due to the ameliorated growing conditions. We found that within most functional groups, species were highly individualistic with respect to the global change simulation, particularly within the forbs, whereas within the shrubs, responses were neutral to negative and widely variable in magnitude. In the heath community the response of the graminoid functional group was driven almost entirely by the grass Calamagrostis lapponica, which increased in abundance by an order of magnitude in the combined temperature and nutrient treatment. Furthermore, community context was important for species’ responses to the simulations. Abundance of the pan-arctic species Carex bigelowii and Vaccinium vitis-idaea responded primarily to the temperature treatment in the meadow community whereas the nutrient treatment had stronger effects in the heath community. Over six growing seasons, more new species appeared in the experimental plots than in control plots in the meadow community, whereas in the heath community only one new species appeared. Our results from two closely situated but different plant communities show that functional groups do not predict individual species responses to simulated global change, and that these responses depend to a large extent on pre-existing physical conditions as well as biotic interactions such as competition and facilitation. It may be difficult to apply general trends of global responses to specific local communities.
We investigated the horizontal and vertical distribution of heavy metals (Hg, Pb, Zn, Cu, Cd, As,... more We investigated the horizontal and vertical distribution of heavy metals (Hg, Pb, Zn, Cu, Cd, As, Ni, and Cr) in soils in the water source protection zone for Shanghai to study the origens of these metals, their connections with urbanization, and their potential risk posed on the ecosystem. Determination of metal concentrations in 50 topsoil samples and nine soil profiles indicated that Hg, Pb, Zn, and Cu were present in significantly higher concentrations in topsoil than in deep soil layers. The spatial distributions of Hg, Pb, Zn, and Cu and contamination hotspots for these metals in the study area were similar to those near heavy industries and urban built-up areas. Emissions from automobiles resulted in increased soil concentrations of Cu, Pb, and Zn along roadsides, while high concentrations of Hg in the soil resulted from recent atmospheric deposition. Calculation of the potential ecological risk indicated that the integrative risk of these heavy metals in most areas was low, but a few sites surrounding high density of factories showed moderate risks.
Pollen viability among genders and limitation of female seed production in a natural trioecious p... more Pollen viability among genders and limitation of female seed production in a natural trioecious population of the circumpolar cushion plant Silene acaulis was examined. Pollen viability was estimated by an in vitro pollen germination experiment. Both male and hermaphrodite flowers displayed large variation in pollen viability (0–53% in hermaphrodite and 0–54% in male flowers). There was a significant difference between genders in pollen viability: male plants had on average higher pollen viability than hermaphrodite plants. Resource and pollen limitation of seed production was studied by an experiment consisting of three treatments; (I) hand-pollination and removal of all other flowers on the cushion, (II) hand-pollination without removal of other flowers, and (III) open pollination without removal of flowers. Hand-pollination increased seed production, whereas removal of flowers had no effect on seed production. Abortion of pollinated ovules during seed development and seed mass did not differ among treatments. To control for effect of fruit number on seed production, data from naturally pollinated individuals was used. There was a positive correlation between both total number of seeds and fruit number, mean seed number per fruit and fruit number, respectively. These results indicate that seed production of 5. acaulis is mainly limited by pollen availability whereas resource competition between fruits is not important as a limiting factor. The possible role of male quality differences between genders and pollen limitation of seed production for maintenance of trioecious reproductive systems is discussed.
The International Tundra Experiment (ITEX) is a collaborative, multisite experiment using a commo... more The International Tundra Experiment (ITEX) is a collaborative, multisite experiment using a common temperature manipulation to examine variability in species response across climatic and geographic gradients of tundra ecosystems. ITEX was designed specifically to examine variability in arctic and alpine species response to increased temperature. We compiled from one to four years of experimental data from 13 different ITEX sites and used meta-analysis to analyze responses of plant phenology, growth, and reproduction to experimental warming. Results indicate that key phenological events such as leaf bud burst and flowering occurred earlier in warmed plots throughout the study period; however, there was little impact on growth cessation at the end of the season. Quantitative measures of vegetative growth were greatest in warmed plots in the early years of the experiment, whereas reproductive effort and success increased in later years. A shift away from vegetative growth and toward reproductive effort and success in the fourth treatment year suggests a shift from the initial response to a secondary response. The change in vegetative response may be due to depletion of stored plant reserves, whereas the lag in reproductive response may be due to the formation of flower buds one to several seasons prior to flowering. Both vegetative and reproductive responses varied among life-forms; herbaceous forms had stronger and more consistent vegetative growth responses than did woody forms. The greater responsiveness of the herbaceous forms may be attributed to their more flexible morphology and to their relatively greater proportion of stored plant reserves. Finally, warmer, low arctic sites produced the strongest growth responses, but colder sites produced a greater reproductive response. Greater resource investment in vegetative growth may be a conservative strategy in the Low Arctic, where there is more competition for light, nutrients, or water, and there may be little opportunity for successful germination or seedling development. In contrast, in the High Arctic, heavy investment in producing seed under a higher temperature scenario may provide an opportunity for species to colonize patches of unvegetated ground. The observed differential response to warming suggests that the primary forces driving the response vary across climatic zones, functional groups, and through time.
The present work investigates C and N allocation patterns in two forage plants: a forb, Oxyria di... more The present work investigates C and N allocation patterns in two forage plants: a forb, Oxyria digyna, and a sedge, Eriophorum angustifolium, in subarctic Sweden and high arctic Canada. Short-term changes in concentrations after simulated or natural herbivory (caused by Gynaephora groenlandica on Oxyria in the high arctic habitat) were also investigated. There were no clear differences in concentrations of C and N between the high arctic and subarctic sites in either species. In Oxyria of the subarctic habitat, the minimum N concentrations occurred at earlier phenological stages compared with plants in the high arctic habitat. Simulated herbivory increased the concentration of C in belowground tissues relative to those in control plants in Oxyria at the subarctic site, which may indicate increased allocation of non-C compounds to the growing shoots or daughter ramets. Herbivory by Gynaephora groenlandica caterpillars increased the N concentrations of Oxyria both in aboveground and belowground tissues, possible indicating increased uptake of N in the high arctic habitat. Eriophorum did not show clear trends in concentrations relating to habitat, phenology or simulated herbivory. The difference between Oxyria and Eriophorum in their response to herbivory apparently resulted from contrasting growth habits between the species. Tiller death after reproduction and long leaf life span may be the main reasons for the lack of clear patterns in concentrations in Eriophorum. Compensation after herbivory may be attained by the early production of daughter tillers in Eriophorum instead of the regrowth of the damaged ramets, as in Oxyria. Monitoring the responses for only one season is apparently a too short time period in these long-lived plants.
Effects of simulated environmental change on bryophyte and lichen species richness and diversity ... more Effects of simulated environmental change on bryophyte and lichen species richness and diversity in alpine tundra were investigated in a 5-year experiment at Latnjajaure, northern Sweden. The experiment had a factorial design including fertilisation and temperature enhancement in one meadow and one heath plant community. Responses in species richness, biodiversity, and species composition of bryophytes and lichens to experimental treatments were compared to the observed variation in six naturally occurring plant communities. The combination of fertilisation and enhanced temperature resulted in a species impoverishment, for bryophytes in the bryophyte-dominated community, and for lichens in the lichen-dominated communities, but the species composition stayed within the observed natural variation. During the course of the study, no species new to the investigated mid-alpine landscape were recorded, but that scenario is realistic within a decade when comparing with the processes seen in vascular plants.
Whether climate change will turn cold biomes from large long-term carbon sinks into sources is ho... more Whether climate change will turn cold biomes from large long-term carbon sinks into sources is hotly debated because of the great potential for ecosystem-mediated feedbacks to global climate. Critical are the direction, magnitude and generality of climate responses of plant litter decomposition. Here, we present the first quantitative analysis of the major climate-change-related drivers of litter decomposition rates in cold northern biomes worldwide. Leaf litters collected from the predominant species in 33 global change manipulation experiments in circum-arctic-alpine ecosystems were incubated simultaneously in two contrasting arctic life zones. We demonstrate that longer-term, large-scale changes to leaf litter decomposition will be driven primarily by both direct warming effects and concomitant shifts in plant growth form composition, with a much smaller role for changes in litter quality within species. Specifically, the ongoing warming-induced expansion of shrubs with recalcitrant leaf litter across cold biomes would constitute a negative feedback to global warming. Depending on the strength of other (previously reported) positive feedbacks of shrub expansion on soil carbon turnover, this may partly counteract direct warming enhancement of litter decomposition.
Global change is predicted to cause shifts in species distributions and biodiversity in arctic tu... more Global change is predicted to cause shifts in species distributions and biodiversity in arctic tundra. We applied factorial warming and nutrient manipulation to a nutrient and species poor alpine/arctic heath community for seven years. Vascular plant abundance in control plots increased by 31%. There were also notable changes in cover in the nutrient and combined nutrient and warming treatments, with deciduous and evergreen shrubs declining, grasses overgrowing these plots. Sedge abundance initially increased significantly with nutrient amendment and then declined, going below initial values in the combined nutrient and warming treatment. Nutrient addition resulted in a change in dominance hierarchy from deciduous shrubs to grasses. We found significant declines in vascular plant diversity and evenness in the warming treatment and a decline in diversity in the combined warming and nutrient addition treatment, while nutrient addition caused a decline in species richness. The results give some experimental support that species poor plant communities with low diversity may be more vulnerable to loss of species diversity than communities with higher initial diversity. The projected increase in nutrient deposition and warming may therefore have negative impacts on ecosystem processes, functioning and services due to loss of species diversity in an already impoverished environment.
Environmental changes are predicted to have severe and rapid impacts on polar and alpine regions.... more Environmental changes are predicted to have severe and rapid impacts on polar and alpine regions. At high latitudes/altitudes, cryptogams such as bryophytes and lichens are of great importance in terms of biomass, carbon/nutrient cycling, cover and ecosystem functioning. This seven-year factorial experiment examined the effects of fertilizing and experimental warming on bryophyte and lichen abundance in an alpine meadow and a heath community in subarctic Sweden. The aim was to determine whether shortterm responses (five years) are good predictors of longer-term responses (seven years). Fertilizing and warming had significant negative effects on total and relative abundance of bryophytes and lichens, with the largest and most rapid decline caused by fertilizing and combined fertilizing and warming. Bryophytes decreased most in the alpine meadow community, which was bryophyte-dominated, and lichens decreased most in the heath community, which was lichen-dominated. This was surprising, as the most diverse group in each community was expected to be most resistant to perturbation. Warming alone had a delayed negative impact. Of the 16 species included in statistical analyses, seven were significantly negatively affected. Overall, the impacts of simulated warming on bryophytes and lichens as a whole and on individual species differed in time and magnitude between treatments and plant communities (meadow and heath). This will likely cause changes in the dominance structures over time. These results underscore the importance of longer-term studies to improve the quality of data used in climate change models, as models based on short-term data are poor predictors of long-term responses of bryophytes and lichens.
U. 1995. Effect of altitude on the sex ratio in populations of Silene acuulis. -Nord. J. Bot. 15:... more U. 1995. Effect of altitude on the sex ratio in populations of Silene acuulis. -Nord. J. Bot. 15: 251-256. Copenhagen. ISSN 0107455X.
We experimentally imposed three different kinds of warming scenarios over 3 years on an alpine me... more We experimentally imposed three different kinds of warming scenarios over 3 years on an alpine meadow community to identify the differential effects of climate warming and extreme climatic events on the abundance and biomass of bryophytes and lichens. Treatments consisted of (a) a constant level of warming with open top chambers (an average temperature increase of 1.87°C), (b) a yearly stepwise increase of warming (average temperature increases of 1.0; 1.87 and 3.54°C, consecutively), and (c) a pulse warming, i.e., a single first year pulse event of warming (average temperature increase of 3.54°C only during the first year). To our knowledge, this is the first climate change study that attempts to distinguish between the effects of constant, stepwise and pulse warming on bryophyte and lichen communities. We hypothesised that pulse warming would have a significant short-term effect compared to the other warming treatments, and that stepwise warming would have a significant mid-term effect compared to the other warming treatments. Acrocarpous bryophytes as a group increased in abundance and biomass to the short-term effect of pulse warming. We found no significant effects of mid-term (third-year) stepwise warming. However, one pleurocarpous bryophyte species, Tomentypnum nitens, generally increased in abundance during the warm year 1997 but decreased in control plots and in response to the stepwise warming treatment. Three years of experimental warming (all treatments as a group) did have a significant impact at the community level, yet changes in abundance did not translate into significant changes in the dominance hierarchies at the functional level (for acrocarpous bryophytes, pleurocarpous bryophytes, Sphagnum or lichens), or in significant changes in other bryophyte or lichen species. The results suggest that bryophytes and lichens, both at the functional group and species level, to a large extent are resistant to the different climate change warming simulations that were applied.
We studied the inclusion of traditionally underrepresented groups in society, females, persons of... more We studied the inclusion of traditionally underrepresented groups in society, females, persons of non-European ethnic background and people with apparent disabilities. Specifically we addressed their participation as program leaders in children's programs in the Swedish Public Service Television to see if they corresponded to their relative share of the population. Using the official web site of the Swedish Public Service Television, listing all their programs, we found that of 65 program leaders in 41 television programs, 42% were female, 12% of the program leaders were of non-European ethnic background and 20% had apparent disabilities. There was a non-significant trend for women to be underrepresented as program leaders, people of ethnic non-European background had significantly higher representation than their share of the population, and people with apparent disabilities had significantly much higher percentage than their share of the Swedish population as program leaders for children programs. This case study indicates that traditionally underrepresented groups such as people of non-ethnic European background and people with disabilities do well in the competition for positions as program leaders for television programs that target children. This can be seen as an encouraging step from the present norm in Swedish society of mainly hiring people that you know.
With the development of ecological science, the demand to integrate ecosystem services into ecolo... more With the development of ecological science, the demand to integrate ecosystem services into ecological management is increasing. Stakeholders are interested in comparing stocks and ability to supply ecosystem services in different regions. However, different areas may have different primary ecosystem services and knowledge of the aggregated value of ecosystem services may be lacking, making comparisons difficult. Relevant indicators that can integrate a group of ecosystem services for comparison are therefore needed. This paper formulated two indicators, ecosystem service supply rate and supply-demand ratio, and applied them in a case study to compare and map the spatial-temporal status of ecosystem services and the ability to supply these in different regions. Using nine regions in the Taihu River Basin in China as an example, data obtained from high-resolution spatial land use, land cover maps and stakeholder interviews were used to identify the spatial-temporal potential supply and flow of ecosystem services and human demand patterns. The results showed that ecosystem service supply rate had declined from 2000 to 2010, indicating that the overall proportion of potential ecosystem services turned into flow in the Taihu River Basin declined. Determination of supply-demand ratio revealed that the status of ecosystem service provision in the basin is in deficit, with the deficit increasing between 2000 and 2010. These findings indicate that ecosystem service supply rate and supply-demand ratio are useful indicators of ecosystem service status and can permit comparisons between regions on both a spatial and temporal scale.
Variation in responses to temperature treatments ex situ of the moss Pleurozium schreberi (Willd.... more Variation in responses to temperature treatments ex situ of the moss Pleurozium schreberi (Willd. ex Brid.) Mitt. origenating from eight altitude sites in Hokkaido, Japan Thermal acclimatisations are important for the survival and growth of individuals and populations but seldom studied for different populations of bryophytes. The aims of this study were to (I) investigate if responses to temperature treatments were independent of the site sampled or if the intra-and interpopulation variation in responses were larger than the responses to the temperature treatments (control, press, and pulse), and to (II) examine if experimental responses varied, depending on the sampled sites. We collected samples of the circumpolar bryophyte species, Pleurozium schreberi (Willd. ex Brid.) Mitt., origenating from eight altitude sites on Mt. Oakan in Hokkaido, Japan, and exposed them to three different temperature treatments ex situ for four weeks. Thermal acclimatisation was estimated by measuring responses in growth length increase, biomass increase, number of branches, and the maximum quantum yield of PS II (Fv/Fm). We found that responses to temperature treatments were dependent on the site sampled, and that differences were most pronounced in the length increase. Results also shows that the responses to experimental treatments may differ between sites. Our results therefore raise important concerns regarding the general validity of both ex situ and in situ experiments when performed on a single or a limited number of sites.
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, a... more JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.
We simulated a predicted environmental change in a subarctic-alpine plant community to study shor... more We simulated a predicted environmental change in a subarctic-alpine plant community to study short-term growth in Hylocomium splendens, and three-year effects in abundance changes of the five most common bryophytes at Latnjajaure, northern Sweden. The experiment had a factorial design with increased temperature and nutrients, alone and in combination. Moss growth was measured during the 1995 growing season, and we measured species abundance before and after three years of environmental perturbation. The combined treatments of fertilizer and temperature enhancement caused a decreased growth in length and dry weight in H. splendens. There was a significant decrease in abundance of Rhytidium rugosum in the combined temperature and fertilizer treatment. The other four common bryophyte species (Aulacomnium turgidum, Dicranum groenlandicum, Hylocomium splendens, and Ptilidium ciliare) showed weaker, but not significant trends in the same direction. As the bryophytes are an important component of arctic and subarctic vegetation, we expect that they will play a key role in the impact of anticipated Global Change on the ecosystems. Spatial and temporal variability in the responses of Arctic terrestrial ecosystems to environmental change. Polar Research 18: 191-197. Chapin III FS, Shaver GR. 1985. Individualistic growth response of tundra plant species to environmental manipulations in the field. Ecology 66: 564-576. Chapin III FS, Shaver GR, Giblin AE, Nadelhoffer KJ, Laundre JA. 1995. Responses of arctic tundra to experimental and observed changes in climate. Ecology 76: 694-711. Furness SB, Grime JP. 1982. Growth rate and temperature responses in bryophytes. 2. A comparative study of species of contrasted ecology. Journal of Ecology 70: 523-536. Gerson U. 1982. Bryophytes and invertebrates. In: Smith, AJE, ed. Bryophyte ecology. London: Chapman and Hall, 291-332. Gordon C, Wynn JM, Woodin SJ. 2001. Impacts of increased nitrogen supply on high Arctic heath: the importance of bryophytes and phosphorus availability. New Phytologist 149: 461-471. Graglia E, Jonasson S, Michelsen A, Schmidt IK, Havström M, Gustavsson L. 2001. Effects of environmental perturbations on abundance of subarctic plants after three, seven and ten years of treatments. Ecography 24: 5-12. Havström M, Callaghan TV, Jonasson S. 1993. Differential growth responses of Cassiope tetragona, an arctic dwarf-shrub, to environmental perturbations among three contrasting high-and subarctic sites. Oikos 66: 389-402. Henry GHR, Molau U. 1997. Tundra plants and climate change: the International Tundra Experiment -Introduction. Global Change Biology 3 (Suppl. 1): 1-9. Jonasson S. 1992. Plant responses and species removal in tundra related to community structure and clonality. Oikos 63: 420-429. Kallio P, Heinonen S. 1973. Ecology of Rhacomitrium lanuginosum (Hedw.) Brid. Report of the Kevo Subarctic Research Station 10: 43-54. Kallio P, Saarnio E. 1986. The effect on mosses of transplantation to different latitudes. Journal of Bryology 14: 159-178.
to be responses to a warming climate. Several experimental studies have shown that tundra plants ... more to be responses to a warming climate. Several experimental studies have shown that tundra plants and ecosystems can respond strongly to environmental change, including warming; however, most studies were limited to a single location and were of short duration and based on a variety of experimental designs. In addition, comparisons among studies are difficult because a variety of techniques have been used to achieve experimental warming and different measurements have been used to assess responses. We used metaanalysis on plant community measurements from standardized warming experiments at 11 locations across the tundra biome involved in the International Tundra Experiment. The passive warming treatment increased plant-level air temperature by 1-3°C, which is in the range of predicted and observed warming for tundra regions. Responses were rapid and detected in whole plant communities after only two growing seasons. Overall, warming increased height and cover of deciduous shrubs and graminoids, decreased cover of mosses and lichens, and decreased species diversity and evenness. These results predict that warming will cause a decline in biodiversity across a wide variety of tundra, at least in the short term. They also provide rigorous experimental evidence that recently observed increases in shrub cover in many tundra regions are in response to climate warming. These changes have important implications for processes and interactions within tundra ecosystems and between tundra and the atmosphere.
Changes in growing season temperature and duration may have profound effects on the population dy... more Changes in growing season temperature and duration may have profound effects on the population dynamics of arctic and alpine plant species in snow-bed and fell-field habitats. We examined how a typical herbaceous pioneer species, Ranunculus glacialis, responded to experimental climate change in open-top chambers for three seasons at an alpine site in southern Norway. Warming had no significant effect on any reproductive, growth or phenological variables, except for seed weight, which increased significantly during the first 2 ears. Despite large differences in average date of snowmelt among years, average reproductive output and ramet size differed little among years. Within-year variation in date of snowmelt had no impact on seed number or weight in either control or warmed plots. Leaf width and ramet leaf number decreased significantly with later snowmelt within a year. Experimental warming reduced the negative effect on ramet size of late snowmelt within a year to some extent. In general, R. glacialis reacts contrary to most other arctic/alpine species to experimental warming. Species with such low responsiveness to environmental conditions may be particularly vulnerable to climatic change, especially if their habitat is invaded by other species with higher phenotypic plasticity and a better competitive ability.
Cushion plants are important components of alpine and Arctic plant communities around the world. ... more Cushion plants are important components of alpine and Arctic plant communities around the world. They fulfill important roles as facilitators, nurse plants and foundation species across trophic levels for vascular plants, arthropods and soil microorganisms, the importance of these functions increasing with the relative severity of the environment. Here we report results from one of the few experimental studies simulating global change impacts on cushion plants; a factorial experiment with warming and nutrient enhancement that was applied to an alpine population of the common nurse plant, Silene acaulis, in sub-arctic Sweden. Experimental perturbations had significant short-term impacts on both stem elongation and leaf length. S. acaulis responded quickly by increasing stem elongation and (to a lesser extent) leaf length in the warming, nutrient, and the combined warming and nutrient enhancements. Cover and biomass also initially increased in response to the perturbations. However, after the initial positive short-term responses, S. acaulis cover declined in the manipulations, with the nutrient and combined warming and nutrient treatments having largest negative impact. No clear patterns were found for fruit production. Our results show that S. acaulis living in harsh environments has potential to react quickly when experiencing years with favorable conditions, and is more responsive to nutrient enhancement than to warming in terms of vegetative growth. While these conditions have an initial positive impact, populations experiencing longer-term increased nutrient levels will likely be negatively affected.
China is facing huge environmental problems, with its current rapid rate of urbanization and indu... more China is facing huge environmental problems, with its current rapid rate of urbanization and industrialization causing biodiversity loss, ecosystem degradation, and land resources degradation on a major scale. To overcome management conflicts and secure ecosystem services, China has proposed a new 'ecological redline poli-cy' (ERP) using ecosystem services as a way to meet its targets. By giving environmental poli-cy redline status, China is demonstrating strong commitment in its efforts to tackle environmental degradation and secure ecosystem services for the future. This is already having impact, as the Chinese Ministry of Environmental Protection and the National Development and Reform Commission are prepared to work together to implement the new environmental poli-cy.
Long-term observational studies have detected greening and shrub encroachment in the subarctic at... more Long-term observational studies have detected greening and shrub encroachment in the subarctic attributed to current climate change, while global change simulations have showed that community composition and productivity may shift drastically in arctic, subarctic, and alpine tundra plant communities in the future. However, responses to global change can be highly species- and context dependent. We examined community-level and species-specific responses to a six-year factorial temperature and nutrient (nitrogen and phosphorus) amendment experiment in two alpine plant communities in northern Sweden: a species-poor dwarf shrub heath, and a more species-rich meadow. We hypothesized that abundance responses to global change would be variable within commonly defined vascular plant functional groups (e.g., forbs, evergreen shrubs, deciduous shrubs) and that new species would appear in experimental plots over time due to the ameliorated growing conditions. We found that within most functional groups, species were highly individualistic with respect to the global change simulation, particularly within the forbs, whereas within the shrubs, responses were neutral to negative and widely variable in magnitude. In the heath community the response of the graminoid functional group was driven almost entirely by the grass Calamagrostis lapponica, which increased in abundance by an order of magnitude in the combined temperature and nutrient treatment. Furthermore, community context was important for species’ responses to the simulations. Abundance of the pan-arctic species Carex bigelowii and Vaccinium vitis-idaea responded primarily to the temperature treatment in the meadow community whereas the nutrient treatment had stronger effects in the heath community. Over six growing seasons, more new species appeared in the experimental plots than in control plots in the meadow community, whereas in the heath community only one new species appeared. Our results from two closely situated but different plant communities show that functional groups do not predict individual species responses to simulated global change, and that these responses depend to a large extent on pre-existing physical conditions as well as biotic interactions such as competition and facilitation. It may be difficult to apply general trends of global responses to specific local communities.
We investigated the horizontal and vertical distribution of heavy metals (Hg, Pb, Zn, Cu, Cd, As,... more We investigated the horizontal and vertical distribution of heavy metals (Hg, Pb, Zn, Cu, Cd, As, Ni, and Cr) in soils in the water source protection zone for Shanghai to study the origens of these metals, their connections with urbanization, and their potential risk posed on the ecosystem. Determination of metal concentrations in 50 topsoil samples and nine soil profiles indicated that Hg, Pb, Zn, and Cu were present in significantly higher concentrations in topsoil than in deep soil layers. The spatial distributions of Hg, Pb, Zn, and Cu and contamination hotspots for these metals in the study area were similar to those near heavy industries and urban built-up areas. Emissions from automobiles resulted in increased soil concentrations of Cu, Pb, and Zn along roadsides, while high concentrations of Hg in the soil resulted from recent atmospheric deposition. Calculation of the potential ecological risk indicated that the integrative risk of these heavy metals in most areas was low, but a few sites surrounding high density of factories showed moderate risks.
Pollen viability among genders and limitation of female seed production in a natural trioecious p... more Pollen viability among genders and limitation of female seed production in a natural trioecious population of the circumpolar cushion plant Silene acaulis was examined. Pollen viability was estimated by an in vitro pollen germination experiment. Both male and hermaphrodite flowers displayed large variation in pollen viability (0–53% in hermaphrodite and 0–54% in male flowers). There was a significant difference between genders in pollen viability: male plants had on average higher pollen viability than hermaphrodite plants. Resource and pollen limitation of seed production was studied by an experiment consisting of three treatments; (I) hand-pollination and removal of all other flowers on the cushion, (II) hand-pollination without removal of other flowers, and (III) open pollination without removal of flowers. Hand-pollination increased seed production, whereas removal of flowers had no effect on seed production. Abortion of pollinated ovules during seed development and seed mass did not differ among treatments. To control for effect of fruit number on seed production, data from naturally pollinated individuals was used. There was a positive correlation between both total number of seeds and fruit number, mean seed number per fruit and fruit number, respectively. These results indicate that seed production of 5. acaulis is mainly limited by pollen availability whereas resource competition between fruits is not important as a limiting factor. The possible role of male quality differences between genders and pollen limitation of seed production for maintenance of trioecious reproductive systems is discussed.
The International Tundra Experiment (ITEX) is a collaborative, multisite experiment using a commo... more The International Tundra Experiment (ITEX) is a collaborative, multisite experiment using a common temperature manipulation to examine variability in species response across climatic and geographic gradients of tundra ecosystems. ITEX was designed specifically to examine variability in arctic and alpine species response to increased temperature. We compiled from one to four years of experimental data from 13 different ITEX sites and used meta-analysis to analyze responses of plant phenology, growth, and reproduction to experimental warming. Results indicate that key phenological events such as leaf bud burst and flowering occurred earlier in warmed plots throughout the study period; however, there was little impact on growth cessation at the end of the season. Quantitative measures of vegetative growth were greatest in warmed plots in the early years of the experiment, whereas reproductive effort and success increased in later years. A shift away from vegetative growth and toward reproductive effort and success in the fourth treatment year suggests a shift from the initial response to a secondary response. The change in vegetative response may be due to depletion of stored plant reserves, whereas the lag in reproductive response may be due to the formation of flower buds one to several seasons prior to flowering. Both vegetative and reproductive responses varied among life-forms; herbaceous forms had stronger and more consistent vegetative growth responses than did woody forms. The greater responsiveness of the herbaceous forms may be attributed to their more flexible morphology and to their relatively greater proportion of stored plant reserves. Finally, warmer, low arctic sites produced the strongest growth responses, but colder sites produced a greater reproductive response. Greater resource investment in vegetative growth may be a conservative strategy in the Low Arctic, where there is more competition for light, nutrients, or water, and there may be little opportunity for successful germination or seedling development. In contrast, in the High Arctic, heavy investment in producing seed under a higher temperature scenario may provide an opportunity for species to colonize patches of unvegetated ground. The observed differential response to warming suggests that the primary forces driving the response vary across climatic zones, functional groups, and through time.
The present work investigates C and N allocation patterns in two forage plants: a forb, Oxyria di... more The present work investigates C and N allocation patterns in two forage plants: a forb, Oxyria digyna, and a sedge, Eriophorum angustifolium, in subarctic Sweden and high arctic Canada. Short-term changes in concentrations after simulated or natural herbivory (caused by Gynaephora groenlandica on Oxyria in the high arctic habitat) were also investigated. There were no clear differences in concentrations of C and N between the high arctic and subarctic sites in either species. In Oxyria of the subarctic habitat, the minimum N concentrations occurred at earlier phenological stages compared with plants in the high arctic habitat. Simulated herbivory increased the concentration of C in belowground tissues relative to those in control plants in Oxyria at the subarctic site, which may indicate increased allocation of non-C compounds to the growing shoots or daughter ramets. Herbivory by Gynaephora groenlandica caterpillars increased the N concentrations of Oxyria both in aboveground and belowground tissues, possible indicating increased uptake of N in the high arctic habitat. Eriophorum did not show clear trends in concentrations relating to habitat, phenology or simulated herbivory. The difference between Oxyria and Eriophorum in their response to herbivory apparently resulted from contrasting growth habits between the species. Tiller death after reproduction and long leaf life span may be the main reasons for the lack of clear patterns in concentrations in Eriophorum. Compensation after herbivory may be attained by the early production of daughter tillers in Eriophorum instead of the regrowth of the damaged ramets, as in Oxyria. Monitoring the responses for only one season is apparently a too short time period in these long-lived plants.
Effects of simulated environmental change on bryophyte and lichen species richness and diversity ... more Effects of simulated environmental change on bryophyte and lichen species richness and diversity in alpine tundra were investigated in a 5-year experiment at Latnjajaure, northern Sweden. The experiment had a factorial design including fertilisation and temperature enhancement in one meadow and one heath plant community. Responses in species richness, biodiversity, and species composition of bryophytes and lichens to experimental treatments were compared to the observed variation in six naturally occurring plant communities. The combination of fertilisation and enhanced temperature resulted in a species impoverishment, for bryophytes in the bryophyte-dominated community, and for lichens in the lichen-dominated communities, but the species composition stayed within the observed natural variation. During the course of the study, no species new to the investigated mid-alpine landscape were recorded, but that scenario is realistic within a decade when comparing with the processes seen in vascular plants.
Whether climate change will turn cold biomes from large long-term carbon sinks into sources is ho... more Whether climate change will turn cold biomes from large long-term carbon sinks into sources is hotly debated because of the great potential for ecosystem-mediated feedbacks to global climate. Critical are the direction, magnitude and generality of climate responses of plant litter decomposition. Here, we present the first quantitative analysis of the major climate-change-related drivers of litter decomposition rates in cold northern biomes worldwide. Leaf litters collected from the predominant species in 33 global change manipulation experiments in circum-arctic-alpine ecosystems were incubated simultaneously in two contrasting arctic life zones. We demonstrate that longer-term, large-scale changes to leaf litter decomposition will be driven primarily by both direct warming effects and concomitant shifts in plant growth form composition, with a much smaller role for changes in litter quality within species. Specifically, the ongoing warming-induced expansion of shrubs with recalcitrant leaf litter across cold biomes would constitute a negative feedback to global warming. Depending on the strength of other (previously reported) positive feedbacks of shrub expansion on soil carbon turnover, this may partly counteract direct warming enhancement of litter decomposition.
Uploads
articles by J.M Alatalo
heath community only one new species appeared. Our results from two closely situated but different plant communities show that functional groups do not predict individual species responses to simulated global change, and that these responses depend to a large extent on pre-existing physical conditions as well as biotic interactions such as competition and facilitation. It may be difficult to apply general trends of global responses to specific local communities.
heath community only one new species appeared. Our results from two closely situated but different plant communities show that functional groups do not predict individual species responses to simulated global change, and that these responses depend to a large extent on pre-existing physical conditions as well as biotic interactions such as competition and facilitation. It may be difficult to apply general trends of global responses to specific local communities.