Protection of Permafrost Soils from Thawing by Increasing Herbivore Density

Beer, Christian; Zimov, N.; Olofsson, Johan; Porada, Philipp; Zimov, S. A.

doi:10.1038/s41598-020-60938-y

Cited by 42 publications

(28 citation statements)

References 43 publications

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“…By increasing the rate of decomposition, forest expansion causes net release of carbon from the ecosystem to the atmosphere (Zimov et al 2009, Hartley et al 2012). Mammalian herbivory prevents forest expansion (Olofsson et al 2009, Aune et al 2011, Olofsson and Post 2018), protects permafrost against melting, which could release large amounts of carbon to atmosphere (Beer et al 2020) and can increase the capacity of ecosystems to sequester carbon (Zimov et al 2009, Väisänen et al 2014). Moreover, the high surface albedo of the tundra cools down the planet (Cohen et al 2013, Cromsigt et al 2018), providing an appreciable ecosystem service.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The impact of thermal seasonality on terrestrial endotherm food web dynamics: a revision of the Exploitation Ecosystem Hypothesis

Oksanen

Vuorinen

et al. 2020

Ecography

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Many terrestrial endotherm food webs constitute three trophic level cascades. Others have two trophic level dynamics (food limited herbivores; plants adapted to tackle intense herbivory) or one trophic level dynamic (herbivorous endotherms absent, thus plants compete for the few places where they can survive and grow). According to the Exploitation Ecosystems Hypothesis (EEH), these contrasting dynamics are consequences of differences in primary productivity. The productivity thresholds for changing food web dynamics were assumed to be global constants. We challenged this assumption and found that several model parameters are sensitive to the contrast between persistently warm and seasonally cold climates. In persistently warm environments, three trophic level dynamics can be expected to prevail almost everywhere, save the most extreme deserts. We revised EEH accordingly and tested it by compiling direct evidence of three and two trophic level dynamics and by studying the global distribution of felids. In seasonally cold environments, we found evidence for three trophic level dynamics only in productive ecosystems, while evidence for two trophic level dynamics appeared in ecosystems with low primary productivity. In persistently warm environments, we found evidence for three trophic level dynamics in all types of ecosystems. The distribution of felids corroborated these results. The empirical evidence thus indicates that two trophic level dynamics, as defined by EEH, are restricted to seasonally cold biomes with low primary productivity, such as the artic–alpine tundra and the temperate steppe.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The impact of thermal seasonality on terrestrial endotherm food web dynamics: a revision of the Exploitation Ecosystem Hypothesis

Oksanen

Vuorinen

et al. 2020

Ecography

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“…By enhancing the atmospheric vapor pressure deficit (VPD) 13 , 14 , even in remote subarctic regions, increased evapotranspiration impacts in particular the tree’s water relation. Ongoing anthropogenic warming already has significant negative effects on Siberian forest ecosystems, leading to increased permafrost degradation and CO 2 emissions 15 . Along with temperature increases, increasing VPD 14 has been shown to result in low stomatal conductance 3 , thereby responding to water shortage in trees—even in regions affected by permafrost 3 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Recent atmospheric drying in Siberia is not unprecedented over the last 1,500 years

Сидорова¹,

Corona²,

Fonti³

et al. 2020

Sci Rep

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Newly developed millennial δ13C larch tree-ring chronology from Siberia allows reconstruction of summer (July) vapor pressure deficit (VPD) changes in a temperature-limited environment. VPD increased recently, but does not yet exceed the maximum values reconstructed during the Medieval Warm Anomaly. The most humid conditions in the Siberian North were recorded in the Early Medieval Period and during the Little Ice Age. Increasing VPD under elevated air temperature affects the hydrology of these sensitive ecosystems by greater evapotranspiration rates. Further VPD increases will significantly affect Siberian forests most likely leading to drought and forest mortality even under additional access of thawed permafrost water. Adaptation strategies are needed for Siberian forest ecosystems to protect them in a warming world.

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“…Our study thus suggests that the buffering effect of large herbivores against vegetation changes extends from the tundra to forest understories as well. Increasing herbivore densities has been suggested as a way to protect permafrost in the boreal and tundra biomes from warming temperatures (Beer et al, 2020) , our study suggests that large herbivores could potentially be useful in protecting plant communities beyond permafrost areas as well.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 62%

Trait-based responses to land use and canopy dynamics modify long-term diversity changes in forest understories

Happonen

Muurinen

Virtanen

et al. 2020

Preprint

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The current biodiversity decline is primarily caused by human land use. Boreal forests have been managed for a long time, but the long-term effects of this management on boreal forest understories remain unclear. Changes apart from trends in species richness are especially poorly understood. To increase understanding about the effects of common land-use practices in boreal forests we resurveyed 245 vegetation plots in boreal herb-rich forest understories, originally sampled in 1968-1975, and investigated the effects of forest management and semi-domesticated reindeer herding on changes in seven community-level metrics: species richness, Shannon diversity, species evenness, vegetation height, leaf dry matter content (LDMC), specific leaf area (SLA), and temporal turnover. Changes in species evenness and Shannon diversity correlated negatively with shifts in vegetation height, resulting in increased diversity inside the reindeer herding area. Canopies in managed forests had higher cover in the long-term, which correlated with higher SLA and lower LDMC of the understory vegetation. Forest management intensity also correlated negatively with understory species richness trends. Compositional turnover was higher in managed forests, and lower inside the reindeer herding area. The apparent stability of understory species richness, SLA and height at the scale of the entire study area resulted from opposing trends in different parts of the study area cancelling each other out when viewed at a larger scale. We conclude that even though the long-term effects of human land use on plant communities can be complex, complementing approaches based on species richness and dissimilarity metrics with functional trait-based perspectives has the potential to unearth mechanistic explanations for observed patterns, such as livestock grazing selectively affecting plants based on their height, and forest management filtering species based on their light-interception traits.

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Protection of Permafrost Soils from Thawing by Increasing Herbivore Density

Cited by 42 publications

References 43 publications

The impact of thermal seasonality on terrestrial endotherm food web dynamics: a revision of the Exploitation Ecosystem Hypothesis

The impact of thermal seasonality on terrestrial endotherm food web dynamics: a revision of the Exploitation Ecosystem Hypothesis

Recent atmospheric drying in Siberia is not unprecedented over the last 1,500 years

Trait-based responses to land use and canopy dynamics modify long-term diversity changes in forest understories

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