The snow and the willows: earlier spring snowmelt reduces performance in the low‐lying alpine shrub Salix herbacea

Abstract

Summary1. Current changes in shrub abundance in alpine and arctic tundra ecosystems are primarily driven by climate change. However, while taller shrub communities are expanding, dwarf shrub communities show reductions under climate warming, and the mechanisms driving the latter (such as warming temperatures or accelerated spring snowmelt) may be complex. 2. To determine and disentangle the response of a widespread arctic-alpine prostrate dwarf shrub to both climate warming and changes in snowmelt time, we investigated phenology, clonal and sexual reproduction, leaf size, wood tissue carbon balance and leaf damage in 480 patches of Salix herbacea, along its elevational and snowmelt microhabitat range over 3 years in a space-for-time substitution. 3. Earlier snowmelt was associated with longer phenological development periods, an increased likelihood of herbivory and fungal damage, lower stem density, smaller leaves and lower end-of-season wood reserve carbohydrates. Furthermore, while early snowmelt was associated with an increased proportion of flowering stems, the proportion of fruiting stems was not, as fruit set decreased significantly with earlier snowmelt. Warmer temperatures at lower elevations were associated with lower stem numbers and larger leaves. 4. Synthesis. Our study indicates that phenology, fitness proxies and fungal/insect damage of the dwarf shrub S. herbacea are strongly influenced by snowmelt timing, and that earlier spring snowmelt reduced performance in S. herbacea. The likely mechanisms for many of the observed patterns are related to adverse temperature conditions in the early growing season. Reductions in clonal (stem number) and sexual reproduction (reduced fruit set) under earlier snowmelt, in addition to increasing damage probability, will likely lead to lower fitness and poorer performance, particularly in shrubs growing in early-exposure microhabitats. Further, we saw few concurrent benefits of higher temperatures for S. herbacea, particularly as warming was associated with lower clonal growth. As growing seasons become warmer and longer in arctic and alpine tundra ecosystems, early snowmelt is a critical mechanism reducing fitness and performance in a widespread dwarf shrub and may ultimately reduce dwarf shrub communities in tundra biomes.

Fitness of natural willow hybrids in a pioneer mosaic hybrid zone

“…by the authors). The onset of flowering in alpine habitats is strongly influenced by the timing of snowmelt as has been shown for willows and other species (Molau, Nordenhäll, & Eriksen, ; Sedlacek et al., ; Wheeler et al., ). In the alpine zone, there is a strong small‐scale differentiation in snow‐melt timing (Cortés et al., ; Wheeler et al., ) but due to the lower location in the subalpine zone (at 1,700–1,800 m ASL) and the flat surface topography of the glacier forefield in this study, the differences between microhabitats should be less pronounced.…”

What if plant functional types conceal species‐specific responses to environment? Study on arctic shrub communities

“…, Wheeler et al. ). Although several studies investigated the effect of altered snow regime on tundra structure and function (see, for instance, Wahren et al.…”

Local Scale Genetic Diversity and its Role in Coping with Changing Climate

“…Three-to-ive diferent transects spanning a range of north-east (sun/shade) exposure and covering the main elevational range are the best compromise between sampling efort and feasibility. These surveys at a microhabitat level follow an experimental approach known as space-for-time (SFT) substitution [15], in which current spatial heterogeneity is used as a proxy for predicting ecological time series (i.e. reactions to future conditions).…”

“…When compared to the plot survey, the transect survey has many smaller plots with fewer total patches but covers the desired altitudinal and microhabitat variation at a beter resolution by having more total plots. This is ideal to assess ecological responses [15] or genetic isolation-by-distance and to explore trait and microhabitat-driven genomic architecture [15,22].…”

“…Therefore, to understand processes involved in potential responses to changing conditions, it is important to consider not only climate diferences between diferent altitudes but also diferences between microhabitats [12][13][14], because environmental variation at a local-scale can be high [15]. In this chapter, I explore the microhabitat-driven paterns (Section 2) and processes (Section 3) and its impact on genetic diversity.…”