scholarly journals Four decades of plant community change along a continental gradient of warming

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Antoine Becker-Scarpitta ◽  
Steve Vissault ◽  
Mark Vellend
Keyword(s):  
Climate Warming ◽  
Vegetation Change ◽  
High Sensitivity ◽  
Warming Trend ◽  
Community Change ◽  
Individual Species ◽  
Eastern Canada ◽  
Recent Warming ◽  
Temperature Indices ◽  
Distribution Shifts

AbstractMany studies of individual sites have revealed biotic changes consistent with climate warming (e.g., upward elevational distribution shifts), but our understanding of the tremendous variation among studies in the magnitude of such biotic changes is minimal. In this study we re-surveyed forest vegetation plots 40 years after the initial surveys in three protected areas along a west-to-east gradient of increasingly steep recent warming trends in eastern Canada (Québec). Consistent with the hypothesis that climate warming has been an important driver of vegetation change, we found an increasing magnitude of changes in species richness and composition from west to east among the three parks. For the two mountainous parks, we found no changes in elevational species’ distributions in the eastern most park where warming has been minimal (Forillon Park), and significant upward distribution shifts in the centrally located park where the recent warming trend has been marked (Mont-Mégantic). Community temperature indices (CTI), reflecting the average affinities of locally co-occurring to temperature conditions across their geographic ranges (“species temperature indices”), did not change over time as predicted. However, close examination of the underpinnings of CTI values suggested a high sensitivity to uncertainty in individual species’ temperature indices, and so a potentially limited responsiveness to warming. Overall, by testing a priori predictions concerning variation among parks in the direction and magnitude of vegetation changes, we have provided stronger evidence for a link between climate warming and biotic responses than otherwise possible, and provided a potential explanation for large variation among studies in warming-related biotic changes.

Possible vegetation change in Mountain Altai under climate warming and compiling the prognosis maps

2000 ◽  
pp. 26-31
Author(s):  
E. I. Parfenova ◽  
N. M. Chebakova
Keyword(s):  
Climate Warming ◽  
Vegetation Change ◽  
Climate Change Scenario ◽  
Change Scenario ◽  
Forest Steppe ◽  
Vegetation Map ◽  
Climatic Indices ◽  
Bioclimatic Model ◽  
Open Woodland ◽  
Mountain Taiga

Global climate warming is expected to be a new factor influencing vegetation redistribution and productivity in the XXI century. In this paper possible vegetation change in Mountain Altai under global warming is evaluated. The attention is focused on forest vegetation being one of the most important natural resources for the regional economy. A bioclimatic model of correlation between vegetation and climate is used to predict vegetation change (Parfenova, Tchebakova 1998). In the model, a vegetation class — an altitudinal vegetation belt (mountain tundra, dark- coniferous subalpine open woodland, light-coniferous subgolets open woodland, dark-coniferous mountain taiga, light-coniferous mountain taiga, chern taiga, subtaiga and forest-steppe, mountain steppe) is predicted from a combination of July Temperature (JT) and Complex Moisture Index (CMI). Borders between vegetation classes are determined by certain values of these two climatic indices. Some bioclimatic regularities of vegetation distribution in Mountain Altai have been found: 1. Tundra is separated from taiga by the JT value of 8.5°C; 2. Dark- coniferous taiga is separated from light-coniferous taiga by the CMI value of 2.25; 3. Mountain steppe is separated from the forests by the CMI value of 4.0. 4. Within both dark-coniferous and light-coniferous taiga, vegetation classes are separated by the temperature factor. For the spatially model of vegetation distribution in Mountain Altai within the window 84 E — 90 E and 48 N — 52 N, the DEM (Digital Elevation Model) was used with a pixel of 1 km resolution. In a GIS Package IDRISI for Windows 2.0, climatic layers were developed based on DEM and multiple regressions relating climatic indices to physiography (elevation and latitude). Coupling the map of climatic indices with the authors' bioclimatic model resulted into a vegetation map for the region of interest. Visual comparison of the modelled vegetation map with the observed geobotanical map (Kuminova, 1960; Ogureeva, 1980) showed a good similarity between them. The new climatic indices map was developed under the climate change scenario with summer temperature increase 2°C and annual precipitation increase 20% (Menzhulin, 1998). For most mountains under such climate change scenario vegetation belts would rise 300—400 m on average. Under current climate, the dark-coniferous and light-coniferous mountain taiga forests dominate throughout Mountain Altai. The chern forests are the most productive and floristically rich and are also widely distributed. Under climate warming, light-coniferous mountain taiga may be expected to transform into subtaiga and forest-steppe and dark-coniferous taiga may be expected to transform partly into chern taiga. Other consequences of warming may happen such as the increase of forest productivity within the territories with sufficient rainfall and the increase of forest fire occurrence over territories with insufficient rainfall.

A multi-proxy reconstruction of climate during the late-Pleistocene to early Holocene transition in the northeastern, USA

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-17
Author(s):  
Laurie D. Grigg ◽  
Kevin J. Engle ◽  
Alison J. Smith ◽  
Bryan N. Shuman ◽  
Maximilian B. Mandl
Keyword(s):  
Late Pleistocene ◽  
Climatic Variability ◽  
Warming Trend ◽  
Early Holocene ◽  
Individual Species ◽  
Environmental Preferences ◽  
The North ◽  
Show Evidence ◽  
Dry Conditions ◽  
Components Analysis

Abstract A multiproxy record from Twin Ponds, VT, is used to reconstruct climatic variability during the late Pleistocene to early Holocene transition. Pollen, ostracodes, δ18O, and lithologic records from 13.5 to 9.0 cal ka BP are presented. Pollen- and ostracode-inferred climatic reconstructions are based on individual species’ environmental preferences and the modern analog technique. Principal components analysis of all proxies highlights the overall warming trend and centennial-scale climatic variability. During the Younger Dryas cooling event (YD), multiple proxies show evidence for cold winter conditions and increasing seasonality after 12.5 cal ka BP. The early Holocene shows an initial phase of rapid warming with a brief cold interval at 11.5 cal ka BP, followed by a more gradual warming; a cool, wet period from 11.2 to 10.8 cal ka BP; and cool, dry conditions from 10.8 to 10.2 cal ka BP. The record ends with steady warming and increasing moisture. Post-YD climatic variability has been observed at other sites in the northeastern United States and points to continued instability in the North Atlantic during the final phases of deglaciation.

Tree-ring records from New Zealand: long-term context for recent warming trend

1998 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 191-199 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. D. D'Arrigo ◽  
E. R. Cook ◽  
M. J. Salinger ◽  
J. Palmer ◽  
P. J. Krusic ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Tree Ring ◽  
Warming Trend ◽  
Recent Warming

Spring-flowering herbaceous plant species of the deciduous forests of eastern Canada and 20th century climate warming

2007 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
pp. 505-512 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gilles Houle
Keyword(s):  
20Th Century ◽  
Plant Species ◽  
Climate Warming ◽  
Plant Phenology ◽  
Deciduous Forests ◽  
Metropolitan Region ◽  
Ecosystem Functions ◽  
Herbaceous Plant ◽  
Eastern Canada ◽  
Local Conditions

Increases in the emission of greenhouse gases, particularly during the second half of the 20th century, have been associated with climate warming at the global scale. High latitude areas have been reported to be particularly sensitive to such changes, with significant impacts on plant phenology. The objectives of the present study were to (i) estimate changes in the flowering dates of 18 spring-flowering herbaceous plant species typical of the deciduous forests of eastern North America in three areas of eastern Canada (Gatineau–Ottawa, Montréal, and Québec) from 1900 to 2000 and (ii) associate these changes with those of annual and spring local temperatures. My results show a 2–6 days advance in flowering date over 100 years, depending on the region considered (corresponding to a ~2–3 days advance per 1 °C); these values are somewhat lower than those published in other studies, but still support the increasing body of literature on the effects of climate warming on plant phenology. Shifts in flowering phenology were particularly evident for Montréal, a large metropolitan region; this suggests that global climate warming, and its effects on plant phenology, may be exacerbated by local conditions, particularly those associated with large urban areas. Furthermore, species-specific responses to climate warming, as those presented here, might lead to significant changes in community composition and ecosystem functions.

scholarly journals Shifting fish distributions in warming sub-Arctic oceans

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven E. Campana ◽  
Ragnhildur B. Stefánsdóttir ◽  
Klara Jakobsdóttir ◽  
Jón Sólmundsson
Keyword(s):  
Fish Species ◽  
Climate Warming ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Linear Models ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Species Abundance ◽  
Time Frame ◽  
Thermal Limits ◽  
Dimensional Distribution ◽  
Distribution Shifts

Abstract The distributional response of marine fishes to climate warming would be expected to be very different than that of homeothermic birds and mammals, due both to more direct thermal effects on poikilothermic fish physiology and on reduced habitat fragmentation. In this study, we use a combination of linear models and graphical tools to quantify three-dimensional distribution shifts in 82 fish species caught in 5390 standardized groundfish survey tows over a 22-year time frame in the highly-productive sub-Arctic waters around Iceland. Over a 1 °C range, temperature significantly modified the distributional centroids of 72% of all fish species, but had relatively little effect on diversity. Most of the geographic shifts were to the northwest, and there was no overall tendency to move to deeper waters. A doubling of species abundance significantly influenced the distribution of 62% of species, but lacked the poleward orientation observed with temperature increases. Stenothermal species, those near their upper or lower thermal limits, and those with restricted spatial ranges were most likely to shift their distribution in response to climate warming, while deepwater species were not. A 2–3 °C warming of marine waters seems likely to produce large-scale changes in the location of many sub-Arctic fisheries.

scholarly journals Recent ice-core climate records from the Cordillera Blanca, Peru

1995 ◽  
Vol 21 ◽  
pp. 225-230 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. E. Davis ◽  
L. G. Thompson ◽  
E. Mosley-Thompson ◽  
P. N. Lin ◽  
V. N. Mikhalenko ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Ice Core ◽  
Ice Cores ◽  
Warming Trend ◽  
Isotopic Ratios ◽  
Weather Station ◽  
Climate Record ◽  
Climatic Variations ◽  
Recent Warming ◽  
Lower Elevation ◽  
Oxygen Isotopic

Ice cores recently drilled to bedrock on the col of Huascarán (9°06′ S, 77°36′ W, 6047 m a.s.l.) offer the potential for a long, annually resolved climate record from tropical South America. This paper presents the record from 1950 to 1993 preserved in microparticle and nitrate concentrations and oxygen-isotopic ratios. Average monthly temperatures from a satellite-linked automatic weather station installed on nearby Hualcán in 1991 are presented. Annual temperatures from local high-altitude meteorological stations, along with the annual Huascarán isotopic record, show a warming trend over the last two decades. The marked preservation of the climate record in oxygen-isotopic ratios on Huascarán is absent at lower-elevation sites, which have been affected by the recent warming. This paper demonstrates the establishment of a time-scale for the Huascarán core, the preservation of the climatic signal with depth and the linkage of the ice-core “proxy-climate” parameters with measured climatic variations.

scholarly journals Proxy-based 300-year High Arctic climate warming record from Svalbard

Polar Record ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 55 (3) ◽  
pp. 132-141 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tomi P. Luoto ◽  
Antti E. K. Ojala ◽  
Marek Zajaczkowski
Keyword(s):  
Climate Warming ◽  
Break Point ◽  
Warming Trend ◽  
High Arctic ◽  
Ice Age ◽  
Arctic Climate ◽  
Air Temperatures ◽  
Summer Temperatures ◽  
Meteorological Observations ◽  
Arctic Climate Change

AbstractWe used fossil Chironomidae assemblages and the transfer function approach to reconstruct summer air temperatures over the past 300 years from a High Arctic lake in Hornsund, Svalbard. Our aims were to compare reconstructed summer temperatures with observed (last 100 years) seasonal temperatures, to determine a potential climate warming break point in the temperature series and to assess the significance and rate of the climate warming trend at the study site. The reconstructed temperatures were consistent with a previous proxy record from Svalbard and showed good correlation with the meteorological observations from Bjørnøya and Longyearbyen. From the current palaeoclimate record, we found a significant climate warming threshold in the 1930s, after which the temperatures rapidly increased. We also found that the climate warming trend was strong and statistically significant. Compared with the reconstructed Little Ice Age temperatures in late eighteenth century cooling culmination, the present day summer temperatures are >4°C higher and the temperature increase since the 1930s has been 0.5°C per decade. These results highlight the exceptionally rapid recent warming of southern Svalbard and add invaluable information on the seasonality of High Arctic climate change and Arctic amplification.

scholarly journals A New Estimation of Urbanization’s Contribution to the Warming Trend in China

2015 ◽  
Vol 28 (22) ◽  
pp. 8923-8938 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fang Wang ◽  
Quansheng Ge ◽  
Shaowu Wang ◽  
Qingxiang Li ◽  
Philip D. Jones
Keyword(s):  
Climate Warming ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Warming Trend ◽  
Heat Island ◽  
Urban Station ◽  
Urbanization Effect ◽  
Urban Heat ◽  
Urban And Rural Areas ◽  
Urban Effects

Abstract The extent to which an urbanization effect has contributed to climate warming is under debate in China. Some previous studies have shown that the urban heat island (UHI) contribution to national warming was substantial (10%–40%). However, by considering the spatial scale of urbanization effects, this study indicates that the UHI contribution is negligible (less than 1%). Urban areas constitute only 0.7% of the whole of China. According to the proportions of urban and rural areas used in this study, the weighted urban and rural temperature averages reduced the estimated total warming trend and also reduced the estimated urban effects. Conversely, if all stations were arithmetically averaged, that is, without weighting, the total warming trend and urban effects will be overestimated as in previous studies because there are more urban stations than rural stations in China. Moreover, the urban station proportion (68%) is much higher than the urban area proportion (0.7%).

Links between spring snow cover and long-term alpine vegetation change

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shengwei Zong ◽  
Christian Rixen
Keyword(s):  
Remote Sensing ◽  
Snow Cover ◽  
Plant Species ◽  
Climate Warming ◽  
Vegetation Change ◽  
Alpine Vegetation ◽  
Alpine Ecosystems ◽  
Snow Cover Extent ◽  
The Relationship

<p><span>Snow is an important environmental factor determining distributions of plant species in alpine ecosystems. During the past decades, climate warming has resulted in significant reduction of snow cover extent globally, which led to remarkable alpine vegetation change. Alpine vegetation change is often caused by the combined effects of increasing air temperature and snow cover change, yet the relationship between snow cover and vegetation change is currently not fully understood. To detect changes in both snow cover and alpine vegetation, a relatively fine spatial scales over long temporal spans is necessary. In this study in alpine tundra of the Changbai Mountains, Northeast China, we (1) quantified spatiotemporal changes of spring snow cover area (SCA) during half a century by using multi-source remote sensing datasets; (2) detected long-term vegetation greening and browning trends at pixel level using Landsat archives of 30 m resolution, and (3) analyzed the relationship between spring SCA change and vegetation change. Results showed that spring SCA has decreased significantly during the last 50 years in line with climate warming. Changes in vegetation greening and browning trend were related to distributional range dynamics of a dominant indigenous evergreen shrub <em>Rhododendron aureum</em>, which extended at the leading edge and retracted at the trailing edge. Changes in <em>R. aureum</em> distribution were probably related to spring snow cover changes. Areas with decreasing <em>R. aureum</em> cover were often located in snow patches where probably herbs and grasses encroached from low elevations and adjacent communities. Our study highlights that spring SCA derived from multi-source remote sensing imagery can be used as a proxy to explore relationship between snow cover and vegetation change in alpine ecosystems. Alpine indigenous plant species may migrate upward following the reduction of snow-dominated environments in the context of climate warming and could be threatened by encroaching plants within snow bed habitats.</span></p>

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