Permafrost thaw induces short‐term increase in vegetation productivity in northwestern Canada

Author:

Ogden Emily L.1ORCID,Cumming Steven G.2ORCID,Smith Sharon L.3ORCID,Turetsky Merritt R.45ORCID,Baltzer Jennifer L.1ORCID

Affiliation:

1. Biology Department Wilfrid Laurier University Waterloo Ontario Canada

2. Department of Wood and Forest Sciences Laval University Quebec City Quebec Canada

3. Geological Survey of Canada Natural Resources Canada Ottawa Ontario Canada

4. Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Department University of Colorado Boulder Colorado USA

5. Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research University of Colorado Boulder Colorado USA

Abstract

AbstractOver the past several decades, various trends in vegetation productivity, from increases to decreases, have been observed throughout Arctic–Boreal ecosystems. While some of this variation can be explained by recent climate warming and increased disturbance, very little is known about the impacts of permafrost thaw on productivity across diverse vegetation communities. Active layer thickness data from 135 permafrost monitoring sites along a 10° latitudinal transect of the Northwest Territories, Canada, paired with a Landsat time series of normalized difference vegetation index from 1984 to 2019, were used to quantify the impacts of changing permafrost conditions on vegetation productivity. We found that active layer thickness contributed to the observed variation in vegetation productivity in recent decades in the northwestern Arctic–Boreal, with the highest rates of greening occurring at sites where the near‐surface permafrost recently had thawed. However, the greening associated with permafrost thaw was not sustained after prolonged periods of thaw and appeared to diminish after the thaw front extended outside the plants' rooting zone. Highest rates of greening were found at the mid‐transect sites, between 62.4° N and 65.2° N, suggesting that more southernly sites may have already surpassed the period of beneficial permafrost thaw, while more northern sites may have yet to reach a level of thaw that supports enhanced vegetation productivity. These results indicate that the response of vegetation productivity to permafrost thaw is highly dependent on the extent of active layer thickening and that increases in productivity may not continue in the coming decades.

Funder

Canada Research Chairs

Natural Resources Canada

Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada

Wilfrid Laurier University

Publisher

Wiley

Subject

General Environmental Science,Ecology,Environmental Chemistry,Global and Planetary Change

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