Abstract
AbstractOngoing Arctic greening can increase productivity and reindeer pasture quality in the tundra. However, greening may also entail proliferation of unpalatable species, with consequences for pastoral social-ecological systems. Here we show extensive greening across 20 reindeer districts in Norway between 2003 and 2020, which has reduced pasture diversity. The allelopathic, evergreen dwarf-shrub crowberry increased its biomass by 60%, with smaller increases of deciduous shrubs and no increase in forbs and graminoids, the most species rich growth forms. There was no evidence for higher reindeer densities promoting crowberry. The current management decision-making process aims at sustainable pasture management but does not explicitly account for pasture changes and reduced diversity. Large-scale shifts towards evergreening and increased allelopathy may thus undermine the resource base for this key Arctic herbivore and the pastoral social-ecological system. Management that is sensitive to changes in pasture diversity could avoid mismanagement of a social-ecological system in transition.
Funder
Norges Forskningsråd
Norwegian Research Council
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Reference121 articles.
1. IPCC, 2021: Climate Change 2021: The Physical Science Basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (Cambridge University Press, 2021).
2. Myers-Smith, I. H. et al. Complexity revealed in the greening of the Arctic. Nat. Clim. Chang. 10, 106–117 (2020).
3. Barry, T. Arctic Biodiversity Assessment: Status and Trends in Arctic Biodiversity (The Conservation of Arctic Flora and Fauna, 2013).
4. Post, E. et al. The polar regions in a 2 °C warmer world. Sci. Adv. 5, eaaw9883 (2019).
5. Taylor, J. J. et al. Arctic terrestrial biodiversity status and trends: a synopsis of science supporting the CBMP State of Arctic Terrestrial Biodiversity Report. Ambio 49, 833–847 (2020).
Cited by
1 articles.
订阅此论文施引文献
订阅此论文施引文献,注册后可以免费订阅5篇论文的施引文献,订阅后可以查看论文全部施引文献