Permafrost collapse after shrub removal shifts tundra ecosystem to a methane source
(2015) In Nature Climate Change 5(1). p.67-70- Abstract
Arctic tundra ecosystems are warming almost twice as fast as the global average. Permafrost thaw and the resulting release of greenhouse gases from decomposing soil organic carbon have the potential to accelerate climate warming. In recent decades, Arctic tundra ecosystems have changed rapidly, including expansion of woody vegetation, in response to changing climate conditions. How such vegetation changes contribute to stabilization or destabilization of the permafrost is unknown. Here we present six years of field observations in a shrub removal experiment at a Siberian tundra site. Removing the shrub part of the vegetation initiated thawing of ice-rich permafrost, resulting in collapse of the originally elevated shrub patches into... (More)
Arctic tundra ecosystems are warming almost twice as fast as the global average. Permafrost thaw and the resulting release of greenhouse gases from decomposing soil organic carbon have the potential to accelerate climate warming. In recent decades, Arctic tundra ecosystems have changed rapidly, including expansion of woody vegetation, in response to changing climate conditions. How such vegetation changes contribute to stabilization or destabilization of the permafrost is unknown. Here we present six years of field observations in a shrub removal experiment at a Siberian tundra site. Removing the shrub part of the vegetation initiated thawing of ice-rich permafrost, resulting in collapse of the originally elevated shrub patches into waterlogged depressions within five years. This thaw pond development shifted the plots from a methane sink into a methane source. The results of our field experiment demonstrate the importance of the vegetation cover for protection of the massive carbon reservoirs stored in the permafrost and illustrate the strong vulnerability of these tundra ecosystems to perturbations. If permafrost thawing can more frequently trigger such local permafrost collapse, methane-emitting wet depressions could become more abundant in the lowland tundra landscape, at the cost of permafrost-stabilizing low shrub vegetation.
(Less)
- author
- publishing date
- 2015-12-18
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- in
- Nature Climate Change
- volume
- 5
- issue
- 1
- pages
- 4 pages
- publisher
- Nature Publishing Group
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:84927669863
- ISSN
- 1758-678X
- DOI
- 10.1038/nclimate2446
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- no
- id
- 14ad2c31-5c6e-49fc-9e56-f3a7795d6e23
- date added to LUP
- 2016-06-29 22:09:09
- date last changed
- 2022-04-24 08:33:07
@article{14ad2c31-5c6e-49fc-9e56-f3a7795d6e23,
abstract = {{<p>Arctic tundra ecosystems are warming almost twice as fast as the global average. Permafrost thaw and the resulting release of greenhouse gases from decomposing soil organic carbon have the potential to accelerate climate warming. In recent decades, Arctic tundra ecosystems have changed rapidly, including expansion of woody vegetation, in response to changing climate conditions. How such vegetation changes contribute to stabilization or destabilization of the permafrost is unknown. Here we present six years of field observations in a shrub removal experiment at a Siberian tundra site. Removing the shrub part of the vegetation initiated thawing of ice-rich permafrost, resulting in collapse of the originally elevated shrub patches into waterlogged depressions within five years. This thaw pond development shifted the plots from a methane sink into a methane source. The results of our field experiment demonstrate the importance of the vegetation cover for protection of the massive carbon reservoirs stored in the permafrost and illustrate the strong vulnerability of these tundra ecosystems to perturbations. If permafrost thawing can more frequently trigger such local permafrost collapse, methane-emitting wet depressions could become more abundant in the lowland tundra landscape, at the cost of permafrost-stabilizing low shrub vegetation.</p>}},
author = {{Nauta, Ake L. and Heijmans, Monique M P D and Blok, Daan and Limpens, Juul and Elberling, Bo and Gallagher, Angela and Li, Bingxi and Petrov, Roman E. and Maximov, Trofim C. and Van Huissteden, Jacobus and Berendse, Frank}},
issn = {{1758-678X}},
language = {{eng}},
month = {{12}},
number = {{1}},
pages = {{67--70}},
publisher = {{Nature Publishing Group}},
series = {{Nature Climate Change}},
title = {{Permafrost collapse after shrub removal shifts tundra ecosystem to a methane source}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nclimate2446}},
doi = {{10.1038/nclimate2446}},
volume = {{5}},
year = {{2015}},
}