Eurasian arctic greening reveals teleconnections and the potential for structurally novel ecosystems

ABSTRACT Arctic warming has been linked to observed increases in tundra shrub cover and growth in recent decades1,2,3 on the basis of significant relationships between deciduous shrub

growth/biomass and temperature3,4,5,6,7. These vegetation trends have been linked to Arctic sea-ice decline5 and thus to the sea-ice/albedo feedback known as Arctic amplification8. However,

the interactions between climate, sea ice and tundra vegetation remain poorly understood. Here we reveal a 50-year growth response over a >100,000 km2 area to a rise in summer temperature

for alder (_Alnus_) and willow (_Salix_), the most abundant shrub genera respectively at and north of the continental treeline. We demonstrate that whereas plant productivity is related to

sea ice in late spring, the growing season peak responds to persistent synoptic-scale air masses over West Siberia associated with Fennoscandian weather systems through the Rossby wave

train. Substrate is important for biomass accumulation, yet a strong correlation between growth and temperature encompasses all observed soil types. Vegetation is especially responsive to

temperature in early summer. These results have significant implications for modelling present and future Low Arctic vegetation responses to climate change, and emphasize the potential for

structurally novel ecosystems to emerge from within the tundra zone. Access through your institution Buy or subscribe This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

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about institutional subscriptions * Read our FAQs * Contact customer support SIMILAR CONTENT BEING VIEWED BY OTHERS TUNDRA VEGETATION CHANGE AND IMPACTS ON PERMAFROST Article 11 January 2022

SUMMER WARMING EXPLAINS WIDESPREAD BUT NOT UNIFORM GREENING IN THE ARCTIC TUNDRA BIOME Article Open access 22 September 2020 FINE-SCALE TUNDRA VEGETATION PATTERNS ARE STRONGLY RELATED TO

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its determination by Monte Carlo techniques. _Month. Weath. Rev._ 111, 46–59 (1983). Article  Google Scholar  Download references ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The overall work was supported by the

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (grants NNG6GE00A and NNX09AK56G), the Northern Eurasian Earth Science Partnership Initiative, the Academy of Finland’s Russia in Flux programme

through the _ENSINOR_ project (decision 208147), the National Science Foundation Office of Polar Programs (grant 0531200) and the Nordic Centre of Excellence—_TUNDRA_. M.M-F. was

financially supported by a Marie Curie Research Fellowship during the completion of this study (Grant Agreement Number 254206, project ECOCHANGE: Creating conditions for persistence of

biodiversity in the face of climate change). AUTHOR INFORMATION AUTHORS AND AFFILIATIONS * Department of Zoology, Long-term Ecology Laboratory, Biodiversity Institute, University of Oxford,

Tinbergen Building, Oxford, OX1 3PS, South Parks Road, UK Marc Macias-Fauria * Arctic Centre, University of Lapland, FI-96101 Rovaniemi, Box 122, Finland Bruce C. Forbes * Department of

Forest Sciences, Laboratory of Dendrochronology, University of Eastern Finland, FI-80101 Joensuu, Finland Pentti Zetterberg * Department of Geographical and Historical Studies, University of

Eastern Finland, FI-80101 Joensuu, Yliopistonkatu 7, Finland Timo Kumpula Authors * Marc Macias-Fauria View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar *

Bruce C. Forbes View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Pentti Zetterberg View author publications You can also search for this author

inPubMed Google Scholar * Timo Kumpula View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar CONTRIBUTIONS M.M-F. performed the statistical analysis, wrote the

manuscript and created the figures. B.C.F. designed and performed the field expeditions and sampling, supervised the project and collaborated in writing the manuscript. P.Z. dated and

measured the ring-width chronologies. T.K. performed fieldwork (ground truthing of satellite imagery) and laboratory remote-sensing analyses. CORRESPONDING AUTHOR Correspondence to Bruce C.

Forbes. ETHICS DECLARATIONS COMPETING INTERESTS The authors declare no competing financial interests. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION (PDF 5071 KB) RIGHTS AND PERMISSIONS

Reprints and permissions ABOUT THIS ARTICLE CITE THIS ARTICLE Macias-Fauria, M., Forbes, B., Zetterberg, P. _et al._ Eurasian Arctic greening reveals teleconnections and the potential for

structurally novel ecosystems. _Nature Clim Change_ 2, 613–618 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate1558 Download citation * Received: 28 November 2011 * Accepted: 30 April 2012 *

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