Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://hdl.handle.net/1893/32468
Appears in Collections:Biological and Environmental Sciences Journal Articles
Peer Review Status: Refereed
Title: Shrub expansion in the Arctic may induce large-scale carbon losses due to changes in plant-soil interactions
Author(s): Parker, Thomas C
Thurston, Alana M
Raundrup, Katrine
Subke, Jens-Arne
Wookey, Philip A
Hartley, Iain P
Contact Email: t.c.parker@stir.ac.uk
Keywords: Shrub expansion
Arctic
Soil
Rhizosphere
Carbon cycle
Climate change
Issue Date: Jun-2021
Date Deposited: 23-Mar-2021
Citation: Parker TC, Thurston AM, Raundrup K, Subke J, Wookey PA & Hartley IP (2021) Shrub expansion in the Arctic may induce large-scale carbon losses due to changes in plant-soil interactions. Plant and Soil, 463 (1-2), pp. 643-651. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-021-04919-8
Abstract: Background Tall deciduous shrubs are increasing in range, size and cover across much of the Arctic, a process commonly assumed to increase carbon (C) storage. Major advances in remote sensing have increased our ability to monitor changes aboveground, improving quantification and understanding of arctic greening. However, the vast majority of C in the Arctic is stored in soils, where changes are more uncertain. Scope We present pilot data to argue that shrub expansion will cause changes in rhizosphere processes, including the development of new mycorrhizal associations that have the potential to promote soil C losses that substantially exceed C gains in plant biomass. However, current observations are limited in their spatial extent, and mechanistic understanding is still developing. Extending measurements across different regions and tundra types would greatly increase our ability to predict the biogeochemical consequences of arctic vegetation change, and we present a simple method that would allow such data to be collected. Conclusions Shrub expansion in the Arctic could promote substantial soil C losses that are unlikely to be offset by increases in plant biomass. However, confidence in this prediction is limited by a lack of information on how soil C stocks vary between contrasting Arctic vegetation communities; this needs to be addressed urgently.
DOI Link: 10.1007/s11104-021-04919-8
Rights: This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
Licence URL(s): http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

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