The role of summer precipitation and summer temperature in establishment and growth of dwarf shrub Betula nana in northeast Siberian tundra

It is widely believed that deciduous tundrashrubdominance is increasing in the pan-Arctic region,mainly due to rising temperature. We sampled dwarf birch(Betula nana L.) at a northeastern Siberian tundra site andused dendrochronological methods to explore the relationshipbetween climatic variables and local shrub dominance.We found that establishment of shrub ramets waspositively related to summer precipitation, which impliesthat the current high dominance of B. nana at our study sitecould be related to high summer precipitation in the periodfrom 1960 to 1990. The results confirmed that early summertemperature is most influential to annual growth ratesof B. nana. In addition, summer precipitation stimulatedshrub growth in years with warm summers, suggesting thatB. nana growth may be co-limited by summer moisturesupply. The dual controlling role of temperature andsummer precipitation on B. nana growth and establishmentis important to predict future climate-driven vegetationdynamics in the Arctic tundra.

Bibliographic Details

Main Authors:	Bingxi Li, Heijmans, M.M.P.D., Berendse, F., Blok, D., Maximov, T., Sass-Klaassen, U.G.W.
Format:	Article/Letter to editor biblioteca
Language:	English
Subjects:	Arctic, Betula nana L, Dendrochronology, Global warming, Shrub dominance, Summer precipitation,
Online Access:	https://research.wur.nl/en/publications/the-role-of-summer-precipitation-and-summer-temperature-in-establ
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