The Arctic is experiencing rapid climate change. This research documents changes to tundra vegetation near Atqasuk and Utqiagvik, Alaska. At each location, 30 plots were sampled annually from 2010 to 2019 using a point frame. For every encounter, we recorded the height and classified it into eight groupings (deciduous shrubs, evergreen shrubs, forbs, graminoids, bryophytes, lichens, litter, and standing dead vegetation); for vascular plants we also identified the species. We found an increase in plant stature and cover over time, consistent with regional warming. Graminoid cover and height increased at both sites, with a 5-fold increase in cover in Atqasuk. At Atqasuk, the cover and height of shrubs and forbs increased. Species diversity decreased at both the sites. Year was generally the strongest predictor of vegetation change, suggesting a cumulative change over time; however, soil moisture and soil temperature were also predictors of vegetation change. We anticipate that plants in the region will continue to grow taller as the region warms, resulting in greater plant cover, especially of graminoids and shrubs. The increase in plant cover and accumulation of litter may negatively impact non- vascular plants. Continued changes in community structure will impact energy balance and carbon cycling and may have regional and global consequences.

Arctic and boreal permafrost soil organic carbon (SOC) decomposition has been slower than carbon inputs from plant growth since the last glaciation. Anthropogenic climate warming has threatened this historical trend by accelerating SOC decomposition and altering wildfire regimes. We accurately modeled observed plant biomass and carbon emissions from wildfires in Alaskan ecosystems under current climate conditions. In projections to 2300 under the RCP8.5 climate scenario, we found that warming and increased atmospheric CO2 will result in plant biomass gains and higher litterfall. However, increased carbon losses from (a) wildfire combustion and (b) rapid SOC decomposition driven by increased deciduous litter production, root exudation, and active layer depth will lead to about 4.4 PgC of soil carbon losses from Alaska by 2300 and most (88%) of these loses will be from the top 1 m of soil. These SOC losses offset plant carbon gains, causing the ecosystem to transition to a net carbon source after 2200. Simulations excluding wildfire increases yielded about a factor of four lower SOC losses by 2300. Our results show that projected wildfire and its direct and indirect effects on plant and soil carbon may accelerate high-latitude soil carbon losses, resulting in a positive feedback to climate change.

Arctic-alpine ecosystems are considered hot-spots of environmental change, with rapidly warming conditions causing massive alterations in vegetational structure. These changes and their environmental controls are highly complex and variable across spatial and temporal scales. Yet, despite their numerous implications for the global climate system, the underlying physiological processes and mechanisms at the individual plant scale are still little explored. Using hourly recordings of shrub stem diameter change provided by dendrometers, paired with on-site environmental conditions, enabled us to shed light on these processes. In this way, growth patterns in three widely distributed shrub species were assessed and linked to thermal and hygric conditions. We started our analysis with a close examination of one evergreen species under extreme environmental conditions, followed by a comparison of evergreen and deciduous species, and, finally, a comparative look at growth patterns across local micro-habitats. The results revealed distinct growth strategies, closely linked to species-specific water-use dynamics and cambial rhythms. Within the heterogenous alpine landscape these conditions were mainly attributed to the variation in local micro-habitats, defined by fine-scale topography and consequent variation in snow conditions and exposure. Thus, the overall growth success was mainly controlled by complex seasonal dynamics of soil moisture availability, snow conditions, and associated freeze-thaw cycles. It was therefore in many cases decoupled from governing regional climate signals. At the same time, exceedingly high summer temperatures were limiting shrub growth during the main growing season, resulting in more or less pronounced bimodal growth patterns, indicating potential growth limitation with on-going summer warming. While shrubs are currently able to maximize their growth success through a high level of adaptation to local micro-site conditions, their continued growth under rapidly changing environmental conditions is uncertain. However, our results suggest a high level of heterogeneity across spatial and temporal scales. Thus, broad-scale vegetational shifts can not be explained by a singular driver or uniform response pattern. Instead, fine-scale physiological processes and on-site near-ground environmental conditions have to be incorporated into our understanding of these changes.

Appropriate human activities can have significantly positive effects on vegetation dynamics. In the past 50 years, various ecological policies have improved both ecological change and human well-being in the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau (QTP), efficiently achieving multiple Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations' 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. During 1981-2017, the annual mean normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) of the protected areas (PAs) tended to increase significantly at a rate of 2.93 x 10(-4)/a (p < 0.01), while non-PAs only increased by 0.6 x 10(-4)/a (p < 0.5). Improvement in the NDVI of the PAs is more obvious than that of non-PAs. Specifically, the earlier the establishment of the Pas is, the more significant the greening effect will be. Moreover, ecological protection has not slowed improvements in human welfare; on the contrary, the Human Development Index (HDI) has nearly doubled in the past 40 years. In terms of global ecological construction, the Chinese government has demonstrated the responsibilities of a large country in global ecological governance. Chinese initiatives can guide other nations in contributing to the global sustainability aspirations embodied in the 2030 SDGs Agenda. This study can be used as a reference for other countries in the world to coordinate the development of ecological protection and well-being.

Soils are warming as air temperatures rise across the Arctic and Boreal region concurrent with the expansion of tall-statured shrubs and trees in the tundra. Changes in vegetation structure and function are expected to alter soil thermal regimes, thereby modifying climate feedbacks related to permafrost thaw and carbon cycling. However, current understanding of vegetation impacts on soil temperature is limited to local or regional scales and lacks the generality necessary to predict soil warming and permafrost stability on a pan-Arctic scale. Here we synthesize shallow soil and air temperature observations with broad spatial and temporal coverage collected across 106 sites representing nine different vegetation types in the permafrost region. We showed ecosystems with tall-statured shrubs and trees (>40 cm) have warmer shallow soils than those with short-statured tundra vegetation when normalized to a constant air temperature. In tree and tall shrub vegetation types, cooler temperatures in the warm season do not lead to cooler mean annual soil temperature indicating that ground thermal regimes in the cold-season rather than the warm-season are most critical for predicting soil warming in ecosystems underlain by permafrost. Our results suggest that the expansion of tall shrubs and trees into tundra regions can amplify shallow soil warming, and could increase the potential for increased seasonal thaw depth and increase soil carbon cycling rates and lead to increased carbon dioxide loss and further permafrost thaw.

One of the effects of climate change on boreal forest will be more frequent forest wildfires and permafrost thawing. These will increase the availability of soil organic matter (SOM) for microorganisms, change the ground vegetation composition and ultimately affect the emissions of biogenic volatile organic compounds (BVOCs), which impact atmospheric chemistry and climate. BVOC emissions from boreal forest floor have been little characterized in southern boreal region, and even less so in permafrost soil, which underlies most of the northern boreal region. Here, we report the long-term effects of wildfire on forest floor BVOC emission rates along a wildfire chronosequence in a Larix gmelinii forest in central Siberia. We determined forest floor BVOC emissions from forests exposed to wildfire 1, 23 and > 100 years ago. We studied how forest wildfires and the subsequent succession of ground vegetation, as well as changes in the availability of SOM along with the deepened and recovered active layer, influence BVOC emission rates. The forest floor acted as source of a large number of BVOCs in all forest age classes. Monoterpenes were the most abundant BVOC group in all age classes. The total BVOC emission rates measured from the 23- and >100-year-old areas were ca. 2.6 times higher than the emissions from the 1-year-old area. Lower emissions were related to a decrease in plant coverage and microbial decomposition of SOM after wildfire. Our results showed that forest wildfires play an important indirect role in regulating the amount and composition of BVOC emissions from post-fire originated boreal forest floor. This could have a substantial effect on BVOC emissions if the frequency of forest wildfires increases in the future as a result of climate warming. (C) 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

High-latitude climate change has impacted vegetation productivity, composition, and distribution across tundra ecosystems. Over the past few decades in northern Alaska, emergent macrophytes have increased in cover and density, coincident with increased air and water temperature, active layer depth, and nutrient availability. Unraveling the covarying climate and environmental controls influencing long-term change trajectories is paramount for advancing our predictive understanding of the causes and consequences of warming in permafrost ecosystems. Within a climate-controlled carbon flux monitoring system, we evaluate the impact of elevated nutrient availability associated with degraded permafrost (high-treatment) and maximum field observations (low-treatment), on aquatic macrophyte growth and methane (CH4) emissions. Nine aquatic Arctophila fulva-dominated tundra monoliths were extracted from tundra ponds near Utqiagvik, Alaska, and placed in growth chambers that controlled ambient conditions (i.e., light, temperature, and water table), while measuring plant growth (periodically) and CH4 fluxes (continuously) for 12 weeks. Results indicate that high nutrient treatments similar to that released from permafrost thaw can increase macrophyte biomass and total CH4 emission by 54 and 64%, respectively. However, low treatments did not respond to fertilization. We estimate that permafrost thaw in tundra wetlands near Utqiagvik have the potential to enhance regional CH4 efflux by 30%. This study demonstrates the sensitivity of arctic tundra wetland biogeochemistry to nutrient release from permafrost thaw and suggests the decadal-scale expansion of A. fulva-dominant aquatic plant communities, and increased CH4 emissions in the region were likely in response to thawing permafrost, potentially representing a novel case study of the permafrost carbon feedback to warming. Plain Language Summary Over the past half century near the town of Utqiagvik (formerly Barrow) Alaska, plants growing in wetlands have expanded, over the same time period as increases in air/pond temperatures, permafrost thaw, and nutrient availability. Although circumstantial evidence suggests nutrients released from permafrost thaw may have influenced past vegetation expansion and land-atmosphere carbon exchange, direct evidence is lacking. We built a climate and environmentally controlled carbon flux monitoring system to evaluate the impact of nutrient availability on plant growth and CH4 emissions, associated with (1) permafrost thaw and (2) the maximum field-based observations. We found nutrients released from permafrost thaw/degradation to increase emergent plant biomass and CH4 emissions by 54 and 64%, respectively. While, nutrient concentrations similar to maximum field concentrations had no effect. Assuming permafrost thaw only occurs in aquatic tundra (similar to 9% of the land surface area), our estimates suggest that regional CH4 emissions may be enhanced by 30%. We conclude that long-term patterns of emergent vegetation expansion and increased CH4 emissions in this region were likely due to thawing permafrost, which may represent a novel well-documented case study of the permafrost carbon feedback to warming.

The Qinghai-Tibet (QT) Plateau Engineering Corridor is located in the hinterland of the QT Plateau, which is highly sensitive to global climate change. Climate change causes permafrost degradation, which subsequently affects vegetation growth. This study focused on the vegetation dynamics and their relationships with climate change and human activities in the region surrounding the QT Plateau Engineering Corridor. The vegetation changes were inferred by applying trend analysis, the Mann-Kendall trend test and abrupt change analysis. Six key regions, each containing 40 nested quadrats that ranged in size from 500 x 500 m to 20 x 20 km, were selected to determine the spatial scales of the impacts from different factors. Cumulative growing season integrated enhanced vegetation index (CGSIEVI) values were calculated for each of the nested quadrats of different sizes to indicate the overall vegetation state over the entire year at different spatial scales. The impacts from human activities, a sudden increase in precipitation and permafrost degradation were quantified at different spatial scales using the CGSIEVI values and meteorological data based on the double mass curve method. Three conclusions were derived. First, the vegetation displayed a significant increasing trend over 23.6% of the study area. The areas displaying increases were mainly distributed in the Hoh Xil. Of the area where the vegetation displayed a significant decreasing trend, 72.4% was made up of alpine meadows. Second, more vegetation, especially the alpine meadows, has begun to degenerate or experience more rapid degradation since 2007 due to permafrost degradation and overgrazing. Finally, an active layer depth of 3 m to 3.2 m represents a limiting depth for alpine meadows.

To better understand the factors controlling the growth of larch trees in Arctic taiga-tundra boundary ecosystem, we conducted field measurements of photosynthesis, tree size, nitrogen (N) content, and isotopic ratios in larch needles and soil. In addition, we observed various environmental parameters, including topography and soil moisture at four sites in the Indigirka River Basin, near Chokurdakh, northeastern Siberia. Most living larch trees grow on mounds with relatively high elevations and dry soils, indicating intolerance of high soil moisture. We found that needle delta(13)c was positively correlated with needle N content and needle mass, and these parameters showed spatial patterns similar to that of tree size. These results indicate that trees with high needle N content achieved higher rates of photosynthesis, which resulted in larger amounts of C assimilation and larger C allocation to needles and led to larger tree size than trees with lower needle N content. A positive correlation was also found between needle N content and soil NK4+ pool. Thus, soil inorganic N pool may indicate N availability, which is reflected in the needle N content of the larch trees. Microtopography plays a principal role in N availability, through a change in soil moisture. Relatively dryer soil of mounds with higher elevation and larger extent causes higher rates of soil N production, leading to increased N availability for plants, in addition to larger rooting space for trees to uptake more N. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. and NIPR. All rights reserved.

Analysis of time series imagery from satellite and aircraft platforms is useful for detecting land cover change at plot to regional scales. In this study, we created multi-temporal high spatial resolution land cover maps for seven locations in the Beringian Arctic and assessed the change in land cover over time. Land cover classifications were site specific and mostly aligned with a soil moisture gradient. Time series varied between 60 and 21 years. Four of the five landscapes studied in Alaska underwent an expansion of drier land cover classes while the two landscapes studies in Chukotka, Russia showed an expansion of wetter land cover types. While a range of land cover types was present across the landscapes studied, the extent of shrubs (in Chukotka) and open water (in Alaska) increased in all landscapes where these land cover types were present. The results support trends documented for regional change in NDVI (a measure of vegetation greenness and productivity) as well as a host of other long term, experimental and modeling studies. Using historic change trends for each land cover type at each landscape, we use a simple probabilistic vegetation model to establish hypotheses of future change trajectories for different land cover types at each of the landscapes investigated. This study is a contribution to the International Polar Year Back to the Future project (IPY-BTF).