Warming is causing Arctic to get greener
June 12th, 2012 - 4:18 pm ICT by IANSStockholm, June 12 (IANS) Warming in the Arctic in recent years has caused the area to get greener, says new research.
The results show that most plants in the Arctic have grown taller, and the proportion of bare ground has decreased. Above all, there has been an increase in evergreen shrubs.
“We’ve managed to link the vegetation changes observed at the different sites to the degree of local warming,” says researcher and biologist Robert Bjork from the University of Gothenburg, the journals Nature Climate Change and Ecology Letters report.
Comparisons show that the prevalence of vascular species, such as shrubs and plants, is increasing as temperatures rise. The degree of change depends on climate zone, soil moisture and the presence of permafrost, according to a Gothenburg statement.
Researchers working on the International Tundra Experiment (ITEX) have been gathering data for almost 30 years. By analysing changes in vegetation in 158 plant communities at 46 locations across the Arctic between 1980 and 2010, they have been able to identify a number of general trends.
“We’ve managed to show that the vegetation changes in our fixed plots are a result of local warming at numerous sites across the world’s tundra,” Robert Bjork says.
- Here's how the Arctic will look by the end of this century - Mar 04, 2011
- Climate change strips Arctic of much snow cover - May 05, 2011
- Canada's permafrost line recedes 130 km in 50 years - Feb 18, 2010
- Alaska wildfire may impact climate - Jul 29, 2011
- Climate change led to mammoth extinction in Russia - Jun 13, 2012
- Greening Arctic unlikely to offset permafrost carbon release - May 28, 2009
- Permafrost might completely disappear in near future - Feb 18, 2010
- 'Precipitation, river discharges increase climate change' - Sep 06, 2012
- 66pc permafrost to melt by 2200, speed up global warming in coming years - Feb 17, 2011
- Proposed prototype ecosystem to test climate change effects on Arctic - Jun 26, 2010
- Mummified forest in Canada yields climate clues - Dec 16, 2010
- Abrupt thaw in permafrost heightens climatic threat - Dec 04, 2011
- Arctic changes could spell dire consequences - Jan 31, 2012
- Climate change 'retreating Arctic coastline by half a metre every year' - Apr 18, 2011
- Climate change may result in tipping point for populations, not just species - Oct 21, 2010
Tags: biologist, bjork, climate change, climate zone, ecology letters, evergreen shrubs, international tundra experiment, itex, permafrost, plant communities, plants, prevalence, proportion, researcher, robert bjork, soil moisture, stockholm, temperatures, vascular species, vegetation