title: Idiosyncratic responses of high Arctic plants to changing snow regimes.
abstract: The Arctic is one of the ecosystems most affected by climate change; in particular, winter temperatures and precipitation are predicted to increase with consequent changes to snow cover depth and duration. Whether the snow-free period will be shortened or prolonged depends on the extent and temporal patterns of the temperature and precipitation rise; resulting changes will likely affect plant growth with cascading effects throughout the ecosystem. We experimentally manipulated snow regimes using snow fences and shoveling and assessed aboveground size of eight common high arctic plant species weekly throughout the summer. We demonstrated that plant growth responded to snow regime, and that air temperature sum during the snow free period was the best predictor for plant size. The majority of our studied species showed periodic growth; increases in plant size stopped after certain cumulative temperatures were obtained. Plants in early snow-free treatments without additional spring warming were smaller than controls. Response to deeper snow with later melt-out varied between species and categorizing responses by growth forms or habitat associations did not reveal generic trends. We therefore stress the importance of examining responses at the species level, since generalized predictions of aboveground growth responses to changing snow regimes cannot be made.
authors: Department of Conservation Biology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Vienna, Austria ; Institute for Arctic and Marine Biology, University of Tromsø, Tromsø, Troms, Norway ; Institute of Interdisciplinary Mountain Research, University of Vienna, Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
authors: Sabine B
authors: SB
authors: Rumpf
authors: Institute for Arctic and Marine Biology, University of Tromsø, Tromsø, Troms, Norway ; Department of Arctic Biology, University Center in Svalbard, Longyearbyen, Svalbard, Norway ; Department of Geosciences and Natural Resource Management, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Capital Region of Denmark, Denmark.
authors: Philipp R
authors: PR
authors: Semenchuk
authors: Department of Conservation Biology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Vienna, Austria ; Vienna Institute for Nature Conservation and Analyses, Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
authors: Stefan
authors: S
authors: Dullinger
authors: Institute for Arctic and Marine Biology, University of Tromsø, Tromsø, Troms, Norway.
authors: Elisabeth J
authors: EJ
authors: Cooper
mesh_terms: D000222:Adaptation, Physiological; D001110:Arctic Regions; D057231:Climate Change; D017753:Ecosystem; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D009664:Norway; D063245:Plant Development; D018521:Plant Physiological Phenomena; D012621:Seasons; D012914:Snow; D013045:Species Specificity; D013696:Temperature