Article
Environmental Sciences
Eirik A. Finne, Jarle W. Bjerke, Rasmus Erlandsson, Hans Tommervik, Frode Stordal, Lena M. Tallaksen
Summary: Vegetation has a significant impact on climate through regulation of albedo, especially at high latitudes. However, the variation of vegetation albedo along environmental gradients in tundra ecosystems, particularly those dominated by nonvascular vegetation, is still not well understood. This study found that the cover of pale terricolous fruticose lichens was the most important predictor for vegetation albedo in northern ecosystems. The data suggests that herbivores and lichen cover play a complex and important role in climate-vegetation interactions, emphasizing the need for increased understanding in this field.
ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH LETTERS
(2023)
Article
Agronomy
Lei Zheng, Youcun Qi, Zhangcai Qin, Xiaofeng Xu, Jinwei Dong
Summary: This study investigated the environmental drivers of albedo in the Tibetan Plateau based on remotely sensed data, revealing the significant impacts of snow cover, vegetation index, and soil moisture on albedo changes in different seasons and spectral bands. The findings are expected to enhance the understanding of energy budget simulations over the Tibetan Plateau region in land surface models.
AGRICULTURAL AND FOREST METEOROLOGY
(2021)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
A. O. Pedersen, E. M. Soininen, B. B. Hansen, M. Le Moullec, L. E. Loe, I. M. G. Paulsen, I. Eischeid, S. R. Karlsen, E. Ropstad, A. Stien, A. Tarroux, H. Tommervik, V. Ravolainen
Summary: This study develops habitat suitability models for the endemic Svalbard reindeer in summer and winter based on GPS tracking data. The results show that the reindeer prefer productive habitats with rich vegetation and also select bird cliff areas with abundant forage, especially in winter. Suitable habitat patches are clustered and cover a small proportion of the landscape. These findings have important implications for the management and conservation of Svalbard reindeer.
GLOBAL ECOLOGY AND CONSERVATION
(2023)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Mathieu Leblond, Yan Boulanger, Jesus Pascual Puigdevall, Martin-Hugues St-Laurent
Summary: Many boreal populations of woodland caribou in Canada are declining due to human activities and climate change. This study used a forest landscape model to predict future caribou habitat suitability and found that harvesting has a dominant impact on habitat suitability, while climate change also plays a role, especially under high radiative forcing scenarios.
GLOBAL ECOLOGY AND CONSERVATION
(2022)
Article
Environmental Studies
Hong Jia, Rui Wang, Hang Li, Baijian Diao, Hao Zheng, Lanlan Guo, Lianyou Liu, Jifu Liu
Summary: Desertification in the Gonghe Basin has been effectively controlled through remote sensing monitoring and the Albedo-NDVI feature space method. From 2010 to 2020, the desertification situation improved, especially in the western part of the basin where desertification land area decreased by 827.46 km(2) and desertification intensity decreased. The changes in desertification were influenced by both natural and human factors, with human activities gradually playing a larger role in desertification reversal.
Article
Forestry
Tim Horstkotte, Per Sandstrom, Wiebke Neumann, Anna Skarin, Sven Adler, Ulrika Roos, Jorgen Sjogren
Summary: The introduction of exotic lodgepole pine has negative effects on reindeer husbandry in northern Sweden, leading to a reduction in forage availability and winter grazing grounds. The presence of lodgepole pine stands significantly decreases lichen cover, which is an important food source for reindeer.
FOREST ECOLOGY AND MANAGEMENT
(2023)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Carl G. Lundblad, Christian A. Hagen, J. Patrick Donnelly, Skyler T. Vold, Ann M. Moser, Shawn P. Espinosa
Summary: Anticipating and mitigating the effects of climate change on wildlife populations requires understanding their current adaptation to climate and how they are affected by weather variation. In this study, researchers used sage-grouse wings collected from hunters to investigate the spatiotemporal variation in sage-grouse productivity. They found that both precipitation and the availability of mesic habitats influence sage-grouse productivity, with exotic annual grass invasion and conifer encroachment limiting productivity. The study also revealed that mesic habitat availability is influenced by topography and winter snowpack. These findings highlight the importance of maintaining and restoring mesic resources and drought-resistant habitats to mitigate the impact of climate change on sage-grouse populations.
ECOLOGICAL INDICATORS
(2022)
Article
Plant Sciences
Pingping Tian, Yifu Liu, Jing Ou
Summary: Climate change poses a serious threat to woody plants in China, but there are few comprehensive quantitative studies on the factors affecting changes in woody plant habitats under climate change. This meta-analysis examines the future impact of climate change on woody plant habitat area changes in China and finds a 3.66% increase in overall suitable areas and a 31.33% decrease in highly suitable areas. The coldest quarter temperature is the most important climatic factor, and greenhouse gas concentrations are inversely related to future suitable habitat areas. Shrubs are more responsive to climate change than trees, and certain drought-tolerant and quick-adapting plants will increase in the future. The Old World temperate, Trop. Asia and Trop. Amer. disjuncted, and the Sino-Himalaya Floristic region are more vulnerable. Quantitative analysis of potential risks for woody plant habitats in China is crucial for global woody plant diversity conservation.
FRONTIERS IN PLANT SCIENCE
(2023)
Article
Ecology
Dustin H. Ranglack, Kelly M. Proffitt, Jodie E. Canfield, Justin A. Gude, Jay Rotella, Robert A. Garrott
Summary: Understanding factors influencing elk summer resource selection, such as nutritional resources and access routes, is crucial for effective habitat management. Regional models performed better than population-specific models for predicting resource selection across populations.
Article
Ecology
Bernardo Brandao Niebuhr, Bram Van Moorter, Audun Stien, Torkild Tveraa, Olav Strand, Knut Langeland, Per Sandstrom, Moudud Alam, Anna Skarin, Manuela Panzacchi
Summary: The concept of cumulative impacts is widely used, but the quantification methods are still evolving. The proposed cumulative ZOI approach allows for estimation of cumulative effects of multiple anthropogenic features in the landscape.
METHODS IN ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION
(2023)
Article
Ecology
Hannu Poysa, Antti Paasivaara
Summary: This study investigated how the distribution of breeding individuals and breeding success of waterbirds in Southeastern Finland changed along gradients in ice-out date and habitat structure. The research found significant differences in distribution and breeding success of different species along environmental gradients. The potentially positive impact of climate change on breeding phenology was outweighed by negative changes in habitat quality.
FRESHWATER BIOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Biology
Muammer Kurnaz
Summary: Ecological niche modeling was used to predict the potential distribution areas of two mountain viper taxa, Montivipera albizona and M. bulgardaghica, in Anatolia. The study compared the habitat suitability and niche differentiation between these two taxa. The results showed that M. albizona had a larger distribution area in central Anatolia, while M. bulgardaghica had a narrower distribution over the eastern Taurus mountains. The two taxa had different preferences for habitat types, and there was no overlap in their ecological niches.
JOURNAL OF BIOSCIENCES
(2023)
Article
Ecology
Ines Standfuss, Christian Geiss, Ran Nathan, Shay Rotics, Martina Scacco, Gregoire Kerr, Hannes Taubenboeck
Summary: Time series can effectively track down rapid small-scale vegetation changes caused by agricultural activities and vegetation growth, with potential implications on animals' habitat suitability and foraging behavior. Using half-maximum proxy as a coarse indicator, it is possible to distinguish temporal resource variations in storks' foraging habitats, providing valuable insights for species-centered landscape scenarios in habitat models.
REMOTE SENSING IN ECOLOGY AND CONSERVATION
(2022)
Article
Agriculture, Multidisciplinary
Richard K. Broughton, Jordan Chetcuti, Malcolm D. Burgess, France F. Gerard, Richard F. Pywell
Summary: The study in southwest England shows that farmland birds have associations with the height of linear woody features, especially more positive associations on arable farmland. Land cover appears to be the dominant factor influencing farmland bird associations, suggesting land-use diversification could benefit these species. The potential of lidar in characterising the structure of linear woody features at the landscape scale is significant for detailed wildlife habitat analyses and landscape ecology.
AGRICULTURE ECOSYSTEMS & ENVIRONMENT
(2021)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Kate Twynham, Andres Ordiz, Ole-Gunnar Stoen, Geir-Rune Rauset, Jonas Kindberg, Peter Segerstrom, Jens Frank, Antonio Uzal
Summary: In this study in northern Sweden, researchers investigated the habitat selection of brown bears following resource pulses and how these selections varied based on different degrees of predatory behavior. Through GPS collars on bears and UHF transmitters on reindeer, they found that habitat selection differed across periods and between bears with high and low predatory behavior, providing evidence that specialization in foraging behavior influences individual variation in bear habitat selection.
Review
Ecology
Olga Povoroznyuk, Warwick F. Vincent, Peter Schweitzer, Roza Laptander, Mia Bennett, Fabrice Calmels, Dmitrii Sergeev, Christopher Arp, Bruce C. Forbes, Pascale Roy-Leveillee, Donald A. Walker
Summary: Land-based transport corridors and infrastructure in the Arctic are expanding, leading to significant changes in socio-ecological systems. These changes are driven by resource development, population growth, and climate change, and require integrated approaches for impact assessment and adaptation.
Article
Environmental Sciences
Nicola Kuhn, Marcus P. Spiegel, Carolina Tovar, Katherine J. Willis, Marc Macias-Fauria
Summary: This study analyzed the relationship between root depth and vegetation sensitivity in drylands, and found a significant negative correlation. Deeper roots provided greater resistance to climate variability and the link between deeper roots and groundwater depth suggested that accessing groundwater resources was key for dryland vegetation's resilience to climate change.
ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH LETTERS
(2022)
Article
Ecology
Benjamin Koger, Adwait Deshpande, Jeffrey T. T. Kerby, Jacob M. M. Graving, Blair R. R. Costelloe, Iain D. D. Couzin
Summary: This article introduces a new system for studying animal behavior in the wild, which uses drone-recorded videos and computer vision approaches to automatically track the location and body posture of free-roaming animals with high spatiotemporal resolution in georeferenced 3D landscape models.
JOURNAL OF ANIMAL ECOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Agriculture, Dairy & Animal Science
I. Hansson, A. Silvera, K. Ren, S. Woudstra, A. Skarin, W. F. Fikse, P. P. Nielsen, L. Ronnegard
Summary: Understanding the social interactions of dairy cows in group settings is crucial for improving herd management and optimizing animal health and welfare outcomes. This study aimed to identify the characteristics of cows that are associated with their number of social contacts in different functional areas, such as feeding and resting areas.
JOURNAL OF DAIRY SCIENCE
(2023)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Eric Post, Elina Kaarlejarvi, Marc Macias-Fauria, David A. Watts, Pernille Sporon Boving, Sean M. P. Cahoon, R. Conor Higgins, Christian John, Jeffrey T. Kerby, Christian Pedersen, Mason Post, Patrick F. Sullivan
Summary: Biodiversity is declining globally, including in the Arctic tundra where a 15-year experiment showed a decline in diversity of plants, fungi, and lichens. However, the decline was slower in the presence of large herbivores, which has implications for efforts to mitigate the impact of climate warming on tundra diversity.
Article
Ecology
Bernardo Brandao Niebuhr, Bram Van Moorter, Audun Stien, Torkild Tveraa, Olav Strand, Knut Langeland, Per Sandstrom, Moudud Alam, Anna Skarin, Manuela Panzacchi
Summary: The concept of cumulative impacts is widely used, but the quantification methods are still evolving. The proposed cumulative ZOI approach allows for estimation of cumulative effects of multiple anthropogenic features in the landscape.
METHODS IN ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION
(2023)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Serge A. Wich, Noemie Bonnin, Anja Hutschenreiter, Alex K. Piel, Adrienne Chitayat, Fiona A. Stewart, Lilian Pintea, Jeffrey T. Kerby
Summary: Effective species conservation management relies on detailed species distribution data. For chimpanzees, ground surveys can be costly and time-consuming due to their low density. This study explores the use of drones to determine the absence of chimpanzee nests, covering a large area in western Tanzania. The results show the potential of drones in accurately determining the absence of chimpanzees, but further development of automated nest detection methods is needed.
Article
Forestry
Tim Horstkotte, Per Sandstrom, Wiebke Neumann, Anna Skarin, Sven Adler, Ulrika Roos, Jorgen Sjogren
Summary: The introduction of exotic lodgepole pine has negative effects on reindeer husbandry in northern Sweden, leading to a reduction in forage availability and winter grazing grounds. The presence of lodgepole pine stands significantly decreases lichen cover, which is an important food source for reindeer.
FOREST ECOLOGY AND MANAGEMENT
(2023)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Mariana Garcia Criado, Isla H. Myers-Smith, Anne D. Bjorkman, Signe Normand, Anne Blach-Overgaard, Haydn J. D. Thomas, Anu Eskelinen, Konsta Happonen, Juha M. Alatalo, Alba Anadon-Rosell, Isabelle Aubin, Mariska te Beest, Katlyn R. Betway-May, Daan Blok, Allan Buras, Bruno E. L. Cerabolini, Katherine Christie, J. Hans C. Cornelissen, Bruce C. Forbes, Esther R. Frei, Paul Grogan, Luise Hermanutz, Robert D. Hollister, James Hudson, Maitane Iturrate-Garcia, Elina Kaarlejaervi, Michael Kleyer, Laurent J. Lamarque, Jonas J. Lembrechts, Esther Levesque, Miska Luoto, Petr Macek, Jeremy L. May, Janet S. Prevey, Gabriela Schaepman-Strub, Serge N. Sheremetiev, Laura Siegwart Collier, Nadejda A. Soudzilovskaia, Andrew Trant, Susanna E. Venn, Anna-Maria Virkkala
Summary: Climate change is causing species redistributions, particularly in the tundra biome. This study investigates the relationship between plant trait values and species distributions in tundra shrubs. The authors find that winner and loser species in the warming tundra biome share similar trait spaces, making them difficult to predict based on commonly measured traits.
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
(2023)
Editorial Material
Environmental Sciences
Bruce C. Forbes, Florian Stammler
Summary: Greenland is a key hub for climate research and recent studies indicate that Greenlanders are more concerned about the rapidly changing Arctic climate than the underlying global causes. However, their eagerness to pursue new opportunities outweighs the fear of climate change's impacts.
NATURE CLIMATE CHANGE
(2023)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Marcus P. Spiegel, Alexander Volkovitskiy, Alexandra Terekhina, Bruce C. Forbes, Taejin Park, Marc Macias-Fauria
Summary: The growth of tall woody vegetation in the Arctic, driven by warming, can accelerate climate change through positive feedbacks. Despite local evidence suggesting that large herbivores limit this vegetation shift, it remains uncertain whether herbivory pressure is a significant control on ecosystem structure and functioning at larger, regional scales. Our study on the Yamal Peninsula in West Siberia, using satellite remote sensing and data on reindeer migrations, reveals that higher reindeer herbivory pressure is consistently associated with lower coverage of tall woody vegetation. This suggests that, at current population densities, large herbivores counteract Arctic vegetation responses to climate change over large spatial scales.
Article
Engineering, Electrical & Electronic
Soren Rysgaard, Kim Bjerge, Wieter Boone, Egon Frandsen, Michael Graversen, Toke Thomas Hoye, Bjarne Jensen, Geoffrey Johnen, Marcin Antoni Jackowicz-Korczynski, Jeffrey Taylor Kerby, Simon Kortegaard, Mikhail Mastepanov, Claus Melvad, Peter Schmidt Mikkelsen, Keld Mortensen, Carsten Norgaard, Ebbe Poulsen, Tenna Riis, Lotte Sorensen, Torben Rojle Christensen
Summary: Climate change is rapidly altering the Arctic environment, and the limited coverage of ground stations in remote areas has hindered comprehensive environmental observations. Researchers have developed a wind and sun powered mobile observatory (ARC-MO) that enables near real-time measurements of various parameters in off-grid regions. Two test units have been deployed in Northeast Greenland, collecting data from both cabled and wireless instruments since late summer 2021.