Snow cover and extreme winter warming events control flower abundance of some, but not all species in high arctic Svalbard.

ABSTRACT: The High Arctic winter is expected to be altered through ongoing and future climate change. Winter precipitation and snow depth are projected to increase and melt out dates change accordingly. Also, snow cover and depth will play an important role in protecting plant canopy from increasingly more frequent extreme winter warming events. Flower production of many Arctic plants is dependent on melt out timing, since season length determines resource availability for flower preformation. We erected snow fences to increase snow depth and shorten growing season, and counted flowers of six species over 5 years, during which we experienced two extreme winter warming events. Most species were resistant to snow cover increase, but two species reduced flower abundance due to shortened growing seasons

SUBMITTER: Semenchuk PR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3930050 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature