Abstract
Snow cover is a key component in Arctic ecosystems and will likely be affected by changes in winter precipitation. Increased snow depth and consequent later snowmelt leads to greater microbial mineralization in winter, improving soil and vegetation nutrient status. We studied areas with naturally differing snow depths and date of snowmelt in Adventdalen, Svalbard. Soil properties, plant leaf nutrient status, and species composition along with the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) were compared for three snowmelt regimes (Early, Mid, and Late). We showed that (1) Late regimes (snow beds) had wetter soils, higher pH, and leaves of Bistorta vivipara (L.) Delarbre and Salix polaris Wahlenb. had higher concentration of nutrients (nitrogen and δ15N). Little to no difference was found in soil nutrient concentrations between snowmelt regimes. (2) Late regimes had highest NDVI values, whereas those of Early and Mid regimes were similar. (3) Vegetation composition differed between Early and Late regimes, with Dryas octopetala L. and Luzula arcuata subsp. confusa (Lange) characterizing the former and Equisetum arvense L. and Eriophorum scheuchzeri Hoppe the latter. (4) Trends for plant nutrient contents were similar to those found in a nearby snow manipulation experiment. Snow distribution and time of snowmelt played an important role in determining regional environmental heterogeneity, patchiness in plant community distribution, their species composition, and plant phenology.
Highlights
The Arctic is a system strongly bound by its abiotic conditions, and any changes in these can have dramatic effects in the ecosystems properties including the vegetation composition
Plant nutrient status and species presence in areas of naturally differing snow depths and date of snowmelt
Soil nutrient concentrations did not differ between snowmelt regimes (Figure 4.C, D and E, Supplementary Material Table S2)
Summary
The Arctic is a system strongly bound by its abiotic conditions, and any changes in these can have dramatic effects in the ecosystems properties including the vegetation composition. The main driver of changes in abiotic conditions is climatic change, a global phenomenon with strongest effects in the polar areas, owing to positive feedbacks (Xu et al 2013). Increased precipitation is coupled to a decrease in sea ice throughout the year (Liu et al 2012, Hoegh-Guldberg et al 2018). As more liquid water is exposed to the air, and during longer periods of time, this is expected to increase the number of days with (low) precipitation throughout the whole year, a phenomenon already apparent in some Arctic regions (Saha et al 2006).
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