Decadal Micro-Topographic Change in Tundra Near Point Barrow, Alaska
Craig E. Tweedie, Robert D. Hollister, Patrick J. Webber, Steven P. Rewa, Olga I. Sumina and Stuart GageMethods:
- Long-established vegetation plots were resampled at Barrow and Atqasuk.
- Plots in Barrow were initiated during the International Biological Program (IBP 1972-75) and during the Research in Arctic Terrestrial Environments program (RATE 1975-77) in Atqasuk (Fig1). Only sites with good plot marker relocation have been resampled.
- Plots varied in size from a few square meters to 4.3 hectares.
- The same sampling method used when plots were established has been applied to the resampling effort2,3.
- Plot based studies have assessed the direction of change in different vegetation communities whereas the grid-level studies have assessed the direction as well as the magnitude of change in different land cover types.