Decadal Landscape-Scale Land Cover Change Near Barrow, Alaska
Paula Crouse, Craig E. Tweedie, Robert D. Hollister, and Patrick WebberSummary & Discussion:
- The areal extent and number of patches of dry community types has expanded whilst that of wet community types has decreased.
- The increased number of patches for the dry land cover types is indicative of directional change and fragmentation. Species diversity is expected to have increased, at least on a transitionary basis, due to greater landscape heterogeneity.
- From other work we know that drier communities show relatively lower rates of carbon uptake than wetter ones, so the IBP grid is likely to have become less of a carbon sink.
- Active layer is likely to have increased since active layer in wet tundra is generally less than dry tundra.
- The most likely direct causes of the observed changes are anthropogenic activities such as the drainage of nearby watersheds and dust from a newly built road causing an earlier snow melt and faster spring runoff. Nevertheless,
- Natural succession and climate change will play intricate roles as well.