Enhanced shrub growth in the Arctic increases habitat connectivity for browsing herbivores
© 2020 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
| Veröffentlicht in: | Global change biology. - 1999. - 26(2020), 7 vom: 10. Juli, Seite 3809-3820 |
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| 1. Verfasser: | |
| Weitere Verfasser: | , , , , |
| Format: | Online-Aufsatz |
| Sprache: | English |
| Veröffentlicht: |
2020
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| Zugriff auf das übergeordnete Werk: | Global change biology |
| Schlagworte: | Journal Article Alaska Arctic climate change habitat connectivity hares moose range shift shrub expansion structural connectedness |
| Zusammenfassung: | © 2020 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. Habitat connectivity is a key factor influencing species range dynamics. Rapid warming in the Arctic is leading to widespread heterogeneous shrub expansion, but impacts of these habitat changes on range dynamics for large herbivores are not well understood. We use the climate-shrub-moose system of northern Alaska as a case study to examine how shrub habitat will respond to predicted future warming, and how these changes may impact habitat connectivity and the distribution of moose (Alces alces). We used a 19 year moose location dataset, a 568 km transect of field shrub sampling, and forecasted warming scenarios with regional downscaling to map current and projected shrub habitat for moose on the North Slope of Alaska. The tall-shrub habitat for moose exhibited a dendritic spatial configuration correlated with river corridor networks and mean July temperature. Warming scenarios predict that moose habitat will more than double by 2099. Forecasted warming is predicted to increase the spatial cohesion of the habitat network that diminishes effects of fragmentation, which improves overall habitat quality and likely expands the range of moose. These findings demonstrate how climate change may increase habitat connectivity and alter the distributions of shrub herbivores in the Arctic, including creation of novel communities and ecosystems |
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| Beschreibung: | Date Completed 26.11.2020 Date Revised 26.11.2020 published: Print-Electronic Citation Status MEDLINE |
| ISSN: | 1365-2486 |
| DOI: | 10.1111/gcb.15104 |