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Tundra vegetation change and impacts on permafrost

Nature Reviews Earth & Environment volume 3, pages 68–84 (2022)Cite this article

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Abstract

Tundra vegetation productivity and composition are responding rapidly to climatic changes in the Arctic. These changes can, in turn, mitigate or amplify permafrost thaw. In this Review, we synthesize remotely sensed and field-observed vegetation change across the tundra biome, and outline how these shifts could influence permafrost thaw. Permafrost ice content appears to be an important control on local vegetation changes; woody vegetation generally increases in ice-poor uplands, whereas replacement of woody vegetation by (aquatic) graminoids following abrupt permafrost thaw is more frequent in ice-rich Arctic lowlands. These locally observed vegetation changes contribute to regional satellite-observed greening trends, although the interpretation of greening and browning is complicated. Increases in vegetation cover and height generally mitigate permafrost thaw in summer, yet, increase annual soil temperatures through snow-related winter soil warming effects. Strong vegetation–soil feedbacks currently alleviate the consequences of thaw-related disturbances. However, if the increasing scale and frequency of disturbances in a warming Arctic exceeds the capacity for vegetation and permafrost recovery, changes to Arctic ecosystems could be irreversible. To better disentangle vegetation–soil–permafrost interactions, ecological field studies remain crucial, but require better integration with geophysical assessments.

Key points

  • Expansion of shrub vegetation is, by far, the most reported field-observed vegetation change in the Arctic tundra region, contributing to field-observed and satellite-observed Arctic greening.

  • Spectral greening trends are sensitive to the spatial and temporal scales over which they are observed; ground-truthing remains indispensable for their interpretation.

  • Tree and shrub establishment occur primarily in warming upland regions on ice-poor permafrost, whereas abrupt thaw followed by vegetation recovery is relatively abundant on lowlands with ice-rich permafrost.

  • Geographical coverage of field studies is concentrated in western North America, leaving large areas of Arctic tundra in High Arctic Canada and Siberia poorly characterized.

  • Increasing vegetation cover and height affect soil thermal regimes, generally warming in winter and cooling in summer. Integration of ecological and geophysical knowledge is necessary to assess long-term net effects.

  • While disturbances of vegetation and permafrost can be compensated by strong internal soil–vegetation feedbacks, tipping points and large-scale ecosystem collapse could occur once disturbances exceed capacity for recovery.

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Fig. 1: Vegetation change trajectories.
Fig. 2: Spatial patterns in field-observed vegetation changes and associated normalized difference vegetation index dynamics.
Fig. 3: Distribution of field-observed vegetation change trajectories over the Arctic.
Fig. 4: Effects of shrub canopies on permafrost thaw depth.

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Acknowledgements

This publication is part of the Netherlands Polar Programme (ALWPP.2016.008), financed by the Dutch Research Council (NWO). M.T.J. acknowledges financial support from NSF grant 1820883 and M.J.L. support from NSF-EnvE (1928048) and DOE-TES (DE-SC0021094).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Environmental Sciences, Wageningen University & Research, Wageningen, Netherlands

    Monique M. P. D. Heijmans, Rúna Í. Magnússon & Juul Limpens

  2. Department of Plant Biology, University of Illinois, Urbana, IL, USA

    Mark J. Lara

  3. Department of Geography, University of Illinois, Urbana, IL, USA

    Mark J. Lara

  4. Alaska Biological Research, Inc., Fairbanks, AK, USA

    Gerald V. Frost & M. Torre Jorgenson

  5. Department of Earth Sciences, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands

    Isla H. Myers-Smith

  6. School of GeoSciences, The University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK

    Jacobus van Huissteden

  7. Melnikov Permafrost Institute, Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Yakutsk, Russia

    Alexander N. Fedorov

  8. Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USA

    Howard E. Epstein

  9. National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, CO, USA

    David M. Lawrence

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Contributions

M.M.P.D.H., R.I.M., M.J.L., G.V.F., M.T.J., A.N.F. and H.E.E. researched data for the article. M.M.P.D.H., R.I.M., G.V.F., I.H.M.-S., J.v.H. and D.M.L. contributed to discussion of content. M.M.P.D.H., R.I.M., I.H.M.-S. and J.L. led the writing. M.M.P.D.H., R.I.M., M.J.L., G.V.F., I.H.M.-S., M.T.J., A.N.F., H.E.E., D.M.L. and J.L. all reviewed and edited the manuscript.

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Glossary

Graminoids

Plant species with an erect, grass-like growth form, encompassing both true grasses and sedges.

Active layer

The top layer of soil that overlies permafrost, thawing in summer and refreezing in winter.

Spectral greening

Increasing (positive) trends in the NDVI, or other satellite-derived vegetation indices.

Normalized difference vegetation index

(NDVI). A spectral vegetation index that is sensitive to the green biomass, generally correlating with plant properties such as leaf area index.

Spectral browning

Decreasing (negative) trends in the NDVI.

Dwarf shrubs

Low-statured shrubs, generally less than 1 m tall, mostly evergreen ericaceous shrubs, but also deciduous shrub species, such as Betula nana.

Tall shrubs

Erect shrubs, generally 2 m or taller, often growing on more fertile sites, such as flood plains. Species comprise mostly deciduous species, such as Salix and Alnus.

Paludifying

Gradual conversion of forest or shrubland to peatlands.

Yedoma deposits

Wind-blown deposits from the last ice age, often rich in ground ice and soil organic matter.

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Heijmans, M.M.P.D., Magnússon, R.Í., Lara, M.J. et al. Tundra vegetation change and impacts on permafrost. Nat Rev Earth Environ 3, 68–84 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43017-021-00233-0

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