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Permafrost collapse after shrub removal shifts tundra ecosystem to a methane source

Nature Climate Change volume 5, pages 67–70 (2015)Cite this article

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Abstract

Arctic tundra ecosystems are warming almost twice as fast as the global average1. Permafrost thaw and the resulting release of greenhouse gases from decomposing soil organic carbon have the potential to accelerate climate warming2,3. In recent decades, Arctic tundra ecosystems have changed rapidly4, including expansion of woody vegetation5,6, in response to changing climate conditions. How such vegetation changes contribute to stabilization or destabilization of the permafrost is unknown. Here we present six years of field observations in a shrub removal experiment at a Siberian tundra site. Removing the shrub part of the vegetation initiated thawing of ice-rich permafrost, resulting in collapse of the originally elevated shrub patches into waterlogged depressions within five years. This thaw pond development shifted the plots from a methane sink into a methane source. The results of our field experiment demonstrate the importance of the vegetation cover for protection of the massive carbon reservoirs stored in the permafrost and illustrate the strong vulnerability of these tundra ecosystems to perturbations. If permafrost thawing can more frequently trigger such local permafrost collapse, methane-emitting wet depressions could become more abundant in the lowland tundra landscape, at the cost of permafrost-stabilizing low shrub vegetation.

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Figure 1: Late-July active layer thickness in control and B. nana removal plots from 2007 to 2012.
Figure 2: Relative surface elevation in control and B. nana removal plots.
Figure 3: Relative surface elevation, snow depth, groundwater level and methane flux in control and B. nana removal plots in 2012.
Figure 4: How elevated shrub patches turned into graminoid-dominated wet depressions after removal of B. nana shrubs.

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Acknowledgements

We thank T. Strukova, S. Ianygin, A. Kononov, D. Suzdalov and S. Karsanaev for logistic support and assistance at the field site. We acknowledge support by Darwin Center for Biogeosciences (projects 1043 and 3052), The Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (Vidi-project 864.09.014), Wageningen Institute for Environment and Climate Research (WIMEK), Danish National Research Foundation (CENPERM DNRF100) and the EU Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Nature Conservation and Plant Ecology Group, Wageningen University, Droevendaalsesteeg 3A, 6708 PB Wageningen, The Netherlands

    Ake L. Nauta, Monique M. P. D. Heijmans, Juul Limpens, Bingxi Li & Frank Berendse

  2. Department of Geosciences and Natural Resource Management, Center for Permafrost (CENPERM), University of Copenhagen, DK-1350 Copenhagen, Denmark

    Daan Blok & Bo Elberling

  3. Earth and Climate Cluster, VU University Amsterdam, De Boelelaan 1085 NL-1081 HV Amsterdam, The Netherlands,

    Angela Gallagher & Jacobus van Huissteden

  4. Institute for Biological Problems of the Cryolithozone, Siberian Branch Russian Academy of Sciences, 41 Lenin Avenue 677980 Yakutsk, Russia,

    Roman E. Petrov & Trofim C. Maximov

  5. North-Eastern Federal University, 677000 Yakutsk, Russia

    Roman E. Petrov & Trofim C. Maximov

Authors
  1. Ake L. Nauta
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Contributions

F.B., M.M.P.D.H., D.B. and A.L.N. conceived the project; all authors contributed to the field work; A.L.N. and D.B. analysed the data; M.M.P.D.H., A.L.N., D.B. and J.L. wrote the manuscript with contributions from B.E., F.B. and J.v.H.

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Correspondence to Monique M. P. D. Heijmans.

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Nauta, A., Heijmans, M., Blok, D. et al. Permafrost collapse after shrub removal shifts tundra ecosystem to a methane source. Nature Clim Change 5, 67–70 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate2446

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