H11C-1344
Relationships between vegetation dynamics and hydroclimatic drivers in the northern high-latitude uplands
Monday, 14 December 2015
Poster Hall (Moscone South)
Hailong Wang1, Doerthe Tetzlaff2, James M Buttle3, Sean Kevin Carey4, Hjalmar Laudon5, James P McNamara6, Chris Soulsby2 and Christopher Spence7, (1)University of Aberdeen, Northern Rivers Institute, School of Geosciences, Aberdeen, United Kingdom, (2)University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, United Kingdom, (3)Trent University, Peterborough, ON, Canada, (4)McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada, (5)SLU Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences Umea, Umeå, Sweden, (6)Boise State University, Boise, ID, United States, (7)Environment Canada Saskatoon, Saskatoon, SK, Canada
Abstract:
IPCC projections show that climate warming will be particularly high in northern high-latitude regions, which has profound ecohydrological implications: a small rise of temperature may result in lower water availability in summer due to less rainfall and more evapotranspiration, increase flooding risks by accelerating melting rates in spring, and more rain rather than snow in winter, etc. These impacts will affect vegetation communities by altering timing of the spring “green-up” and fall “senescence”. Change in vegetation water use will feedback to atmospheric and hydrological cycles. Here, we report results from the PLATO “Plant-water interlinkages in northern uplands – mediation of climate change?” project where we investigate water uptake by plants and consequent water availability in northern regions along a cross-regional climate gradient to understand future responses to change in high-latitude uplands. Six sites in Sweden (Krycklan), Canada (Wolf Creek; Baker Creek; Dorset), Scotland (Girnock) and the USA (Dry Creek) span moisture and energy gradients found at high-latitudes. We are presenting preliminary results of vegetation phenology changes from 2000 to 2014 by analysing remote sensing vegetation indices. The relationship between vegetation phenology and climatic drivers (temperature and precipitation) is also investigated.
