Restricted accessResearch articleFirst published online 2022-12
Distinct response of high-latitude ecosystem and high-altitude alpine ecosystem to temperature and precipitation dynamics: A meta-analysis of experimental manipulation studies
Cold biome ecosystems, extensively distributed on our planet, are highly sensitive to global changes. Fluctuations caused by climate change would inevitably affect the ecosystems’ structure and functions. However, the linkage between cold biome ecosystems and global changes demonstrates high spatial heterogeneity, especially between high-latitude ecosystems (HL) and high-altitude alpine ecosystems (HA). A comparative analysis of their response patterns would provide deeper insight into the underlying mechanisms at play. We used meta-analysis to synthesize ecosystems’ response to warming and altered precipitation performed in HL and HA. Warming and enhanced precipitation increases ecosystem biomass and carbon fluxes in HL and HA. Warming significantly stimulates aboveground biomass (AGB), root biomass (RB), total biomass (TB), aboveground net primary productivity, gross ecosystem productivity (GEP), soil respiration (SR), and net ecosystem productivity (NEP) in HL and HA. Similarly, AGB, GEP, and NEP increase significantly with enhanced precipitation. Respondent of ecosystem carbon storage and fluxes in HL and HA showed diverse results to warming treatment. Warming increases AGB and RB in HA while RB remains unaltered in HL. GEP and ER exhibit a positive response to warming in HL but an insignificant response in HA. In general, HL is sensitive to warming, and HA is sensitive to precipitation. The differential responses of HL and HA to climate change imply specific ecosystem traits and particular environmental constraining factors. Future cold biome ecosystem studies should further consider specific conditions like microtopography, soil moisture, and local climate unique to high-latitude and high-altitude ecosystems.
AdlerPBLevineJM (2007) Contrasting relationships between precipitation and species richness in space and time. Oikos116: 221–232.
2.
BarberVAJudayGPFinneyBP, et al. (2004) Reconstruction of summer temperatures in interior Alaska from tree-ring proxies: evidence for changing synoptic climate regimes. Climatic Change63: 91–120.
3.
BhattaraiPBhattaKPZhangYJ, et al. (2020) Microtopography driven plant species composition in alpine region: a fine-scale study from Southern Norway. Journal of Mountain Science17: 542–555.
4.
BhattaraiPZhengZBhattaKP, et al. (2021) Climate-driven plant response and resilience on the Tibetan plateau in space and time: a review. Plants10: 480.
5.
BiasiCMeyerHRusalimovaO, et al. (2008) Initial effects of experimental warming on carbon exchange rates, plant growth and microbial dynamics of a lichen-rich dwarf shrub tundra in Siberia. Plant and Soil307: 191–205.
6.
BintanjaR (2018) The impact of Arctic warming on increased rainfall. Scientific Reports8: 1–6.
7.
BissonetteJA (1999) Small sample size problems in wildlife ecology: a contingent analytical approach. Wildlife biology5: 65–71.
8.
BorensteinMHedgesLVHigginsJP, et al. (2021) Introduction to Meta-Analysis: John Wiley & Sons.
9.
BoxJEColganWTChristensenTR, et al. (2019) Key indicators of Arctic climate change: 1971–2017. Environmental Research Letters14: 045010.
10.
CavieresLABrookerRWButterfieldBJ, et al. (2014) Facilitative plant interactions and climate simultaneously drive alpine plant diversity. Ecology Letters17: 193–202.
11.
ChastainDRSniderJLCollinsGD, et al. (2014) Water deficit in field-grown Gossypium hirsutum primarily limits net photosynthesis by decreasing stomatal conductance, increasing photorespiration, and increasing the ratio of dark respiration to gross photosynthesis. Journal of Plant Physiology171: 1576–1585.
12.
ChenSLinGHuangJ, et al. (2009) Dependence of carbon sequestration on the differential responses of ecosystem photosynthesis and respiration to rain pulses in a semiarid steppe. Global Change Biology15: 2450–2461.
13.
ChenYFengJYuanX, et al. (2020) Effects of warming on carbon and nitrogen cycling in alpine grassland ecosystems on the Tibetan plateau: a meta-analysis. Geoderma370: 114363.
14.
ChoatBBrodribbTJBrodersenCR, et al. (2018) Triggers of tree mortality under drought. Nature558: 531–539.
15.
DielemanWIJanssensIA (2011) Can publication bias affect ecological research? A case study on soil respiration under elevated CO2. New Phytologist190: 517–521.
16.
DörferCKühnPBaumannF, et al. (2013) Soil organic carbon pools and stocks in permafrost-affected soils on the Tibetan plateau. Plos One8: e57024.
17.
DormannCWoodinSJ (2002) Climate change in the Arctic: using plant functional types in a meta-analysis of field experiments. Functional Ecology16: 4–17.
18.
ElmendorfSCHenryGHHollisterRD, et al. (2012a) Global assessment of experimental climate warming on tundra vegetation: heterogeneity over space and time. Ecology letters15: 164–175.
19.
ElmendorfSCHenryGHHollisterRD, et al. (2012b) Plot-scale evidence of tundra vegetation change and links to recent summer warming. Nature Climate Change2: 453–457.
GanjurjavHGaoQGornishES, et al. (2016) Differential response of alpine steppe and alpine meadow to climate warming in the central Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology223: 233–240.
22.
GedanKBBertnessMD (2009) Experimental warming causes rapid loss of plant diversity in New England salt marshes. Ecology letters12: 842–848.
23.
GuQGroganP (2020) Responses of low Arctic tundra plant species to experimental manipulations: differences between abiotic and biotic factors and between short-and long-term effects. Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine Research52: 524–540.
24.
HedgesLVGurevitchJCurtisPS, et al. (1999) The meta - analysis of response ratios in experimental ecology. Ecology80: 1150–1156.
25.
HoeppnerSSDukesJS (2012) Interactive responses of old-field plant growth and composition to warming and precipitation. Global Change Biology18: 1754–1768.
26.
HollisterRDFlahertyKJ (2010) Above - and below - ground plant biomass response to experimental warming in northern Alaska. Applied Vegetation Science13: 378–387.
27.
HommelRSiegwolfRZavadlavS, et al. (2016) Impact of interspecific competition and drought on the allocation of new assimilates in trees. Plant Biology18: 785–796.
28.
HuZLiQChenX, et al. (2016) Climate changes in temperature and precipitation extremes in an alpine grassland of Central Asia. Theoretical and Applied Climatology126: 519–531.
29.
HugeliusGStraussJZubrzyckiS, et al. (2014) Estimated stocks of circumpolar permafrost carbon with quantified uncertainty ranges and identified data gaps. Biogeosciences11: 6573–6593.
30.
HungateBAVan GROENIGENKJSixJ, et al. (2009) Assessing the effect of elevated carbon dioxide on soil carbon: a comparison of four meta - analyses. Global Change Biology15: 2020–2034.
31.
HurvichCMTsaiC-L (1989) Regression and time series model selection in small samples. Biometrika76: 297–307.
32.
ImadiSRGulADikilitasM, et al. (2016) Water stress: types, causes, and impact on plant growth and development. In: AhmadP (ed) Water Stress and Crop Plants. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 343–355.
33.
IPCC (2014) Climate change 2014: impacts, adaptation, and vulnerability. Contribution of working group II to the fifth assessment report of the intergovernmental panel on climate change. Cambridge, UK: IPCC, 1042.
34.
IPCC (2018) Global warming of 1.5 C. Geneva, Switzerland: World Meteorological Organization.
35.
JiangYTaoJHuangY, et al. (2015) The spatial pattern of grassland aboveground biomass on Xizang Plateau and its climatic controls. Journal of Plant Ecology8: 30–40.
KörnerC (2021) The alpine life zone. Alpine Plant Life. Springer, 23–51.
38.
KörnerCPaulsenJ (2004) A world-wide study of high altitude treeline temperatures. Journal of Biogeography31: 713–732.
39.
La PumaIPPhilippiTEOberbauerSF, et al. (2007) Relating NDVI to ecosystem CO2 exchange patterns in response to season length and soil warming manipulations in arctic Alaska. Remote Sensing of Environment109: 225–236.
40.
LiljedahlAKHinzmanLDKaneDL, et al. (2017) Tundra water budget and implications of precipitation underestimation. Water Resources Research53: 6472–6486.
41.
LinL. (2018) Bias caused by sampling error in meta-analysis with small sample sizes. Plos One13: e0204056.
42.
LittonCMRaichJWRyanMG, et al. (2007) Carbon allocation in forest ecosystems. Global Change Biology13: 2089–2109.
43.
LiuWZhangZWanS, et al. (2009) Predominant role of water in regulating soil and microbial respiration and their responses to climate change in a semiarid grassland. Global Change Biology15: 184–195.
44.
LloydAHFastieCL. (2002) Spatial and temporal variability in the growth and climate response of treeline trees in Alaska. Climatic Change52: 481–509.
45.
LoikMEStillCJHuxmanTE, et al. (2004) In situ photosynthetic freezing tolerance for plants exposed to a global warming manipulation in the Rocky Mountains, Colorado, USA. New Phytologist162: 331–341.
46.
MarcollaBCescattiAMancaG, et al. (2011) Climatic controls and ecosystem responses drive the inter-annual variability of the net ecosystem exchange of an alpine meadow. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology151: 1233–1243.
47.
MonsonRTurnipseedASparksJ, et al. (2002) Carbon sequestration in a high-elevation, subalpine forest. Global Change Biology8: 459–478.
48.
MooneyHABillingsW. (1961) Comparative physiological ecology of arctic and alpine populations of Oxyria digyna. Ecological Monographs31: 1–29.
49.
Myers-SmithIHForbesBCWilmkingM, et al. (2011) Shrub expansion in tundra ecosystems: dynamics, impacts and research priorities. Environmental Research Letters6: 045509.
50.
NagyLGrabherrG (2009) The Biology of Alpine Habitats. Oxford: Oxford University Press on Demand.
51.
NataliSMSchuurEARubinRL, et al. (2012) Increased plant productivity in Alaskan tundra as a result of experimental warming of soil and permafrost. Journal of Ecology100: 488–498.
52.
NataliSMSchuurEAWebbEE, et al. (2014) Permafrost degradation stimulates carbon loss from experimentally warmed tundra. Ecology95: 602–608.
53.
NotzDStroeveJ (2016) Observed Arctic sea-ice loss directly follows anthropogenic CO2 emission. Science354: 747–750.
54.
OberbauerSFStarrGPopEW, et al. (1998) Effects of extended growing season and soil warming on carbon dioxide and methane exchange of tussock tundra in Alaska. Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres103: 29075–29082.
55.
OberbauerSFTweedieCEWelkerJM, et al. (2007) Tundra CO2 fluxes in response to experimental warming across latitudinal and moisture gradients. Ecological Monographs77: 221–238.
QuintanaDS (2015) From pre-registration to publication: a non-technical primer for conducting a meta-analysis to synthesize correlational data. Frontiers in Psychology6: 1549.
58.
RavnNRElberlingBMichelsenA, et al. (2020) Arctic soil carbon turnover controlled by experimental snow addition, summer warming and shrub removal. Soil Biology and Biochemistry142: 107698.
59.
RCoreTeam. (2019) R: A language and environment for statistical computing. 3.3. 1st ed.Vienna, Austria: R Foundation for Statistical Computing.
60.
Richter-MengeJDruckenmillerM (2020) State of the climate in 2019. Arctic101: S239–S286.
61.
RogoraMArisciSMoselloR (2004) Recent trends of temperature and precipitation in alpine and subalpine areas in North Western Italy. Geografia fisica e dinamica quaternaria27: 151–158.
62.
RustadLCampbellJMarionG, et al. (2001) A meta-analysis of the response of soil respiration, net nitrogen mineralization, and aboveground plant growth to experimental ecosystem warming. Oecologia126: 543–562.
63.
SarneelJMSundqvistMKMolauU, et al. (2020) Decomposition rate and stabilization across six tundra vegetation types exposed to> 20 years of warming. The Science of the Total Environment724: 138304.
64.
SherryRAWengEArnoneJAIII, et al. (2008) Lagged effects of experimental warming and doubled precipitation on annual and seasonal aboveground biomass production in a tallgrass prairie. Global Change Biology14: 2923–2936.
65.
SongJWanSPiaoS, et al. (2019) A meta-analysis of 1, 119 manipulative experiments on terrestrial carbon-cycling responses to global change. Nature Ecology and Evolution3: 1309–1320.
66.
TarnocaiCCanadellJSchuurEA, et al. (2009) Soil organic carbon pools in the northern circumpolar permafrost region. Global Biogeochemical Cycles23.
67.
TestolinRAttorreFJiménez-AlfaroB, et al. (2020) Global distribution and bioclimatic characterization of alpine biomes. Ecography43: 779–788.
68.
Van HuisstedenJ (2020) Thawing Permafrost: Springer.
69.
ViechtbauerW (2010) Conducting meta-analyses in R with the metafor package. Journal of Statistical Software36: 1–48.
70.
VirtanenROksanenLOksanenT, et al. (2016) Where do the treeless tundra areas of northern highlands fit in the global biome system: toward an ecologically natural subdivision of the tundra biome. Ecology and Evolution6: 143–158.
71.
WalkerMDWahrenCHHollisterRD, et al. (2006) Plant community responses to experimental warming across the tundra biome. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences103: 1342–1346.
72.
WanSHuiDWallaceL, et al. (2005) Direct and indirect effects of experimental warming on ecosystem carbon processes in a tallgrass prairie. Global Biogeochemical Cycles19.
73.
WangPLimpensJMommerL, et al. (2017) Above and below ground responses of four tundra plant functional types to deep soil heating and surface soil fertilization. Journal of Ecology105: 947–957.
74.
WangXLiuLPiaoS, et al. (2014) Soil respiration under climate warming: differential response of heterotrophic and autotrophic respiration. Global Change Biology20: 3229–3237.
75.
WelkerJFahnestockJJonesM, et al. (2000) Annual CO2 flux in dry and moist arctic tundra: field responses to increases in summer temperatures and winter snow depth. Climatic Change44: 139–150.
76.
WuZDijkstraPKochGW, et al. (2011a) Responses of terrestrial ecosystems to temperature and precipitation change: A meta - analysis of experimental manipulation. Global Change Biology17: 927–942.
77.
WuZKochGWDijkstraP, et al. (2011b) Responses of ecosystem carbon cycling to climate change treatments along an elevation gradient. Ecosystems14: 1066–1080.
78.
XuMZhangTZhangY, et al. (2021) Drought limits alpine meadow productivity in northern Tibet. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology303: 108371.
79.
XuXShiZLiD, et al. (2015) Plant community structure regulates responses of prairie soil respiration to decadal experimental warming. Global Change Biology21: 3846–3853.
80.
YangYKleinJAWinklerDE, et al. (2020) Warming of alpine tundra enhances belowground production and shifts community towards resource acquisition traits. Ecosphere11: e03270.
81.
ZhangTXuMXiY, et al. (2015) Lagged climatic effects on carbon fluxes over three grassland ecosystems in China. Journal of Plant Ecology8: 291–302.
82.
ZhangTXuMZhangY, et al. (2019) Grazing-induced increases in soil moisture maintain higher productivity during droughts in alpine meadows on the Tibetan Plateau. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology269: 249–256.
83.
ZhangTZhangYXuM, et al. (2018) Water availability is more important than temperature in driving the carbon fluxes of an alpine meadow on the Tibetan Plateau. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology256: 22–31.
84.
ZhengZZhuWZhangY, et al. (2020a) Direct and lagged effects of spring phenology on net primary productivity in the alpine grasslands on the Tibetan Plateau. Remote Sensing12: 1223.
85.
ZhengZZhuWZhangY, et al. (2020b) Seasonally and spatially varied controls of climatic factors on net primary productivity in alpine grasslands on the Tibetan Plateau. Global Ecology and Conservation21: e00814.
86.
ZhouYMengGTaiZ, et al. (2019) Effects of experimental warming on growing season temperature and carbon exchange in an alpine tundra ecosystem. Russian Journal of Ecology50: 474–481.
87.
ZhuJZhangYJiangL, et al. (2017) Experimental warming drives a seasonal shift of ecosystem carbon exchange in Tibetan alpine meadow. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology233: 242–249.
Supplementary Material
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
