Research article - Peer-reviewed, 2001
Herbivory-mediated responses of selected boreal forests to climatic change
Niemela P, Chapin FS, Danell K, Bryant JPAbstract
Recent efforts to project vegetation responses to climatic warming have emphasized the tight linkages between climate and vegetation distribution. Here we provide several examples indicating that the direct effects of climatic warming on boreal vegetation can be qualitatively different than the indirect effects mediated by climatic responses of herbivores. These herbivore-mediated vegetation responses to climatic warming will likely vary regionally. In southern Fennoscandia, we project that the climatically induced changes in animal populations should enhance the density of spruce at the expense of pine and broadleafed trees. In northern Fennoscandia we project reduced herbivory on broadleafed trees and increased herbivory on pine, leading to an increase in broadleafed trees and spruce and a reduction in pine. Climatic warming in interior Alaska may reduce herbivory on broadleafed trees and increase herbivory on evergreen spruce, thus reinforcing the impact of increased fire frequencyPublished in
Climatic Change2001, volume: 48, number: 2-3, pages: 427-440
Publisher: KLUWER ACADEMIC PUBL
Authors' information
Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Department of Animal Ecology
Bryant, John
Niemelä, Pekka
Chapin III, Stuart F
UKÄ Subject classification
Environmental Sciences related to Agriculture and Land-use
Publication Identifiers
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1010787714349
URI (permanent link to this page)
https://res.slu.se/id/publ/6288