Decades of warming strains arctic ecosystem, imperils vegetation
by Tatyana Woodall, Ohio State News woodall.52@osu.edu
Rapid warming has impacted the northern ecosystem so significantly that scientists are concerned the region’s vegetation is losing the ability to recover from climate shocks, suggests a new study.
Their findings revealed that due to frequent disturbances like wildfires that raze down vegetation and persistent drought and deforestation that starve both the land and wildlife, the resilience of many plant communities in southern boreal forests — or their ability to recover after these events — significantly decreased over time. This may affect the Arctic carbon budget, foreshadowing a future where the region is likely to become a carbon source instead of remaining a carbon sink due to its limited capacity to absorb atmospheric carbon dioxide in the coming decades.