In:
PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science (PLoS), Vol. 18, No. 4 ( 2023-4-28), p. e0285030-
Abstract:
The Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), derived from reflected visible and infrared radiation, has been critical to understanding change across the Arctic, but relatively few ground truthing efforts have directly linked NDVI to structural and functional properties of Arctic tundra ecosystems. To improve the interpretation of changing NDVI within moist acidic tundra (MAT), a common Arctic ecosystem, we coupled measurements of NDVI, vegetation structure, and CO 2 flux in seventy MAT plots, chosen to represent the full range of typical MAT vegetation conditions, over two growing seasons. Light-saturated photosynthesis, ecosystem respiration, and net ecosystem CO 2 exchange were well predicted by NDVI, but not by vertically-projected leaf area, our nondestructive proxy for leaf area index (LAI). Further, our data indicate that NDVI in this ecosystem is driven primarily by the biochemical properties of the canopy leaves of the dominant plant functional types, rather than purely the amount of leaf area; NDVI was more strongly correlated with top cover and repeated cover of deciduous shrubs than other plant functional types, a finding supported by our data from separate “monotypic” plots. In these pure stands of a plant functional type, deciduous shrubs exhibited higher NDVI than any other plant functional type. Likewise, leaves from the two most common deciduous shrubs, Betula nana and Salix pulchra , exhibited higher leaf-level NDVI than those from the codominant graminoid, Eriophorum vaginatum . Our findings suggest that recent increases in NDVI in MAT in the North American Arctic are largely driven by expanding deciduous shrub canopies, with substantial implications for MAT ecosystem function, especially net carbon uptake.
Type of Medium:
Online Resource
ISSN:
1932-6203
DOI:
10.1371/journal.pone.0285030
DOI:
10.1371/journal.pone.0285030.g001
DOI:
10.1371/journal.pone.0285030.g002
DOI:
10.1371/journal.pone.0285030.g003
DOI:
10.1371/journal.pone.0285030.g004
DOI:
10.1371/journal.pone.0285030.g005
DOI:
10.1371/journal.pone.0285030.g006
DOI:
10.1371/journal.pone.0285030.t001
DOI:
10.1371/journal.pone.0285030.t002
DOI:
10.1371/journal.pone.0285030.t003
DOI:
10.1371/journal.pone.0285030.t004
DOI:
10.1371/journal.pone.0285030.s001
DOI:
10.1371/journal.pone.0285030.s002
DOI:
10.1371/journal.pone.0285030.s003
DOI:
10.1371/journal.pone.0285030.s004
DOI:
10.1371/journal.pone.0285030.s005
Language:
English
Publisher:
Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Publication Date:
2023
detail.hit.zdb_id:
2267670-3
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