| Arctic ecosystems are warming rapidly. Recent work has explored the impacts of this warming on tundra vegetation. Changes in tundra productivity and biodiversity will impact the global carbon budget, and trophic interactions. I conducted one of the first studies to explicitly acknowledge the significant effects of herbivores on vegetation productivity, composition, and morphology in a climate change context. I experimentally explored the effects of warming and herbivory by barnacle geese on Equisetum arvense, and Dupontia fisheri, in a wet tundra valley, in Svalbard, Norway. Both species responded to warming when stressed by herbivory. E. arvense had a blended, intermediate response to the combined factors, whereas warming delayed the induction of a short-leaved, herb ivory-tolerant morphology in D. fisheri by one year. These results show that trophic interactions must be considered when predicting the effects of climate change on Arctic vegetation. |
