Dwarf pine invasion in an alpine tundra of discont

Authors: Kobayashi Makoto S V Bryanin V V Lisovsky K Kushida N Wada

Publish Date: 2015/04/01

Volume: 30, Issue: 2, Pages: 431-439

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Abstract

Climate warming may directly and indirectly affect the large carbon stock in discontinuous permafrost soil at high latitudes In recent decades Siberian dwarf pine Pinus pumila Pall Regel has been invading dry heath alpine tundra in the northern Amur region of Far East Russia Siberian dwarf pine is known to have high aboveground productivity comparable to that of tall coniferous trees We hypothesised that the invasion of Siberian dwarf pine into alpine tundra could increase soil carbon stocks via an increase in fine roots Contrary to our expectations the invasion of dwarf pine did not significantly increase the fine root biomass and productivity of the tundra probably due to the belowground competitive exclusion between the dwarf pine and alpine tundra plants Furthermore the invasion of the dwarf pine did not affect soil carbon in the alpine tundra ecosystem These results show that the recent invasion of Siberian dwarf pine into tundra did not influence the fine root dynamics or the soil carbon stock in the study site Together these results implied that 1 it takes a long time for pine invasion to change the belowground ecosystem properties of tundra vegetation to that of pine thickets and therefore 2 the lack of an increase in soil carbon from recent tree invasion should be taken into account when modelling future carbon dynamics in alpine tundraK Makoto conducted the field research data analysis and wrote the manuscript S V Bryanin conducted the field research laboratory analysis and wrote the manuscript V V Lisovsky planed the field design conducted the field research maintained the research field and obtained the basic data of the field K Kushida conducted the field research obtained remote sensing data wrote the manuscript N Wada obtained the research fund conducted the field research and wrote the manuscriptWe greatly thank Dr S Y Ignatenko and Ms E Romanova for their cordial support during the field survey in Zeysky Nature Reserve and Dr A A Sorokin and Dr V I Rozhdestvina for their support for laboratory investigations in Institute of Geology and Nature Management FEB RAS This research was financially supported by a research grant from the Heiwa Nakajima Foundation to N Wada and by research fellowships from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science 243240 to K Makoto and partially supported by RFBR No 140531297 mol a to S V Bryanin

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