Researchers are in the search for generalisable rules and patterns in nature. Biogeographer Julia Kemppinen together with her colleagues tested if plant functional traits show similar patterns along microclimatic gradients across far-apart regions from the high-Arctic Svalbard to the sub-Antarctic Marion Island. Kemppinen and her colleagues found surprisingly identical patterns.
It is widely known that global vegetation patterns and plant properties follow major differences in climate. Yet, it has remained a mystery how well the same rules can be applied at very local scales. Are responses to the environment similar in plant communities along local temperature gradients in Svalbard, Greenland, Fennoscandia, and Marion island? The results published in Nature Ecology & Evolution indicate that these generalisable patterns do exist.
The researchers collected field data on 217 species from nearly 7000 study plots. The results revealed strong, consistent plant functional trait-environment relationships across the four tundra ecosystems.
"This is important because plant functional traits inform us how plants use resources, such as soil moisture, and how plants shape their environments such as carbon cycling. In addition, traits investigations can also give a hint on how plants may react to the ongoing climate change", says Post doctoral researcher Julia Kemppinen from the University of Oulu.
Read more at University of Helsinki
Image: The researchers collected data across four distinct tundra regions. (Credit: Photos: Julia Kemppinen and Peter C. le Roux)