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Absence of snow cover reduces understory plant cover and alters plant community composition in boreal forests

  • Global change ecology - Original Paper
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An Erratum to this article was published on 21 April 2013

Abstract

Snow regimes affect biogeochemistry of boreal ecosystems and are altered by climate change. The effects on plant communities, however, are largely unexplored despite their influence on relevant processes. Here, the impact of snow cover on understory community composition and below-ground production in a boreal Picea abies forest was investigated using a long-term (8-year) snow cover manipulation experiment consisting of the treatments: snow removal, increased insulation (styrofoam pellets), and control. The snow removal treatment caused longer (118 vs. 57 days) and deeper soil frost (mean minimum temperature −5.5 vs. −2.2°C) at 10 cm soil depth in comparison to control. Understory species composition was strongly altered by the snow cover manipulations; vegetation cover declined by more than 50% in the snow removal treatment. In particular, the dominant dwarf shrub Vaccinium myrtillus (−82%) and the most abundant mosses Pleurozium schreberi (−74%) and Dicranum scoparium (−60%) declined strongly. The C:N ratio in V. myrtillus leaves and plant available N in the soil indicated no altered nitrogen nutrition. Fine-root biomass in summer, however, was negatively affected by the reduced snow cover (−50%). Observed effects are attributed to direct frost damage of roots and/ or shoots. Besides the obvious relevance of winter processes on plant ecology and distribution, we propose that shifts in the vegetation caused by frost damage may be an important driver of the reported alterations in biogeochemistry in response to altered snow cover. Understory plant performance clearly needs to be considered in the biogeochemistry of boreal systems in the face of climate change.

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported by a grant from the German Science Foundation (DFG KR 3309/4-1) to J.K. and by grants from the Swedish Research Council (VR-2005-4257), Future Forest and Formas-ForWater (230-2010-89) to H.L. We also thank Mikaell Ottosson-Löfvenius for providing us with climate data, and two anonymous referees and the editors for constructive comments on an earlier version of this manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Biogeography, University of Bayreuth, Bayreuth, Germany

    Juergen Kreyling

  2. Department of Ecology and Environmental Science, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden

    Mahsa Haei

  3. Department of Forest Ecology and Management, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Umeå, Sweden

    Hjalmar Laudon

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  1. Juergen Kreyling
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  2. Mahsa Haei
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  3. Hjalmar Laudon
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Correspondence to Juergen Kreyling.

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Communicated by Tim Seastedt.

An erratum to this article is available at http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00442-013-2657-0.

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Kreyling, J., Haei, M. & Laudon, H. Absence of snow cover reduces understory plant cover and alters plant community composition in boreal forests. Oecologia 168, 577–587 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-011-2092-z

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