UAV reveals substantial but heterogeneous effects of herbivores on Arctic vegetation

Abstract Understanding how herbivores shape plant biomass and distribution is a core challenge in ecology. Yet, the lack of suitable remote sensing technology limits our knowledge of temporal and spatial impacts of mammal herbivores in the Earth system. The regular interannual density fluctuations o...

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Autores principales:	Matthias B. Siewert, Johan Olofsson
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Nature Portfolio 2021
Materias:	Medicine R Science Q
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/8b186358e7a94d06a10257f39ec1cd7b
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:8b186358e7a94d06a10257f39ec1cd7b2021-12-02T19:16:59ZUAV reveals substantial but heterogeneous effects of herbivores on Arctic vegetation10.1038/s41598-021-98497-52045-2322https://doaj.org/article/8b186358e7a94d06a10257f39ec1cd7b2021-09-01T00:00:00Zhttps://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-98497-5https://doaj.org/toc/2045-2322Abstract Understanding how herbivores shape plant biomass and distribution is a core challenge in ecology. Yet, the lack of suitable remote sensing technology limits our knowledge of temporal and spatial impacts of mammal herbivores in the Earth system. The regular interannual density fluctuations of voles and lemmings are exceptional with their large reduction of plant biomass in Arctic landscapes during peak years (12–24%) as previously shown at large spatial scales using satellites. This provides evidence that herbivores are important drivers of observed global changes in vegetation productivity. Here, we use a novel approach with repeated unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) flights, to map vegetation impact by rodents, indicating that many important aspects of vegetation dynamics otherwise hidden by the coarse resolution of satellite images, including plant–herbivore interactions, can be revealed using UAVs. We quantify areas impacted by rodents at four complex Arctic landscapes with very high spatial resolution UAV imagery to get a new perspective on how herbivores shape Arctic ecosystems. The area impacted by voles and lemmings is indeed substantial, larger at higher altitude tundra environments, varies between habitats depending on local snow cover and plant community composition, and is heterogeneous even within habitats at submeter scales. Coupling this with spectral reflectance of vegetation (NDVI), we can show that the impact on central ecosystem properties like GPP and biomass is stronger than currently accounted for in Arctic ecosystems. As an emerging technology, UAVs will allow us to better disentangle important information on how herbivores maintain spatial heterogeneity, function and diversity in natural ecosystems.Matthias B. SiewertJohan OlofssonNature PortfolioarticleMedicineRScienceQENScientific Reports, Vol 11, Iss 1, Pp 1-10 (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Medicine R Science Q
spellingShingle	Medicine R Science Q Matthias B. Siewert Johan Olofsson UAV reveals substantial but heterogeneous effects of herbivores on Arctic vegetation
description	Abstract Understanding how herbivores shape plant biomass and distribution is a core challenge in ecology. Yet, the lack of suitable remote sensing technology limits our knowledge of temporal and spatial impacts of mammal herbivores in the Earth system. The regular interannual density fluctuations of voles and lemmings are exceptional with their large reduction of plant biomass in Arctic landscapes during peak years (12–24%) as previously shown at large spatial scales using satellites. This provides evidence that herbivores are important drivers of observed global changes in vegetation productivity. Here, we use a novel approach with repeated unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) flights, to map vegetation impact by rodents, indicating that many important aspects of vegetation dynamics otherwise hidden by the coarse resolution of satellite images, including plant–herbivore interactions, can be revealed using UAVs. We quantify areas impacted by rodents at four complex Arctic landscapes with very high spatial resolution UAV imagery to get a new perspective on how herbivores shape Arctic ecosystems. The area impacted by voles and lemmings is indeed substantial, larger at higher altitude tundra environments, varies between habitats depending on local snow cover and plant community composition, and is heterogeneous even within habitats at submeter scales. Coupling this with spectral reflectance of vegetation (NDVI), we can show that the impact on central ecosystem properties like GPP and biomass is stronger than currently accounted for in Arctic ecosystems. As an emerging technology, UAVs will allow us to better disentangle important information on how herbivores maintain spatial heterogeneity, function and diversity in natural ecosystems.
format	article
author	Matthias B. Siewert Johan Olofsson
author_facet	Matthias B. Siewert Johan Olofsson
author_sort	Matthias B. Siewert
title	UAV reveals substantial but heterogeneous effects of herbivores on Arctic vegetation
title_short	UAV reveals substantial but heterogeneous effects of herbivores on Arctic vegetation
title_full	UAV reveals substantial but heterogeneous effects of herbivores on Arctic vegetation
title_fullStr	UAV reveals substantial but heterogeneous effects of herbivores on Arctic vegetation
title_full_unstemmed	UAV reveals substantial but heterogeneous effects of herbivores on Arctic vegetation
title_sort	uav reveals substantial but heterogeneous effects of herbivores on arctic vegetation
publisher	Nature Portfolio
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/8b186358e7a94d06a10257f39ec1cd7b
work_keys_str_mv	AT matthiasbsiewert uavrevealssubstantialbutheterogeneouseffectsofherbivoresonarcticvegetation AT johanolofsson uavrevealssubstantialbutheterogeneouseffectsofherbivoresonarcticvegetation
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UAV reveals substantial but heterogeneous effects of herbivores on Arctic vegetation

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