Regions: Qikiqtaaluk Region, Kivalliq Region, Nunavut
Tags: biology, vegetation, climate change, paleoenvironment, deglaciation, succession
| Principal Investigator: | Svoboda, Josef (15) |
| Licence Number: | 12406 |
| Organization: | University of Toronto |
| Licensed Year(s): |
1994
1993
1992
1991
1988
1987
|
| Issued: | Jan 01, 1993 |
| Project Team: | E. Levesque, G. Jones, J. Elster, R. Staniforth, two undergraduate field assistants, D. Attenborough and film crew |
Objective(s): The first three projects' objectives are: to determine which species of vascular plants reach the high arctic upland plateaus and survive in the extreme conditions of polar desert; to study the process of initial primary succession following deglaciation of polar landscapes. The last project involves the monitoring of permanent plots of tundra in order to study the phenology of selected plants as they are influenced by changes in microclimate (due to the presence of a newly-built snow fence).
Project Description: The aim of projects 1 and 2 is to learn how plants returned to the arctic following the retreat of the ice sheet that covered Ellesmere Island some 8000 years ago. This research will also help to determine what effect climate warming will have for the plant communities of the high arctic. Project 3 will involve the filming of plant life in the high arctic. Project 4 is part of an on-going study that is monitoring the effect that a snow fence has on tundra.
