Regions: Inuvialuit Settlement Region
Tags: vegetation, climate change, frost heave, biogeochemical processes, arctic ecosystems, temperature, human disturbance
| Principal Investigator: | Walker, Donald A (4) |
| Licence Number: | 13814 |
| Organization: | University of Alaska Fairbanks |
| Licensed Year(s): |
2006
2005
2004
2003
|
| Issued: | May 20, 2005 |
| Project Team: | Ronnie Daa |
Objective(s): The goal of this project is to understand the complex linkages between biogeochemical cycles, vegetation, disturbance and climate across the full summer temperature gradient in the Arctic in order to better predict ecosystem responses to changing climate. The focus is on frost-boils, which are caused by soil heave in small, regularly-spaced, and circular highly-disturbed patches. The investigators will examine disturbed and undisturbed patches associated with frost-boil ecosystems. The process of frost-boil formation is currently poorly understood, so full knowledge of the biogeochemical system first requires a better understanding of the process of frost heave itself and how it is modified by interactions with climate and vegetation. The program has four main research components: 1) frost boil dynamics and climate; 2) soil and biogeochemistry; 3) vegetation; 4) modelling nutrient and vegetation dynamics; and a major educational component.
