Alaska's Changing Arctic: Ecological Consequences for Tundra, Streams, and Lakes

354 Pages·2014·8.2 MB·English

by  John E. Hobbie

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ALASKA’S CHANGING ARCTIC
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LONG-TERM ECOLOGICAL RESEARCH NETWORK SERIES
LTER Publications Committee
Grassland Dynamics: Long-Term Ecological Research in Tallgrass Prairie
Editors: Alan K. Knapp, John M. Briggs, David C. Hartnett,
and Scott L. Collins
Standard Soil Methods for Long-Term Ecological Research
Editors: G. Philip Robertson, David C. Coleman, Caroline S. Bledsoe,
and Phillip Sollins
Structure and Function of an Alpine Ecosystem: Niwot Ridge, Colorado
Editors: William D. Bowman, and Timothy R. Seastedt
Climate Variability and Ecosystem Response at Long-Term Ecological Sites
Editors: David Greenland, Douglas G. Goodin, and Raymond C. Smith
Biodiversity in Drylands: Toward a Unifi ed Framework
Editors: Moshe Shachak, James R. Gosz, Steward T.A. Pickett, and
Avi Perevolotsky
Long-Term Dynamics of Lakes in the Landscape:
Long-Term Ecological Research on North Temperate Lakes
Editors: John J. Magnuson, Timothy K. Kratz, and Barbara J. Benson
Alaska’s Changing Boreal Forest
Editors: F. Stuart Chapin, III, Mark W. Oswood, Keith Van Cleve,
Leslie A. Viereck, and David L. Verbyla
Structure and Function of a Chihuahuan Desert Ecosystem: The Jornada Basin
Long-Term Ecological Research Site
Editors: Kris M. Havstad, Laura F. Huenneke, and William H. Schlesinger
Principles and Standards for Measuring Net Primary Production in Long-Term
Ecological Studies
Editors: Timothy J. Fahey, and Alan K. Knapp
Agrarian Landscapes in Transition:
Comparisons of Long-Term Ecological and Cultural Change
Editors: Charles L. Redman and David R. Foster
Ecology of the Shortgrass Steppe: A Long-Term Perspective
Editors: William K. Lauenroth, and Ingrid C. Burke
A Caribbean Forest Tapestry:
The Multidimensional Nature of Disturbance and Response
Editors: Nicholas Brokaw, Todd A. Crowl, Ariel E. Lugo, William H. McDowell,
Frederick N. Scatena, Robert B. Waide, and Michael R. Willig
Alaska’s Changing Arctic:
Ecological Consequences for Tundra, Streams, and Lakes
Editors: John Hobbie, and George Kling
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Alaska’s Changing Arctic
Ecological Consequences for
Tundra, Streams, and Lakes
Edited by
JOHN E.   HOBBIE
AND
GEORGE W.   KLING
1
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1
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Alaska’s changing arctic : ecological consequences for tundra, streams, and lakes / edited by
John E. Hobbie and George W. Kling.
pages cm
ISBN 978–0–19–986040–1 (alk. paper)
1. Tundra ecology—Alaska. 2. Stream ecology—Alaska. 3. Lake ecology—Alaska.
4. Alaska—Environmental conditions. I. Hobbie, John E.
QH541.5.T8A53 2014
577.5'8609798—dc23
2013031620

9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Printed in the United States of America
on acid-free paper
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Contents

Preface v ii
Contributors xi
1 Introduction 1
John E.   Hobbie
2 Climate and Hydrometeorology of the Toolik Lake Region and the
Kuparuk River Basin: Past, Present, and Future 2 1
Jessica E.   Cherry , Stephen J.   Déry , Yiwei   Cheng , Marc Stieglitz ,
Amy S.   Jacobs , and Feifei   Pan
3 Glacial History and Long-Term Ecology in the Toolik Lake Region 61
Donald A.   Walker , Thomas D. Hamilton , Hilmar A.   Maier , Corinne
A.   Munger , and Martha K. Raynolds
4 Late-Quaternary Environmental and Ecological History of the Arctic
Foothills, Northern Alaska 8 1
W. Wyatt   Oswald , Linda B. Brubaker , Feng Sheng   Hu , and George W.   Kling
5 Terrestrial Ecosystems at Toolik Lake, Alaska 90
Gaius R.   Shaver , James A. Laundre , M. Syndonia Bret-Harte , F. Stuart
Chapin, III , Joel A. Mercado- Díaz , Anne E.   Giblin , Laura   Gough , William
A.   Gould , Sarah E.   Hobbie , George W.   Kling , Michelle C.   Mack , John
C.   Moore , Knute J. Nadelhoffer , Edward B. Rastetter , and Joshua P. Schimel
v
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vi Contents
6 Land–Water Interactions 1 43
George W.   Kling , Heather E.   Adams , Neil D.   Bettez , William B.   Bowden ,
Byron C.   Crump , Anne E.   Giblin , Kristin E.   Judd , Katy   Keller , George W.
Kipphut , Edward R. Rastetter , Gaius R.   Shaver , and Marc Stieglitz
7 Ecology of Streams of the Toolik Region 1 73
William B.   Bowden , Bruce J. Peterson , Linda A.   Deegan , Alex D.   Huryn ,
Jonathan P. Benstead , Heidi   Golden , Michael Kendrick , Stephanie M.   Parker ,
Elissa Schuett , Joseph J. Vallino, and John E. Hobbie  
8 The Response of Lakes Near the Arctic LTER to Environmental
Change 2 38
Chris   Luecke , Anne E.   Giblin , Neil D.   Bettez , Greta A. Burkart , Byron
C.   Crump , Mary Anne   Evans , Gretchen   Gettel , Sally MacIntyre ,
W. John O’Brien , Parke   A. Rublee , and George W.   Kling
9 Mercury in the Alaskan Arctic 2 87
William F. Fitzgerald , Chad R. Hammerschmidt , Daniel R. Engstrom ,
Prentiss H.   Balcom , Carl H. Lamborg , and Chun-Mao   Tseng
10 Ecological Consequences of Present and Future Changes
in Arctic Alaska 3 03
John E.   Hobbie , and George W.   Kling
Index 325
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Preface

T his book in the Long Term Ecology Research (LTER) Synthesis series, reports
r esults from ecological studies at a site in northern Alaska, the region around
T oolik Lake. When the study began in the mid-1970s, ecological research in
northern Alaska had been restricted by the diffi culty of access in a region with
no roads. Accordingly, research was concentrated on the coastal ocean, shallow
p onds and lakes, and the wet coastal tundra near the Barrow research laboratory,
where there was an airport. In addition to research at nearby sites, the Offi ce of
N aval Research funded Barrow laboratory supported a few temporary fi eld camps
i n the mountains where small planes could land on lakes and snowfi elds. This era
o f limited access suddenly changed in 1975 when the construction of the oil pipe-
line and the adjacent Dalton Highway gave scientists easy access to a transect of
the coastal plain, foothills, and mountains of the Brooks Range. A foothills site
with tussock tundra, the deep Toolik Lake, and the Kuparuk River was chosen for
detailed investigation.
The Toolik research began in 1975, the year the National Science Foundation
( NSF)’s International Biological Programme study (IBP) ended its intensive
research at Barrow. By coincidence, this was the same year as the opening of the
Dalton Highway alongside the pipeline. This gravel road allowed sampling the
organisms along the road in the coastal plain, the foothills, and the Brooks Range
mountains. The road also allowed a base camp to be established at Toolik Lake so
that observations could be made over time, meals and sanitation could be provided,
a nd a small laboratory set up. During the fi rst two summers, power and an emer-
gency phone was provided by a nearby pipeline construction camp. Today Toolik
is a modern year-round research facility operated by the University of Alaska with
dormitories, laboratories, electricity, and fi ber-optic cable internet access.
vii
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viii Preface
T he goal of the early NSF-funded research was to document the region’s organ-
isms and ecological processes as examples of ecology of the Low Arctic. Organisms
and processes are identical or very similar throughout northern Alaska, but only the
wet sedge and coastal freshwaters had been studied in detail (e.g., in the IBP at
B arrow). At the Toolik site to the south in the warmer foothills, tundra, deep lakes,
and rivers could be investigated and the ecology compared with the well-known
p rocesses in the cooler coastal regions. After the initial documentation phase, the
t errestrial and aquatic research asked questions about nutrient controls of primary
productivity, temperature effects, and top-down and bottom-up control of popula-
t ions. Both the aquatic and terrestrial researchers made use of large-scale experi-
mental manipulations, including nutrient additions to streams, lakes, and tundra;
t he heating of tundra plots; and the manipulation of food webs and plant commu-
n ities. Mathematical models help to understand the integration of these processes
and help to project the results to large areas of the Arctic and into the next century.
I n 1987, the research became the Arctic LTER project, a part of the NSF Long
Term Ecological Research program (LTER) that now includes 25 sites. The Arctic
LTER project is responsible for the collection of environmental data and the mea-
surement of samples of various types from the tundra and aquatic systems as well
as for the archiving of environmental data in computer fi les accessible to all. In
addition, the LTER maintains several large experiments on tundra and streams and
f acilitates research projects at Toolik by a large number of investigators who coop-
erate closely and use the LTER data and experiments. Goals of the Arctic LTER
i nclude continued long-term measurements of biota and of ecological processes.
I n recent years the goals have included the ecological effects of environmental
c hanges, especially those linked to the long-term changes of the Arctic such as a
possible increase in frequency of wildfi re and to effects of warming permafrost.
Another goal is to examine the movements of organisms and material across dif-
ferent parts of the landscape. New questions include the fate of carbon produced
i n photosynthesis each year or sequestered in permafrost thousands of years ago;
t he ecology of Toolik in the next century; and the changes in the extent of thermo-
karst, the physical change in the land surface caused by melting of ice inclusions
in permafrost.
How typical of the Arctic is the Toolik Lake region? The short answer is that no
single site can be completely typical of a vast circumarctic region where climate
v ariability south to north produces annual average temperatures ranging from 0 o C
to –18o C or both lakes with four months of open water and lakes with a year-round
ice cover. The same latitudinal gradient leads to plant cover ranging from an
u nbroken blanket of tussock tundra to a polar desert of scattered individual plants.
Despite this variability, the types of tundra, ecological processes, and relationships
investigated in detail at Toolik occur arctic-wide and are very relevant to under-
standing the ecology of all arctic ecosystems. The Toolik region lies in the warmest
o f the arctic vegetation zones, where productivity and diversity is higher than in the
other zones. On the aquatic side, freshwaters across the Arctic all have low primary
p roductivity, but also the same species of algae and zooplankton tend to make up
lake food webs, while fi sh, such as arctic char and grayling, are also similar across
the entire Arctic.
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