Model responses to CO2 and warming are underestimated without explicit representation of Arctic small-mammal grazing.
Ecol Appl
; 32(1): e02478, 2022 01.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-34657358
ABSTRACT
We use a simple model of coupled carbon and nitrogen cycles in terrestrial ecosystems to examine how "explicitly representing grazers" vs. "having grazer effects implicitly aggregated in with other biogeochemical processes in the model" alters predicted responses to elevated carbon dioxide and warming. The aggregated approach can affect model predictions because grazer-mediated processes can respond differently to changes in climate compared with the processes with which they are typically aggregated. We use small-mammal grazers in a tundra as an example and find that the typical three-to-four-year cycling frequency is too fast for the effects of cycle peaks and troughs to be fully manifested in the ecosystem biogeochemistry. We conclude that implicitly aggregating the effects of small-mammal grazers with other processes results in an underestimation of ecosystem response to climate change, relative to estimations in which the grazer effects are explicitly represented. The magnitude of this underestimation increases with grazer density. We therefore recommend that grazing effects be incorporated explicitly when applying models of ecosystem response to global change.
Palavras-chave
Texto completo:
1
Coleções:
01-internacional
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Dióxido de Carbono
/
Ecossistema
Tipo de estudo:
Prognostic_studies
Limite:
Animals
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Ecol Appl
Ano de publicação:
2022
Tipo de documento:
Article
País de afiliação:
Estados Unidos