International Tundra Experiment (ITEX) - Faroe Islands

File Identifier: 12195_iso.xml

Metadata Language: eng; CAN

: utf8

Resource Type: Dataset

Responsible Party:

Individual Name: Polar Data Catalogue

Organisation Name: Canadian Cryospheric Information Network

Role: Point Of Contact

Contact Info:

Voice: (519) 888-4567 x32689

Street Address: 200 University Avenue West, University of Waterloo

City: Waterloo

Province/State: Ontario

Postal Code/ZIP: N2L 3G1

Country: Canada

E-Mail Address: pdc@uwaterloo.ca

Metadata Date: 2015-04-30

Metadata Standard Name: North American Profile of ISO 19115:2003

Metadata Standard Version: 2009-01-01

Abstract: n the alpine area of the subarctic oceanic Faroe Islands, a combined warming and grazing experiment has been made for twelve years, beginning when an ITEX site was established in 2001. Ten Open Top Chambers (OTC) were placed inside an enclosure with control plots inside and outside the enclosure in order to study the combined effects on the vegetation of warming and sheep grazing. The study site is on the mountain of Sornfelli (62°04 ́N, 6°57 ́W) at 600 m a.s.l. on Streymoy in the central part of the Faroe Islands. Temperatures are measured 1 cm below the soil surface but due to the cloudy weather conditions in the area the experimental warming has varied from year to year with almost no effect some years. Despite this, significant changes in the measured vegetation parameters have been observed. The vegetation was monitored during the period in 0.25 cm 2 plots in the OTCs and control(grazed and un-grazed) and the changes in species composition as well as the changes between life forms are studied. Changes in leaf size of the two species Salix herbacea and Polygonum vivipara were measured And phenological studies of Silene acau lis were conducted during the growing season. A summary of the results from these studies will be presented and the effects of warming and grazing will be compared.

Purpose: The International Tundra Experiment is a collaborative effort involving scientists from more than 11 countries, including all the Arctic nations. ITEX seeks to examine the response of circumpolar cold adapted plant species and tundra ecosytems to environmental change, specifically to an increase in summer temperature. Empirical knowledge based on experiments coupled with available evolutionary history, ecology, and genetics was chosen as the best way to predict species response to climate change. The ITEX research model combines long-term and short-term experimentation with monitoring and has the elegance and simplicity called for to understand ecosystem response and vulnerability to change. The experiment is designed to examine the effects of temperature change; maximize geographic representation, by minimizing technical and equipment requirements; be long-term; focus primarily on species; and, if resources permit, allow for genetic and system level studies. Participation may be at several levels of complexity and sophistication depending on interests and available funding support. Each ITEX site operates some form of warming experiment. Most sites use open-top chambers to warm the tundra. These passive chambers affect plant growth and phenological development in a variety of ways. Each ITEX study site is expected to collect similar data following established protocols provided in the ITEX Manual. Collectively the ITEX network is able to pool its data sets to examine vegetation response at varying levels, for example genetics (from ecotype to functional type), across space (from habitats to ecosystems) and over time.

Language: eng; CAN

Citation:

Contact Info:

Title: International Tundra Experiment (ITEX) - Faroe Islands

Date:

Date: 2015-04-30

Date Type: Publication Date

Individual Name: Fosaa, Anna Maria

Role: Principal Investigator

Individual Name: Fosaa, Anna Maria

Role:

Point Of Contact:

Individual Name: Polar Data Catalogue

Organisation Name: Canadian Cryospheric Information Network

Role: Point Of Contact

Contact Info:

Voice: (519) 888-4567 x32689

Street Address: 200 University Avenue West, University of Waterloo

City: Waterloo

Province/State: Ontario

Postal Code/ZIP: N2L 3G1

Country: Canada

E-Mail Address: pdc@uwaterloo.ca

Online Resource: polardata.ca

Topic Category: Environment and Conservation

Keyword Collection:

Keyword: Alpine

Keyword: Climate change

Keyword: Grazing

Keyword: Landscape

Keyword: Monitoring

Keyword: Phenology

Keyword: Vegetation

Associated Thesaurus: Polar Data Catalogue Thesaurus (Canada)

Keyword: Sornfelli, Faroe Islands

Spatial Extent:

West Bounding Longitude: 6.95

East Bounding Longitude: 6.95

North Bounding Latitude: 62.06

South Bounding Latitude: 62.06

Legal Constraints:

Access Constraints: Other Restrictions

Use Constraints: Other Restrictions

Other Constraints: Terms of Use of the Polar Data Catalogue: https://www.polardata.ca/pdcinput/public/termsofuse

Distribution Format:

Format Name: Digital file

Format Version: 1.0

Distributor:

Distributor Contact:

Individual Name: Polar Data Catalogue

Organisation Name: Canadian Cryospheric Information Network

Role: Distributor

Contact Info:

Voice: (519) 888-4567 x32689

Street Address: 200 University Avenue West, University of Waterloo

City: Waterloo

Province/State: Ontario

Postal Code/ZIP: N2L 3G1

Country: Canada

E-Mail Address: pdc@uwaterloo.ca