2006 Annual Meeting and Arctic Forum | Abstracts

Biomass-NDVI-LAI Relationships Along the Full Arctic Bioclimate Gradient

Howard E. Epstein¹, Donald (Skip) A. Walker², Gensuo J. Jia³, Alexia M. Kelley⁴, Martha K. Raynolds^5
1Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Virginia, PO Box 400123, Charlottesville, VA, 22904-4123, USA, Phone 434-924-4308, Fax 434-982-2137, hee2b@virginia.edu
²Institute of Arctic Biology, University of Alaska Fairbanks, 262 Arctic Health Building, PO Box 757000, Fairbanks, AK, 99775, USA, Phone 907-474-2460, Fax 907-474-2459, ffdaw@uaf.edu
³Department of Forest, Rangeland, and Watershed Stewardship, Colorado State University, 206 Natural Resources, Fort Collins, CO, 80523-1472, USA, Phone 970-491-0495, Fax 970-491-2339, jiong@colostate.edu
⁴Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Virginia, PO Box 400123, Charlottesville, VA, 22903, USA, Phone 434-924-0576, Fax 434-982-2137, alexiakelley@yahoo.com
⁵Institute of Arctic Biology, University of Alaska Fairbanks, PO Box 757000, Fairbanks, AK, 99775, USA, Phone 907-474-6720, Fax 907-474-6967, fnmkr@uaf.edu

A common methodology for assessing the potential effects of terrestrial ecosystems to environmental change is to develop present-day spatial relationships between environmental variables and ecosystem properties. Spatial relationships between climate variables and ecosystem variables should of course be used cautiously when extrapolating these patterns over time, i.e. space-for-time substitutions. Nevertheless, this approach has been extremely useful along regional climate gradients, in addition to providing support for vegetation dynamics models. We have developed several datasets of latitude, temperature, aboveground plant biomass, the NDVI (normalized difference vegetation index) and LAI (leaf area index) for arctic tundra ecosystems along an 1800-km transect from the Low Arctic tundra in northern Alaska to the Polar Desert of the northern Canadian Archipelago. Another useful application of these data is the relationships between NDVI and aboveground plant biomass, which can allow for the conversion of satellite data to on-the-ground ecosystem properties.