Abstract
Excluding those areas disturbed by development, the distribution of plant communities over large expanses of Alaskan tundra has been determined by an integrated, long-term response to natural environmental gradients. Both in relatively flat coastal tundra (Webber 1978) and in the Foothills Province of the Alaskan North Slope (Ostendorf and Reynolds 1993; Chaps. 4 and 5, this Vol.), gradients in water availability caused by topography or microrelief play a particularly important role in determining landscape vegetation patterns. As a result, some aspects of these general patterns are predictable with relatively simple models based solely on topography. Ostendorf and Reynolds (1996; Chap. 14, this Vol.) developed topographically derived models for predicting landscape distribution of communities based on slope and local water discharge. Leadley et al. (Chap. 18, this Vol.) linked patterns of water discharge with a simple ecosystem model to predict landscape patterns of nitrogen availability, vegetation type, plant biomass, and net primary productivity within the Imnavait Creek watershed.
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Ostendorf, B., Quinn, P., Beven, K., Tenhunen, J.D. (1996). Hydrological Controls on Ecosystem Gas Exchange in an Arctic Landscape. In: Reynolds, J.F., Tenhunen, J.D. (eds) Landscape Function and Disturbance in Arctic Tundra. Ecological Studies, vol 120. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-01145-4_17
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-01145-4_17
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