In arctic tundra near Toolik Lake, Alaska, we incubated a common substrate in a snow addition experiment to test whether snow accumulation around arctic deciduous shrubs altered the environment enough to increase litter decomposition rates. We compared the influence of litter quality on the rate of litter and N loss by decomposing litter from four different plant functional types in a common site. We used aboveground net primary production values and estimated k values from our decomposition experiments to calculate community-weighted mass loss for each site.
Data Set Results
Data on litter decomposition of Eriophorum vaginatum leaves collected at Toolik Lake, Coldfoot, and Sagwon and distributed to all three sites. Litter bags from the three populations were deployed at CF (8/26/15), TL (8/24/16) and SG (8/25/16) sites approximately 40 meter away from the main transplant gardens (east of CF, east of TL and west of SG) into 5 blocks with 4 intended harvests at each plots.
Transplant gardens at Toolik Lake and Sagwon were established in 2014. At each location, 60 tussocks each from ecotypes of Eriophorum vaginatum from Coldfoot (CF, 67°15′32″N, 150°10′12″W), Toolik Lake (TL, 68°37′44″N, 149°35′0″W), and Sagwon (SG, 69°25′26″N, 148°42′49″W) were transplanted. At the reciprocal transplant gardens, ion exchange membranes were used to measure nutrient availability over two time periods: Early season (June) and mid season (July). Membranes were deployed in the field for either 20 or 21 days, depending on travel constraints.