A Half-Century of Change in Arctic Alaskan Shrubs: A Photographic-Based Assessment

该项目将对大约50年前拍摄的同一地形进行航空摄影，以研究环境的变化，特别是灌木占主导地位的地区的扩大。 将比较旧场景和新照片之间的灌木大小、密度和范围，以确定之前的试点研究结果是否适用于北坡更广泛的区域。 灌木向北扩展是对气候变暖的预期反应，将对预计将首先受到全球变暖影响的地区的全球变化研究产生重要影响。 将利用实地测量的植被指数（例如植被年龄、大小、尺寸、组成、间距、生长率）与温度历史进行比较，以评估气候变暖对该区域灌木生长/扩展的影响。

The project will take aerial photographs of the same terrain photographed approximately 50 years previously to examine changes in the environment, particularly the expansion of areas dominated by shrubs. Shrub size, density, and extent will be compared between the old scenes and the new photographs to see if previous results from a pilot study are applicable to a wider area of the North Slope. The northward expansion of shrubs is an expected response to climate warming and will have important implications for global change research in an area expected to experience the first impacts from global warming. On-site measurements of vegetation indices (e.g. vegetation age, size, dimensions, composition, spacing, growth rates) will be used in comparison with temperature history to assess the impacts of warming climate on shrub growth/expansion in the region.