Effects of herbivory and warming on tundra plant communities

Warming of the Arctic is unequivocal. However, biotic factors such as herbivory can modulate the responses of tundra ecosystems to climate change through its impacts on vegetation. In the Archipelago of Svalbard, higher temperatures in summer and increased goose population in the last decades set the appropriate scene to study the interaction between these two factors in modulating community-specific responses of the Arctic tundra to climate change. The overall aim of this project is to shed some light on how these abiotic and biotic factors act in concert in modifying nutrient dynamics in tundra plants, which in turn may influence ecological processes and ecosystem functions.