Patchy field sampling biases understanding of climate change impacts across the Arctic

Nature Ecology & Evolution
Daniel B MetcalfeAbdulhakim M Abdi

Abstract

Effective societal responses to rapid climate change in the Arctic rely on an accurate representation of region-specific ecosystem properties and processes. However, this is limited by the scarcity and patchy distribution of field measurements. Here, we use a comprehensive, geo-referenced database of primary field measurements in 1,840 published studies across the Arctic to identify statistically significant spatial biases in field sampling and study citation across this globally important region. We find that 31% of all study citations are derived from sites located within 50 km of just two research sites: Toolik Lake in the USA and Abisko in Sweden. Furthermore, relatively colder, more rapidly warming and sparsely vegetated sites are under-sampled and under-recognized in terms of citations, particularly among microbiology-related studies. The poorly sampled and cited areas, mainly in the Canadian high-Arctic archipelago and the Arctic coastline of Russia, constitute a large fraction of the Arctic ice-free land area. Our results suggest that the current pattern of sampling and citation may bias the scientific consensuses that underpin attempts to accurately predict and effectively mitigate climate change in the region. Further...Continue Reading

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Citations

Aug 21, 2019·FEMS Microbiology Ecology·Lucie A MalardDavid A Pearce
Nov 2, 2019·Global Change Biology·Gerard Rocher-RosReiner Giesler
Dec 17, 2019·Science Advances·Eric PostMuyin Wang
May 12, 2020·Microbial Genomics·Arwyn EdwardsSara M E Rassner
Jul 26, 2018·Nature Reviews. Microbiology·Andrea Du Toit
Dec 5, 2018·International Journal of Biometeorology·Agata BuchwalBo Elberling
Jul 17, 2020·Frontiers in Plant Science·Chelsea ChisholmWayne H Pollard
Oct 25, 2021·Global Change Biology·Alistair RogersDanielle A Way
Nov 18, 2021·Ecological Applications : a Publication of the Ecological Society of America·Eugénie S EuskirchenA David McGuire

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Representative Concentration Pathway
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