PROGRAMME

CONFERENCE PROGRAMME

20th ITEX Meeting, 9-13 September 2019

Documenting and Understanding Tundra Ecosystem Changes

Location: University of Parma (Italy)

Main scientific themes:        

  • Using nearly 30 years of ITEX observations to understand tundra ecosystem;
  • Plant traits and ecosystem dynamics in tundra ecosystems;
  • Biotic interactions in a warmer tundra: plants, herbivores, pollinators, mycorrhiza and pests;
  • Planning the next wave of ITEX synthesis;
  • ITEX Protocol Development;
  • New site report or update

Monday 9th September 2019

Registration followed by cocktail party@ 18:30- 21.30 hrs at the Botanic Garden of the University of Parma, Via Farini, 90 – Parma

Tuesday 10th September 2019

Location: Campus of the University of Parma, Centro S. Elisabetta

8.00 – 9.00      Late Registration

9.00 – 9.30      Welcome

9.30 – 10.50    Plenary Session I – Plants Traits and ecosystem dynamics in tundra ecosystems I [Chaired by: Jeff Welker and Ellen Dorrepaal]

9.20 – 9.50 Gaius R. Shaver, and many others: Species composition has no effect on overall C-N-P stoichiometry or total biomass in Moist Acidic Tundra

9.55 – 10.05 Anne D. Bjorkman, Signe Normand, and many others: Impact of experimental warming on population and community plant functional traits

10.10 – 10.25 Christian Rixen, Sonja Wipf, Sabine Rumpf, and the IntraTrait consortium: Intra-specific trait variation along elevation gradients

10.30 – 10.40 Katlyn R. Betway, Robert D. Hollister: Variation in Tundra Plant Traits across a Latitudinal Gradient

10.40 – 11.10  Coffee Break

11.10 – 12.50   Plenary Session II – Plants Traits and ecosystem dynamics in tundra ecosystems II [Chaired by: Elisabeth Cooper and Matteo Petit Bon]

11.10 – 11.25 Kristel van Zuijlen, Kari Klanderud, Maria Skar Knutsen, Oda Sofie Dahle, Åshild Hasvik, Snorre Sundsbø, Ruben E. Roos, Johan Asplund: Warming effects on community-level functional traits of vascular plants, lichens and bryophytes in an alpine ecosystem

11.30 – 11.45 Ingibjörg Svala Jónsdóttir, Jonathan Henn, Kari Klanderud, Aud Halbritter, Katrín Björnsdottir, Brian Maitner, Brian Enquist, Vigdis Vandvik: Does intraspecific trait variability contribute to plant community resistance to warming in high Arctic island ecosystems?

11.50 – 12.05 Angela Augusti, Olga Gavrickhova, Emanuele Pallozzi, Enrico Brugnoli: Carbon fluxes and allocation above- and below-ground in high Arctic tundra

12.10 – 12.25 Ned Fetcher, Sofia Iglesia, Stephen Turner, Thomas C. Parker: Multiple sources of variation in leaf toughness of plants in northern Alaska

12.30– 12.45 Elise Gallois, Greg Henry: Cassiope tetragona as a dendroecological proxy: A retrospective analysis of experimental warming in the Arctic Tundra

12.50 – 14.20 Lunch

14.20 – 15.20 Plenary Session III – Plants Traits and ecosystem dynamics in tundra ecosystems III [Chaired by: Mats Björkman and Siri Lie Olsen]

14.20 – 14.35 Signe Lett, Anders Michelsen, Ellen Dorrepaal: Warming and precipitation effects on species-specific N2 fixation in mosses in subarctic tundra

14.40 – 14.55 Emily Pickering Pedersen, Joseph Gaudard, Bo Elberling, Anders Michelsen: Plant competition for nutrients in a phosphorus-limited tundra ecosystem

15.00 – 15.15 Nathalie Isabelle Chardon, Christian Rixen, Sonja Wipf, Daniel Forest Doak: Human trampling disturbance effects on Silene acaulis in the Colorado alpine

15.20 – 15.50  Coffee Break

15.50 – 16.50  Plenary Session IV – Planning the next wave of ITEX synthesis I [Chaired by: Sarah Elmendorf and T’ai GW Forte]

15.50 – 16.10 Sergio Vargas Z., Sarah Elmendorf, Mariana Orejel, Gesuri Ramirez, Geovany Ramirez, Jeremy May, Steven F. Oberbauer, Robert Hollister, Christine M. Laney, Nathan Healey, Craig E. Tweedie: Spatiotemporal Variability of Plant Community Phenology Across Northern Alaska: An Inter-comparison of Remote Sensing Approaches

16.15 – 16.30 Ellen Dorrepaal, Gesche Blume-Werry, Sylvain Monteux, Judith Sarneel: Plant-soil-microbe responses to experimental climate change

16.35 – 16.45 Philipp R. Semenchuk, Holly Abbandonato, Elisabeth J. Cooper: Thermal periodicity as a possible mechanism shortening local tundra plant species’ active seasons under climate change

16.50 – 17.00  New ITEX site session

16.50 – 17.00 Chirag Ghirdar: Preliminary findings from the new ITEX site: An experimental approach to assess the impact of climate warming in the Indian Himalayan Region

17.00 – 18.00 Poster Presentations

# 01 – Investigating the role of large herbivores in the past, present and future of Arctic vegetation dynamics –Alessandro Mereghetti, Jacquelyn L. Gill

# 02 -Understanding Arctic browning from the macro to micro scale –Aurora Patchett, Mats Björkman, Louise C. Andresen

# 03 – A recommended methodology for dendroecology analysis using common tundra shrub species – Elise Gallois, Greg Henry

# 04 – Epigenetic and genetic responses in tundra plants to 30 years of experimental warming –Cassandra Elphinstone, Greg Henry, Marco Todesco, Loren Rieseberg, Collectors

# 05 – Beyond the tundra: using OTCs in forest ecological experiments –Esther R. Frei, Luc Schnell, Yann Vitasse, Thomas Wohlgemuth, and Barbara Moser

# 06 – Assessing landscape-level vegetation change via remotely-sensed hyperspectral data and traditional ground-based measurements –Hana Christoffersen, Robert Hollister

# 07 – Influence of plant-herbivore interactions and summer warming on short-term tundra plant-community nutrient levels and dynamics –Matteo Petit Bon

# 08 – Functional traits of arctic plants offspring –Lucie Smržová, Petr Macek

Wednesday 11st September 2019

Location: Campus of the University of Parma, Centro S. Elisabetta

9.00 – 10.40 Plenary Session V – Using nearly 30 years of ITEX observations to understand tundra ecosystem I [Chaired by: Anne Bjorkman and Signe Lett]

9.00 – 9.20 Rien Aerts, Hans Cornelissen: Long-term effects of seasonal warming scenarios on ecosystem functioning in a north Swedish blanket bog

9.25 – 9.45 Jeff Welker, Gus Jespersen, Josh Leffler: Changes in winter climates of tussock tundra in Arctic Alaska: Long-term ecosystem consequences

9.50 – 10.05 Friederike Gehrmann, Robert Holden, Ellen Dorrepaal: Effect of increased snow depth on plant autumn phenology and physiology in a subarctic mire

10.10 – 10.25 Zoe Panchen, Greg Henry: High-Arctic phenology shifts under a changing climate: consequences for reproductive success and plant community composition

10.30 – 10.45 Nicoletta Cannone, Malfasi Francesco: Monitoring long-term vegetation changes (1953-2018) in an alpine tundra ecosystem of the Italian Central Alps

10.50 – 11.20  Coffee Break

11.20 – 12.25 Plenary Session VI – Using nearly 30 years of ITEX observations to understand tundra ecosystem II [Chaired by: Jeremy May and Gergana N. Daskalova]

11.20 – 11.40 Ruud Scharn, Robert Björk: Long term experimental warming mediated draught facilitates shrubification responses: a phylogenetic perspective

11.45 – 12.00 T’ai GW Forte, Alessandro Petraglia, Michele Carbognani, Stefano Meroni, Marcello Tomaselli: Could climate extreme events elicit unexpected vegetation dynamics in mid-latitude alpine snowbeds?

12.05 – 12.20 Francesco Malfasi, Nicoletta Cannone: Alpine grassland and snowbed species after five years of manipulation experiments: phenology and growth

12.30 – Social excursion with Lunch at Azienda Agricola “La Villa”. For people who want to join, after the end of the morning sessions we will leave for a social excursion to visit a Parmigiano-Reggiano dairy (more details here).

Thursday 12nd September 2019

Location: Campus of the University of Parma, Centro S. Elisabetta

9.00 – 10.50 Plenary Session VII – Biotic interactions in a warmer tundra: plants, herbivores, pollinators, mycorrhiza and pests [Chaired by: Juha Alatalo and Elise Gallois]

9.00 – 9.15 Mats P. Björkman, Mabel Gray, Mario Rudner, Argus Pasqueda, Haldor Lorimer-Olsson, Robert G. Björk, Jeremy May: Increased methane consumption following 25 years of warming treatment

9.20 – 9.35 Matteo Petit Bon, Hanna Böhner, Kari Anne Bråthen, Virve Tuulia Ravolainen, Ingibjörg Svala Jónsdóttir: The biogeochemistry of high-Arctic ecosystems: heterogeneity in response capacity to perturbations and the role of natural inter-annual variability

9.40 – 9.50 Ingeborg Klarenberg, Ingibjörg Svala Jónsdóttir, Oddur Vilhelmsson: Moss-associated bacterial communities in a warming Arctic

9.55 – 10.10 Siri Lie Olsen, Marianne Evju, Jens Åström, Jonas L. Andresen, Jørn Olav Løkken, Sondre Dahle, Nina E. Eide: Climate influence on plant-pollinator interactions in the keystone species Vaccinium myrtillus

10.15 – 10.25 Kenna E. Rewcastle, Jeremiah A. Henning, Quentin D. Read, Rebecca Irwin, Nathan J. Sanders, Aimée T. Classen: Plant species removal decreases magnitude and variation in nitrogen mineralization in mountains

10.30 – 10.45 Tao Li, Jolanta Rieksta, Anders Michelsen, Riikka Rinnan: Effects of warming on herbivore-induced plant volatiles in the tundra

10.50 – 11.20  Coffee Break

11.20 – 12.50  Plenary Session VIII – Planning the next wave of ITEX synthesis II, new protocols and others [Chaired by: Petr Macek and Zoe Panchen]

11.20 – 11.35 Jeremy L. May, Steven F. Oberbauer, Robert D. Hollister, Craig E. Tweedie: Role of tundra community cover in seasonal albedo values at four sites in northern Alaska

11.40 – 11.50 Gergana N. Daskalova, Isla H. Myers-Smith, Christian Rixen, Anne D. Bjorkman, Toke T. Høye, Greg Henry, Elise Gallois, Zoe Panchen, Nicoletta Cannone, Rien Aerts, J.H.C. Cornelissen, Petr Macek, Jacob Harris, Kayla Arey and probably others: Dark diversity in the tundra: the source of future biodiversity change?

11.55 – 12.15 Cassandra Elphinstone, Greg Henry, Marco Todesco, Loren Rieseberg, Collectors: Biogeography of Arctic White Heather (Cassiope tetragona)

12.20 – 12.25 Isabel C. Barrio, Ingibjörg Svala Jónsdóttir, Janet Prévey, Juha Alatalo, Noémie Boulanger-Lapointe, C. Guillermo Bueno, Martin A. Mörsdorf, Isla Myers-Smith, Virve T. Ravolainen, David S. Hik: Using a common protocol to measure invertebrate herbivory: consistent responses to warming in alpine and Arctic sites

12.30 – 12.45 Paulina Wietrzyk-Pełka, Jakub Pełka, Michał Hubert Węgrzyn, Wojciech Szymański: Development of vegetation and soil in the glacier forelands in Svalbard

12.50 – 14.00  Lunch

14.00 – 14.30 Plenary discussion of the ITEX Special Issue in Arctic Science [Chaired by: Robert Hollister and Kari Klanderud]

14.30 – 16.00 Parallel workshops to outline joint papers for special issue

16.00 – 16.30 Coffee Break

16.30 – 17.00 Plenary discussion of Ongoing and Future syntheses [Chaired by: Robert Hollister and Kari Klanderud]

17.00 – 18.00 Parallel workshops for planned syntheses

1 Phenology and Phenocams (Sarah Elmendorf and Zoe Panchen)

2 NDVI (Jeremy May)

3 Soil Carbon (Jeff Welker and Ellen Dorrepaal)

Other parallel workshops are very welcome!

20.00 – Conference dinner at Trattoria “Corrieri”, Str. Conservatorio, 1, 43121 Parma

Friday 13rd September 2019

Location: Campus of the University of Parma, Centro S. Elisabetta

9.00 – 10.00 Plenary Reports from Parallel workshops [Chaired by: Robert Hollister and Kari Klanderud]

10.00 – 10.30 Plenary discussion of potential syntheses and data needs [Chaired by: Robert Hollister and Kari Klanderud]

10.30 – 11.00  Parallel workshops of identified needs

11.00 – 11.30  Coffee Break

11.30 – 12.00 Continue parallel workshops

12.00 – 12.30   Plenary Reports from Parallel workshops [Chaired by: Robert Hollister and Kari Klanderud]

12.30 – 13.00 ITEX Business

15.00 tbc – Post-meeting excursion!! Have a look here for details

Excursion Day – Saturday 14th September. Full day excursion.

Greetings Day – Sunday 15th September. Journey back to Parma and greetings.