Award Abstract # 2224743
LTER: The Role of Climate Variability in Controlling Arctic Ecosystem Function
NSF Org: |
DEB
Division Of Environmental Biology
|
Recipient: |
THE TRUSTEES OF COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK
|
Initial Amendment Date:
|
May 16, 2023 |
Latest Amendment Date:
|
June 17, 2025 |
Award Number: |
2224743 |
Award Instrument: |
Continuing Grant |
Program Manager: |
Andrea Porras-Alfaro
aporrasa@nsf.gov
(703)292-2944
DEB
Division Of Environmental Biology
BIO
Directorate for Biological Sciences
|
Start Date: |
June 1, 2023 |
End Date: |
May 31, 2029 (Estimated) |
Total Intended Award
Amount: |
$7,650,000.00 |
Total Awarded Amount to
Date: |
$3,825,000.00 |
Funds Obligated to Date:
|
FY 2023 = $1,537,795.00
FY 2024 = $1,012,205.00
FY 2025 = $1,275,000.00
|
History of Investigator:
|
-
Kevin
Griffin
(Principal Investigator)
griff@ldeo.columbia.edu
-
George
Kling
(Co-Principal Investigator)
-
Duncan
Menge
(Co-Principal Investigator)
-
Natalie
Boelman
(Co-Principal Investigator)
-
Rose
Cory
(Co-Principal Investigator)
|
Recipient Sponsored Research
Office: |
Columbia University
615 W 131ST ST
NEW YORK
NY
US
10027-7922
(212)854-6851
|
Sponsor Congressional
District: |
13
|
Primary Place of
Performance: |
Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory at Columbia University
61 Route 9W
Palisades
NY
US
10964-1706
|
Primary Place of
Performance Congressional District: |
17
|
Unique Entity Identifier
(UEI): |
F4N1QNPB95M4
|
Parent UEI: |
|
NSF Program(s): |
LONG TERM ECOLOGICAL RESEARCH
|
Primary Program Source:
|
01002829DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT
01002627DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT
01002526DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT
01002425DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT
01002324DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT
01002728DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT
|
Program Reference
Code(s): |
1195,
9251
|
Program Element Code(s):
|
119500
|
Award Agency Code: |
4900
|
Fund Agency Code: |
4900
|
Assistance Listing
Number(s): |
47.074
|
ABSTRACT

The Arctic is warming more rapidly than the rest of the planet. Thawing of previously frozen soils will have consequences for society through alteration of carbon emissions. Most previous research has focused on how Arctic ecosystems respond to average warming trends. There is however very little research on variability of environmental conditions within that average warming trend. The Arctic Long-Term Ecological Research site (ARC-LTER) community has found that tundra ecosystems respond strongly to fluctuations in environment on a range of time scales. ARC-LTER will continue to produce long-term data and perform modeling simulations that examine the role of that environmental variability on critical ecosystem functions. The main activities in this renewal will expand our understanding by focusing on how climate variability affects the terrestrial production and breakdown of organic matter and how those processes combine to affect CO2 production in lakes and streams. The project will therefore contribute understanding of how trends in mean climate, climate variability, and disturbances all interact to control arctic ecosystem structure and function. The project will have many broader impacts such as training of young investigators, engagement of K-12 teachers in research via the Earth Camp program, schoolyard activities and research experiences for teachers. Outreach to stakeholders will include briefings to Alaska State, North Slope Borough, and US government agencies overseeing environmental and natural resource programs. ARC-LTER will also work with the Study of Environmental Arctic Change program on co-production of knowledge with Indigenous experts for use in decision making.
The 2023-2029 ARC-LTER project will determine how concurrence of climate trends and altered variability of environmental conditions combine to affect arctic ecosystems. The project will test the hypothesis that variability in environmental conditions is a stronger driver of change in the Arctic than are the average long-term trends in climate. The project will examine how ?openness? and ?connectedness? of ecosystems relate to disturbances such as wildfire and climate change. This research will include the maintenance of ongoing and development of new activities associated with long-term monitoring, experiments and numerical modeling work in the vicinity of Toolik Lake, AK. The project will address three main questions which will integrate research along the terrestrial-aquatic continuum: Question 1: How does climate variability affect the openness and connectivity of arctic ecosystems? This research will focus on vegetation and biogeochemical cycles in moist acidic tundra along an existing nutrient gradient, within warming plots, and in nearby Alder stands. Question 2: How does climate variability affect key consumers and their influence on ecosystems? The research activities will focus on how climate variability affects the composition of consumer communities, their influence on ecosystems, and the genomic potential and metabolism of microbial communities. Question 3: How does climate variability affect carbon dynamics along the terrestrial-aquatic continuum? The project will study how the dynamics of carbon biogeochemistry along the continuum are affected by environmental variability. Together, the answers to these questions will improve our understanding on how long and short-term changes in environment shape ecosystem function.
This Long Term Ecological Research site is supported by The Division of Environmental Biology and the Office of Polar Programs.
This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
PUBLICATIONS PRODUCED AS A RESULT OF THIS RESEARCH

Note:
When clicking on a Digital Object Identifier (DOI) number, you will be taken to an external
site maintained by the publisher. Some full text articles may not yet be available without a
charge during the embargo (administrative interval).
Some links on this page may take you to non-federal websites. Their policies may differ from
this site.
(Showing: 1 - 10 of 26)
(Showing: 1 - 26 of 26)
Lisi, Mary Kathleen and Stephens, Ryan B and Steketee, Jess and Hobbie, Erik A and Rowe, Rebecca J
"Annual and seasonal variability in tundra vole ( Microtus oeconomus ) diet in northern Alaska"
Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine Research
, v.57
, 2025
https://doi.org/10.1080/15230430.2024.2444044
Citation
Details
Berens, Matthew_John and Michaud, Alexander_Bryce and VanderJeugdt, Erin and Miah, Imtiaz and Sutor, Frederick_W and Emerson, David and Bowden, William_B and Kinsman-Costello, Lauren and Weintraub, Michael_N and Herndon, Elizabeth_M
"Phosphorus Interactions with Iron in Undisturbed and Disturbed Arctic Tundra Ecosystems"
Environmental Science & Technology
, v.58
, 2024
https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.3c09072
Citation
Details
Berner, Logan T and Orndahl, Kathleen M and Rose, Melissa and Tamstorf, Mikkel and Arndal, Marie F and Alexander, Heather D and Humphreys, Elyn R and Loranty, Michael M and Ludwig, Sarah M and Nyman, Johanna and Juutinen, Sari and Aurela, Mika and Happone
"The Arctic Plant Aboveground Biomass Synthesis Dataset"
Scientific Data
, v.11
, 2024
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-024-03139-w
Citation
Details
Curasi, Salvatore R. and Fetcher, Ned and Wright, Kelseyann S. and Weldon, Daniel P. and Rocha, Adrian V.
"Insights into the tussock growth form with modeldata fusion"
New Phytologist
, v.239
, 2023
https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.18751
Citation
Details
Elphinstone, Cassandra and Hernández, Fernando and Todesco, Marco and Légaré, JeanSébastien and Cheung, Winnie and Sokoloff, Paul_C and Hofgaard, Annika and Christiansen, Casper_T and Frei, Esther_R and Lévesque, Esther and Daskalova, Gergana_N and Thoma
"Multiple Pleistocene refugia for Arctic BellHeather revealed with genomic analyses of modern and historic plants"
Journal of Biogeography
, v.51
, 2024
https://doi.org/10.1111/jbi.14961
Citation
Details
Golub, Malgorzata and Koupaei-Abyazani, Nikaan and Vesala, Timo and Mammarella, Ivan and Ojala, Anne and Bohrer, Gil and Weyhenmeyer, Gesa A. and Blanken, Peter D. and Eugster, Werner and Koebsch, Franziska and Chen, Jiquan and Czajkowski, Kevin and Deshm
"Diel, seasonal, and inter-annual variation in carbon dioxide effluxes from lakes and reservoirs"
Environmental Research Letters
, v.18
, 2023
https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/acb834
Citation
Details
Hewitt, Rebecca E. and DeVan, M. Rae and Taylor, D. Lee and Mack, Michelle C.
"Rootassociated fungi and acquisitive root traits facilitate permafrost nitrogen uptake from longterm experimentally warmed tundra"
New Phytologist
, v.242
, 2024
https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.19521
Citation
Details
Johnson, Keira and Jankowski, Kathi_Jo and Carey, Joanna and Lyon, Nicholas_J and McDowell, William_H and Shogren, Arial and Wymore, Adam and Sethna, Lienne and Wollheim, Wilfred_M and Poste, Amanda_E and Kortelainen, Pirkko and Heindel, Ruth and Laudon,
"Establishing fluvial silicon regimes and their stability across the Northern Hemisphere"
Limnology and Oceanography Letters
, v.9
, 2024
https://doi.org/10.1002/lol2.10372
Citation
Details
Johnson, Keira and Jankowski, Kathi Jo and Carey, Joanna C and Sethna, Lienne R and Bush, Sidney A and McKnight, Diane and McDowell, William H and Wymore, Adam S and Kortelainen, Pirkko and Jones, Jeremy B and Lyon, Nicholas J and Laudon, Hjalmar and Post
"Climate, Hydrology, and Nutrients Control the Seasonality of Si Concentrations in Rivers"
Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences
, v.129
, 2024
https://doi.org/10.1029/2024JG008141
Citation
Details
Koltz, Amanda M and Koyama, Akihiro and Wallenstein, Matthew
"Warming alters cascading effects of a dominant arthropod predator on fungal community composition in the Arctic"
mBio
, v.15
, 2024
https://doi.org/10.1128/mbio.00590-24
Citation
Details
Machmuller, Megan B and Lynch, Laurel M and Mosier, Samantha L and Shaver, Gaius R and Calderon, Francisco and Gough, Laura and Haddix, Michelle L and McLaren, Jennie R and Paul, Eldor A and Weintraub, Michael N and Cotrufo, M Francesca and Wallenstein, M
"Arctic soil carbon trajectories shaped by plantmicrobe interactions"
Nature Climate Change
, v.14
, 2024
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-024-02147-3
Citation
Details
Manlick, Philip J and Perryman, Nolan L and Koltz, Amanda M and Cook, Joseph A and Newsome, Seth D
"Climate warming restructures food webs and carbon flow in high-latitude ecosystems"
Nature Climate Change
, v.14
, 2024
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-023-01893-0
Citation
Details
Miller, Charles E and Griffith, Peter C and Hoy, Elizabeth and Pinto, Naiara S and Lou, Yunling and Hensley, Scott and Chapman, Bruce D and Baltzer, Jennifer and Bakian-Dogaheh, Kazem and Bolton, W Robert and Bourgeau-Chavez, Laura and Chen, Richard H and
"The ABoVE L-band and P-band airborne synthetic aperture radar surveys"
Earth System Science Data
, v.16
, 2024
https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-16-2605-2024
Citation
Details
Min, Elizabeth and Boelman, Natalie_T and Gough, Laura and McLaren, Jennie_R and Rastetter, Edward_B and Rowe, Rebecca_J and Rocha, Adrian and Turnbull, Matthew_H and Griffin, Kevin_L
"The give and take of Arctic greening: differential responses of the carbon sink-to-source threshold to light and temperature in tussock tundra may be influenced by vegetation cover"
Communications Biology
, v.7
, 2024
https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-024-06600-z
Citation
Details
Min, Elizabeth and Naeem, Shahid and Gough, Laura and McLaren, Jennie R. and Rowe, Rebecca J. and Rastetter, Edward and Boelman, Natalie and Griffin, Kevin L.
"Using structure to model function: incorporating canopy structure improves estimates of ecosystem carbon flux in arctic dry heath tundra"
Environmental Research Letters
, v.18
, 2023
https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/acceb6
Citation
Details
Mukherjee, Neelarun and Chen, Jingyi and Neilson, Bethany T and Kling, George W and Bayani_Cardenas, M
"Water and carbon fluxes from a supra-permafrost aquifer to a stream across hydrologic states"
Journal of Hydrology
, v.645
, 2024
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2024.132285
Citation
Details
Rastetter, Edward B. and Griffin, Kevin L. and Kwiatkowski, Bonnie L. and Kling, George W.
"Ecosystem feedbacks constrain the effect of daytoday weather variability on landatmosphere carbon exchange"
Global Change Biology
, v.29
, 2023
https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.16926
Citation
Details
Richardson, Jessica L. and Desai, Ankur R. and Thom, Jonathan and Lindgren, Kim and Laudon, Hjalmar and Peichl, Matthias and Nilsson, Mats and Campeau, Audrey and Järveoja, Järvi and Hawman, Peter and Mishra, Deepak R. and Smith, Dontrece and DAcunha, Br
"On the Relationship Between Aquatic CO2 Concentration and Ecosystem Fluxes in Some of the Worlds Key Wetland Types"
Wetlands
, v.44
, 2024
https://doi.org/10.1007/s13157-023-01751-x
Citation
Details
Rieb, E_C and Polik, C_A and Ward, C_P and Kling, G_W and Cory, R_M
"Controls on the Respiration of Ancient Carbon Draining From Permafrost Soils Into Sunlit Arctic Surface Waters"
Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences
, v.129
, 2024
https://doi.org/10.1029/2023JG007853
Citation
Details
Romanowicz, Karl J. and Crump, Byron C. and Kling, George W.
"Genomic evidence that microbial carbon degradation is dominated by iron redox metabolism in thawing permafrost"
ISME Communications
, v.3
, 2023
https://doi.org/10.1038/s43705-023-00326-5
Citation
Details
Shogren, Arial J. and Zarnetske, Jay P. and Abbott, Benjamin W. and Grose, Amelia L. and Rec, Abigail F. and Nipko, Jansen and Song, Chao and ODonnell, Jonathan A. and Bowden, William B.
"Hydrology Controls Dissolved Organic Carbon and Nitrogen Export and PostStorm Recovery in Two Arctic Headwaters"
Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences
, v.129
, 2024
https://doi.org/10.1029/2023JG007583
Citation
Details
Williamson, Nicole and Suchocki, Matthew and Gough, Laura
"Soil nutrient availability affects tundra plant community composition and plantvole interactions"
Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine Research
, v.56
, 2024
https://doi.org/10.1080/15230430.2024.2356276
Citation
Details
Zhu, Xiaoran and Chen, Dong and Kogure, Maruko and Hoy, Elizabeth and Berner, Logan T and Breen, Amy L and Chatterjee, Abhishek and Davidson, Scott J and Frost, Gerald V and Hollingsworth, Teresa N and Iwahana, Go and Jandt, Randi R and Kade, Anja N and L
"A synthesized field survey database of vegetation and active-layer properties for the Alaskan tundra (19722020)"
Earth System Science Data
, v.16
, 2024
https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-16-3687-2024
Citation
Details
(Showing: 1 - 10 of 26)
(Showing: 1 - 26 of 26)
Please report errors in award information by writing to: awardsearch@nsf.gov.