Green leaf phenological characteristics of boreal peatland vegetation impacted by linear disturbances

Vast areas of boreal peatlands are impacted by linear disturbances known as seismic lines. Tree removal and ground disturbance alter vegetation communities and are expected to change ecosystem functioning. As boreal landscapes continue to be disturbed by linear disturbances, understanding the magnitude and mechanisms of vegetation and phenology changes is the first step toward predicting carbon cycling changes across broad spatial scales. We investigate seismic line disturbances on peatland plant community composition and phenological patterns using readily available digital photography at a bog and a fen in Alberta, Canada. Our objectives were to: 1) compare the understory peatland vegetation on seismic lines with those in adjacent undisturbed areas using two phenological metrics (green and red chromatic coordinates); 2) evaluate if vegetation greenness is directly related to vegetation community composition, and 3) determine whether plot-scale greenness predicts plant productivity. We...