Brown Lemming Herbivory Experiment Data, Alaskan Arctic (summers 2018, 2019)

Arctic tundra vegetation, and therefore the carbon balance of Arctic tundra ecosystems, can be substantially impacted by herbivory. With these data, we tested how herbivory by brown lemmings (Lemmus trimucronatus) can impact vegetation and carbon exchange of a wet-sedge tundra ecosystem near Utqiaġvik (formerly Barrow), Alaska during summer of 2018, and the recovery of vegetation during summer of 2019. We placed brown lemmings in individual enclosure plots and tested the impact of lemmings’ herbivory on carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4) fluxes and the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) immediately after lemming removal and during different times of the following growing season.

北极苔原植被及其所属的北极苔原生态系统碳平衡，会受到植食作用的显著影响。本数据集用于探究2018年夏季，阿拉斯加乌特恰维克（旧称巴罗）附近的湿薹草苔原生态系统中，棕旅鼠（Lemmus trimucronatus）的植食作用对植被与碳交换过程的影响，以及2019年夏季的植被恢复情况。我们将棕旅鼠安置于独立围栏样地中，在旅鼠移除后即刻以及后续生长季的不同时段，检测了其植食作用对二氧化碳（carbon dioxide, CO₂）、甲烷（methane, CH₄）通量以及归一化差异植被指数（normalized difference vegetation index, NDVI）的影响。