Articles | Volume 22, issue 22
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-22-6811-2025
© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-22-6811-2025
© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Research article
| 
14 Nov 2025
Research article |
| 14 Nov 2025
| 14 Nov 2025
The significant role of snow in shaping alpine treeline responses in modelled boreal forests
Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research, 14473 Potsdam, Germany
Institute of Biochemistry and Biology, University of Potsdam, 14476 Potsdam, Germany
Josias Gloy
Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research, 14473 Potsdam, Germany
Luca Farkas
Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research, 14473 Potsdam, Germany
Katharina Schildt
Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research, 14473 Potsdam, Germany
Institute of Biochemistry and Biology, University of Potsdam, 14476 Potsdam, Germany
Lisa Trimborn
Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research, 14473 Potsdam, Germany
Geography Department, Humboldt University Berlin, 10099 Berlin, Germany
Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research, 14473 Potsdam, Germany
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Izabella A. Baisheva, Birgit Heim, Jorge García Molinos, Amelie Stieg, Hanno Meyer, Ramesh Glückler, Kathleen R. Stoof-Leichsenring, Antje Eulenburg, Pier Paul Overduin, Evgenii S. Zakharov, Aital V. Egorov, Paraskovya V. Davydova, Lena A. Ushnitskaya, Sardana N. Levina, Ruslan M. Gorodnichev, Robert Jackisch, Antonie Haas, Stefan Kruse, Luidmila A. Pestryakova, and Ulrike Herzschuh
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-4114, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-4114, 2025
This preprint is open for discussion and under review for Biogeosciences (BG).
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Our study provides a new comprehensive assessment of the limnological state of 66 lakes in the Central Yakutian alaas landscapes and the Verkhoyansk mountain range. Our analyses suggest that specific lake-type properties within the thermokarst lake sequence seem to drive inorganic, organic, and isotopic lake hydrochemistry. Future warming may lead to less diversification within lake macrophyte assemblages in old alaas lakes.
Jacob Schladebach, Birgit Heim, Léa Enguehard, Mareike Wieczorek, Jakob Broers, Robert Jackisch, Josias Gloy, Kunyan Hao, James Tretton, Anna Gorshunova, and Stefan Kruse
Earth Syst. Sci. Data Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2025-340, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2025-340, 2025
Revised manuscript under review for ESSD
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BorFIT is a novel training dataset for LiDAR point cloud segmentation and tree species detection in boreal forests. Comprising 384 plots across Siberia, Canada, and Alaska, it features 16,530 manually segmented trees of 12 species. BorFIT supports AI applications for analyzing species distribution, stand structure, and boreal forest response to climate change.
Lucia S. Layritz, Konstantin Gregor, Andreas Krause, Stefan Kruse, Benjamin F. Meyer, Thomas A. M. Pugh, and Anja Rammig
Biogeosciences, 22, 3635–3660, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-22-3635-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-22-3635-2025, 2025
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Disturbances, such as fire, can change which vegetation grows in a forest, affecting water and carbon flows and, thus, the climate. Disturbances are expected to increase with climate change, but it is uncertain by how much. Using a simulation model, we studied how future climate, disturbances, and their combined effect impact northern (high-latitude) forest ecosystems. Our findings highlight the importance of considering these factors and the need to better understand how disturbances will change in the future.
Timon Miesner, Ulrike Herzschuh, Luidmila A. Pestryakova, Mareike Wieczorek, Evgenii S. Zakharov, Alexei I. Kolmogorov, Paraskovya V. Davydova, and Stefan Kruse
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 14, 5695–5716, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-14-5695-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-14-5695-2022, 2022
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We present data which were collected on expeditions to the northeast of the Russian Federation. One table describes the 226 locations we visited during those expeditions, and the other describes 40 289 trees which we recorded at these locations. We found out that important information on the forest cannot be predicted precisely from satellites. Thus, for anyone interested in distant forests, it is important to go to there and take measurements or use data (as presented here).
Femke van Geffen, Birgit Heim, Frederic Brieger, Rongwei Geng, Iuliia A. Shevtsova, Luise Schulte, Simone M. Stuenzi, Nadine Bernhardt, Elena I. Troeva, Luidmila A. Pestryakova, Evgenii S. Zakharov, Bringfried Pflug, Ulrike Herzschuh, and Stefan Kruse
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 14, 4967–4994, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-14-4967-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-14-4967-2022, 2022
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SiDroForest is an attempt to remedy data scarcity regarding vegetation data in the circumpolar region, whilst providing adjusted and labeled data for machine learning and upscaling practices. SiDroForest contains four datasets that include SfM point clouds, individually labeled trees, synthetic tree crowns and labeled Sentinel-2 patches that provide insights into the vegetation composition and forest structure of two important vegetation transition zones in Siberia, Russia.
Ramesh Glückler, Rongwei Geng, Lennart Grimm, Izabella Baisheva, Ulrike Herzschuh, Kathleen R. Stoof-Leichsenring, Stefan Kruse, Andrei Andreev, Luidmila Pestryakova, and Elisabeth Dietze
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2022-395, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2022-395, 2022
Preprint archived
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Despite rapidly intensifying wildfire seasons in Siberian boreal forests, little is known about long-term relationships between changes in vegetation and shifts in wildfire activity. Using lake sediment proxies, we reconstruct such environmental changes over the past 10,800 years in Central Yakutia. We find that a more open forest may facilitate increased amounts of vegetation burning. The present-day dense larch forest might yet be mediating the current climate-driven wildfire intensification.
Stefan Kruse, Simone M. Stuenzi, Julia Boike, Moritz Langer, Josias Gloy, and Ulrike Herzschuh
Geosci. Model Dev., 15, 2395–2422, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-2395-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-2395-2022, 2022
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We coupled established models for boreal forest (LAVESI) and permafrost dynamics (CryoGrid) in Siberia to investigate interactions of the diverse vegetation layer with permafrost soils. Our tests showed improved active layer depth estimations and newly included species growth according to their species-specific limits. We conclude that the new model system can be applied to simulate boreal forest dynamics and transitions under global warming and disturbances, expanding our knowledge.
Ramesh Glückler, Ulrike Herzschuh, Stefan Kruse, Andrei Andreev, Stuart Andrew Vyse, Bettina Winkler, Boris K. Biskaborn, Luidmila Pestryakova, and Elisabeth Dietze
Biogeosciences, 18, 4185–4209, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-4185-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-4185-2021, 2021
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Data about past fire activity are very sparse in Siberia. This study presents a first high-resolution record of charcoal particles from lake sediments in boreal eastern Siberia. It indicates that current levels of charcoal accumulation are not unprecedented. While a recent increase in reconstructed fire frequency coincides with rising temperatures and increasing human activity, vegetation composition does not seem to be a major driver behind changes in the fire regime in the past two millennia.
Iuliia Shevtsova, Ulrike Herzschuh, Birgit Heim, Luise Schulte, Simone Stünzi, Luidmila A. Pestryakova, Evgeniy S. Zakharov, and Stefan Kruse
Biogeosciences, 18, 3343–3366, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-3343-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-3343-2021, 2021
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In the light of climate changes in subarctic regions, notable general increase in above-ground biomass for the past 15 years (2000 to 2017) was estimated along a tundra–taiga gradient of central Chukotka (Russian Far East). The greatest increase occurred in the northern taiga in the areas of larch closed-canopy forest expansion with Cajander larch as a main contributor. For the estimations, we used field data (taxa-separated plant biomass, 2018) and upscaled it based on Landsat satellite data.
Simone Maria Stuenzi, Julia Boike, William Cable, Ulrike Herzschuh, Stefan Kruse, Luidmila A. Pestryakova, Thomas Schneider von Deimling, Sebastian Westermann, Evgenii S. Zakharov, and Moritz Langer
Biogeosciences, 18, 343–365, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-343-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-343-2021, 2021
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Boreal forests in eastern Siberia are an essential component of global climate patterns. We use a physically based model and field measurements to study the interactions between forests, permanently frozen ground and the atmosphere. We find that forests exert a strong control on the thermal state of permafrost through changing snow cover dynamics and altering the surface energy balance, through absorbing most of the incoming solar radiation and suppressing below-canopy turbulent fluxes.
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Short summary
We studied alpine treeline migration in boreal forests using an enhanced vegetation model that includes snow processes. Our findings revealed site-specific migration drivers, with snow playing a dual role: supporting seedling establishment while increasing mortality risks. Results emphasize the need to include snow processes in vegetation models to better predict boreal forest responses.
We studied alpine treeline migration in boreal forests using an enhanced vegetation model that...
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