Asynchrony in the timing of goose-vegetation interactions: implications for biogeochemical cycling in wet sedge tundra

This project will be conducted on the Yukon-Kuskokwim (Y-K) Delta in western Alaska, where there is strong evidence that climate change is driving temporal decoupling of the evolved linkage between the phenology of plants and the timing of goose migration. The overall research objective is to quantify how an advancing growing season and changes in the synchrony of vegetation-goose interactions alter the magnitudes and patterns of C and cycling in the Y- K Delta. Two specific questions will be addressed with an experiment: How does the timing of plant growth interact with goose arrival time to alter summer-long magnitudes of plant production, foliar chemistry, and availability; and, How does the timing of plant growth interact with goose arrival time to alter summer-long magnitudes of net ecosystem CO2 exchange, gross ecosystem photosynthesis, and ecosystem respiration?