"LONDON -- Plants and shrubs have colonised parts of the Arctic tundra in recent decades growing into small trees, a scientific study found, adding the change may lead to an increase in global warming pressures if replicated on a wider scale."
"Scientists from Finland and Oxford University investigated an area of 100,000 square km, roughly the size of Iceland, in the northwestern Eurasian tundra, stretching from western Siberia to Finland.
Using data from satellite imaging, fieldwork and observations from local reindeer herders, they found that in 8-15 percent of the area willow and alder plants have grown to over 2 metres in the last 30-40 years.
A report of the research is published on Sunday in the journal Nature Climate Change."
Jeff Coelho reports for Reuters June 3, 2012.
SEE ALSO:
"Warming Arctic Tundra Producing Pop-Up Forests" (Dot Earth)
"How Climate Change Is Growing Forests in the Arctic" (Ecocentric/TIME)
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