Constraints to Plant Growth, Reproduction, and Establishment in Arctic Environments

Abstract

Plant metabolism, growth, and reproduction in the Arctic are controlled by the interactions of physical environment and the genetic structure of an old, relatively small, winter-adapted flora. Gradients of both are described with particular reference to decreasing floristic richness toward the cold summer climates of high latitudes. Photosynthesis is restricted to the C₃ mode. Plant growth is constrained primarily by low air and soil temperatures, shallow depth of thaw, nutrient deficiencies, and at higher latitudes and elevations by drought stress. Arctic plants have one trait differentiating them from all others: the ability to metabolize and grow at temperatures only slightly above freezing.