Northern high latitude regions have been rapidly warming and experiencing altered hydrological regimes, permafrost thaw, accelerated nutrient cycling, and more frequent wildfires. These factors and processes drive shifts in vegetation composition and function. Multi-scale observations show enhanced growth and recruitment of arctic shrubs. Predicting shrub expansion and other vegetation shifts remains challenging yet is crucial for evaluating future carbon budgets, ecosystem vulnerability, and climate feedbacks.

This session will highlight recent advances in understanding climatic and environmental factors and processes controlling patterns and rates of change in high latitude vegetation. We also invite studies related to the impacts of arctic vegetation shifts on hydrological processes, microbial activities, permafrost degradation, and carbon and energy balance. We invite research based on various approaches, including experiments, field surveys, remote sensing, theoretical analyses, and Earth system models.