Trends in groundberry cover under climate change in the southern and central Yukon, 1997 to 2022

Groundberries are an important component of the flora of the boreal forest and provide seasonally important food for many birds and mammals, as well as local people in northern Canada. Here we ask if there has been a change in the cover of groundberries in the Yukon boreal forest over the last two decades. We monitored five common species at undisturbed forest sites spaced 300 km apart. At our Kluane site we monitored 710 fixed quadrats per year for 26 years (1997–2022), and at Mayo 500 quadrats per year for 18 years (2005–2022). The cover of four species, Arctostaphylos uva-ursi (bearberry), Arctostaphylos rubra (red bearberry), Empetrum nigrum (crowberry), and Geocaulon lividum (toadflax), declined annually by 0.2-0.8% at both sites. In contrast, Vaccinium vitis-idaea (lingonberry) increased annually by 0.5 and 0.8%. We tested if increases in summer temperature and rainfall were correlated with the observed changes but found no significant relationships. These boreal plants are changing in abundance, but we have limited data on the extent and speed of these changes. We recommend experiments to understand the cause(s) of these changes in groundberry productivity. Our study is a start in monitoring important berry species in this critical ecosystem of northern Canada.