Legacies of historical human activities in Arctic woody plant dynamics

Recent changes in Arctic vegetation might not be driven by climate change alone. Legacies of human activities have received little attention as a contributing factor. We examine the degree to which traditional human activities (hunting, herding, fire, wood extraction, and agriculture) have had lasting effects on arctic woody plant communities, and therefore might continue to affect biome-wide responses to climate change. Evidence suggests that legacies are likely to be evident across meters to hundreds of kilometres and for decades, centuries, and millennia. The evidence, however, is sparse and we highlight that this could be changed with a circum-arctic collaboratory consisting of a network of interdisciplinary field sites, standardised protocols, participatory research, and new approaches. We suggest that human activities should be brought into consideration with respect to understanding the role of human legacies for Arctic vegetation dynamics in general and for variation in woody plant responses to climate change specifically.