Increasing woody shrub cover will have impacts that cascade across trophic levels...

Different tundra vegetation communities provide contrasting quality and abundance in both food and shelter. Songbirds forage in vegetation for arthropods, berries, catkins and seeds. Some make their nests in tundra vegetation, and most hide from predators and storms in shrubby areas.

Shifts in vegetation dominance will therefore lead to altered food and shelter availability, which will likely favor some songbird species while hindering others. This will lead to changes in the composition and structure of migratory songbirds we see today on the tundra.