shrubification

However, the processes underlying the observed shrubification are still unclear because several changes in the abiotic or biotic environments could have triggered this phenomenon. - Environmental Research Letters 2012 This “shrubification”-induced decrease in albedo may be partially offset by shrubs bending under the weight of snow and becoming buried in the snowpack. - Hydrological Processes 2012

Current uses in the popular and scientific literature for the word shrubification: This so-called shrubification is changing the landscape, with unknown consequences. - Popular Science 2009 Increases in shrub biomass, cover and abundance (colloquially termed shrubification) have been observed in many Arctic, high-latitude and alpine tundra ecosystems over the past century" - Environmental Research Letters 2011 "It is not yet clear what effect this change in plant community structure, sometimes called 'shrubification', will have on Arctic ecosystem carbon budgets and their contribution to future climate change. - Nature Climate Change 2012

Previously existing definition: Shrubification or Shrubbification (Arbustification in French): A pattern of increase in cover and abundance of shrub species that has been observed in tundra ecosystems and is thought to correspond with climate warming. Shrubification can occur in other ecosystems including temperate and tropical grasslands promoted by factors such as over-grazing or fire suppression.

This word is commonly used colloquially, is published in peer-reviewed scientific journals, and is used in government documents, including documents by the National Park Service and the Fish and Wildlife Service. *"Arctic" should be capitalized