Types of Ecological Upper Tree Lines at Dalniy Taganai Mountain in the Southern Urals

Temperature is not the only driver of the upper tree line dynamics in mountain settings. In recent years, researchers have focused on the study of the spatiotemporal dynamics of forest stands under temperature-limiting conditions (at the thermal tree line). The preliminary results of differentiation...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Žurnal Sibirskogo federalʹnogo universiteta. Seriâ Biologiâ (Online) 2018-07, Vol.11 (3), p.237-247
Main Authors: Gurskaya, Marina A, Kukarskih, Vladimir V, Grigoriev, Andrey A, Bubnov, Maxim O
Format: Article
Language:Russian
Subjects:
Climate change
Dynamics
Ecological effects
Ecology
Environmental factors
Geomorphology
Growth conditions
Lines
Morphometry
Mountains
Picea obovata
Plant cover
Precipitation
Slope
Slopes
Snow
Solar radiation
Temperature
Trees
Vegetation
Vegetation cover
Wind
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Temperature is not the only driver of the upper tree line dynamics in mountain settings. In recent years, researchers have focused on the study of the spatiotemporal dynamics of forest stands under temperature-limiting conditions (at the thermal tree line). The preliminary results of differentiation of ecological types of the upper tree lines of the Siberian spruce (Picea obovata Ledeb.) at Dalniy Taganay Mountain in the Southern Urals are presented. Steepness of slopes and exposure influence the distribution of environmental factors (solar radiation, precipitation and wind) which change growth conditions and form different ecological types of the upper tree line. Four main ecological drivers were noted and four types of tree line were proposed: the thermal, wind, snow and edaphic tree lines. A detailed description of the vegetation cover was done. The revealed types of tree lines are distinguished distinctly based on geomorphologic and topographical features of every study site, the type of the vegetation cover, morphometric characteristics of trees and their annual growth. The edaphic tree line is the longest and the snow tree line is the shortest one. Further studies are needed to more precisely determine the tree line drivers.
ISSN:1997-1389
2313-5530
DOI:10.17516/1997-1389-0068