Montane ecosystem

Short description: Ecosystems found in mountains

A subalpine lake in the Cascade Range, Washington, United States

Montane ecosystems are found on the slopes of mountains. The alpine climate in these regions strongly affects the ecosystem because temperatures fall as elevation increases, causing the ecosystem to stratify. This stratification is a crucial factor in shaping plant community, biodiversity, metabolic processes and ecosystem dynamics for montane ecosystems.[1] Dense montane forests are common at moderate elevations, due to moderate temperatures and high rainfall. At higher elevations, the climate is harsher, with lower temperatures and higher winds, preventing the growth of trees and causing the plant community to transition to montane grasslands and shrublands or alpine tundra. Due to the unique climate conditions of montane ecosystems, they contain increased numbers of endemic species. Montane ecosystems also exhibit variation in ecosystem services, which include carbon storage and water supply.[2]

## Contents

* 1 Life zones
* 2 Montane forests
* 2.1 Temperate climate
* 2.2 Mediterranean climate
* 2.3 Subtropical and tropical climate
* 3 Subalpine zone
* 4 Alpine grasslands and tundra
* 5 See also
* 6 References
* 7 External links

## Life zones

A stand of mountain birch at around 750 m in Trollheimen, typical of Scandinavian subalpine forests

As elevation increases, the climate becomes cooler, due to a decrease in atmospheric pressure and the adiabatic cooling of airmasses.[3] In middle latitudes, the change in climate by moving up 100 meters on a mountain is roughly equivalent to moving 80 kilometers (45 miles or 0.75° of latitude) towards the nearest pole.[4] The characteristic flora and fauna in the mountains tend to strongly depend on elevation, because of the change in climate. This dependency causes life zones to form: bands of similar ecosystems at similar elevations.[5]

One of the typical life zones on mountains is the montane forest: at moderate elevations, the rainfall and temperate climate encourages dense forests to grow. Holdridge defines the climate of montane forest as having a biotemperature of between 6 and 12 °C (43 and 54 °F), where biotemperature is the mean temperature considering temperatures below 0 °C (32 °F) to be 0 °C (32 °F).[5] Above the elevation of the montane forest, the trees thin out in the subalpine zone, become twisted krummholz, and eventually fail to grow. Therefore, montane forests often contain trees with twisted trunks. This phenomenon is observed due to the increase in the wind strength with the elevation. The elevation where trees fail to grow is called the tree line. The biotemperature of the subalpine zone is between 3 and 6 °C (37 and 43 °F).[5]

Treeline elevation by latitude[6]

Above the tree line the ecosystem is called the alpine zone or alpine tundra, dominated by grasses and low-growing shrubs. The biotemperature of the alpine zone is between 1.5 and 3 °C (34.7 and 37.4 °F). Many different plant species live in the alpine environment, including perennial grasses, sedges, forbs, cushion plants, mosses, and lichens.[7] Alpine plants must adapt to the harsh conditions of the alpine environment, which include low temperatures, dryness, ultraviolet radiation, and a short growing season. Alpine plants display adaptations such as rosette structures, waxy surfaces, and hairy leaves. Because of the common characteristics of these zones, the World Wildlife Fund groups a set of related ecoregions into the "montane grassland and shrubland" biome. A region in the Hengduan Mountains adjoining Asia's Tibetan Plateau have been identified as the world's oldest continuous alpine ecosystem with a community of 3000 plant species, some of them continuously co-existing for 30 million years.[8]

Climates with biotemperatures below 1.5 °C (35 °F) tend to consist purely of rock and ice.[5]

## Montane forests

Waimea Canyon, Hawaii, is known for its montane vegetation.

Montane forests occur between the submontane zone and the subalpine zone. The elevation at which one habitat changes to another varies across the globe, particularly by latitude. The upper limit of montane forests, the tree line, is often marked by a change to hardier species that occur in less dense stands.[9] For example, in the Sierra Nevada of California, the montane forest has dense stands of lodgepole pine and red fir, while the Sierra Nevada subalpine zone contains sparse stands of whitebark pine.[10]

The lower bound of the montane zone may be a "lower timberline" that separates the montane forest from drier steppe or desert region.[9]

Montane forests differ from lowland forests in the same area.[11] The climate of montane forests is colder than lowland climate at the same latitude, so the montane forests often have species typical of higher-latitude lowland forests.[12] Humans can disturb montane forests through forestry and agriculture.[11] On isolated mountains, montane forests surrounded by treeless dry regions are typical "sky island" ecosystems.[13]

### Temperate climate

Montane forests in temperate climate are typically one of temperate coniferous forest or temperate broadleaf and mixed forest, forest types that are well known from Europe and northeastern North America. Montane forests outside Europe tend to be more species-rich, because Europe during the Pleistocene offered smaller-area refugia from the glaciers.[14]

Temperate montane forest in Bavaria, Germany

Montane forests in temperate climate occur in Europe (the Alps, Carpathians, and more),[15] in North America (e.g. Appalachians, Rocky Mountains, Cascade Range, and Sierra Nevada),[16] South America,[17] New Zealand,[18] and the Himalayas.

Climate change is predicted to affect temperate montane forests. For example, in the Pacific Northwest of North America, climate change may cause "potential reduced snowpack, higher levels of evapotranspiration and increased summer drought" which will negatively affect montane wetlands.[19]

### Mediterranean climate

Iranian oak scrub in the Zagros Mountains

Montane forests in Mediterranean climate are warm and dry except in winter, when they are relatively wet and mild. Montane forests located in Mediterranean climates, known as oro-Mediterranean, exhibit towering trees alongside high biomass.[20] These forests are typically mixed conifer and broadleaf forests, with only a few conifer species. Pine and juniper are typical trees found in Mediterranean montane forests. The broadleaf trees show more variety and are often evergreen, e.g. evergreen oak.

### Subtropical and tropical climate

Tropical montane forest at around 2,000 m in Malaysia

In the tropics, montane forests can consist of broadleaf forest in addition to coniferous forest. One example of a tropical montane forest is a cloud forest, which gains its moisture from clouds and fog.[21][22][23] Cloud forests often exhibit an abundance of mosses covering the ground and vegetation, in which case they are also referred to as mossy forests. Mossy forests usually develop on the saddles of mountains, where moisture introduced by settling clouds is more effectively retained.[24] Depending on latitude, the lower limit of montane rainforests on large mountains is generally between 1,500 and 2,500 metres (4,900 and 8,200 ft) while the upper limit is usually from 2,400 to 3,300 metres (7,900 to 10,800 ft).[25]

Tropical montane forests might exhibit high sensitivity to climate change.[26][27] Climate change may cause variation in temperature, precipitation and humidity, which will cause stress on tropical montane forests. The predicted upcoming impacts of climate change might significantly affect biodiversity loss and might result in change of species range and community dynamics. Global climate models predict reduced cloudiness in the future. Reduction in cloudiness may already be affecting the Monteverde cloud forest in Costa Rica.[28][29]

## Subalpine zone

The subalpine zone is the biotic zone immediately below the tree line around the world. In tropical regions of Southeast Asia the tree line may be above 4,000 m (13,000 ft),[30] whereas in Scotland it may be as low as 450 m (1,480 ft).[31] Species that occur in this zone depend on the location of the zone on the Earth; for example, Pinus mugo (scrub mountain pine) occurs in Europe,[32] the snow gum is found in Australia,[33] and the subalpine larch, mountain hemlock, and subalpine fir occur in western North America.[34]

Subalpine fir in Mount Rainier National Park, Washington, United States

Trees in the subalpine zone often become krummholz, that is, crooked wood, stunted and twisted in form. At tree line, tree seedlings may germinate on the lee side of rocks and grow only as high as the rock provides wind protection. Further growth is more horizontal than vertical, and additional rooting may occur where branches contact the soil. Snow cover may protect krummholz trees during the winter, but branches higher than wind-shelters or snow cover are usually destroyed. Well-established krummholz trees may be several hundred to a thousand years old.[35]

Meadows may be found in the subalpine zone. Tuolumne Meadows in the Sierra Nevada of California, is an example of a subalpine meadow.[36]

Example subalpine zones around the world include the French Prealps in Europe, the Sierra Nevada and Rocky Mountain subalpine zones in North America, and subalpine forests in the eastern Himalaya, western Himalaya, and Hengduan mountains of Asia.

## Alpine grasslands and tundra

Main articles: Earth:Alpine tundra and Alpine plant

Alpine flora near Cascade Pass

Alpine grasslands and tundra lie above the tree line, in a world of intense radiation, wind, cold, snow, and ice. As a consequence, alpine vegetation is close to the ground and consists mainly of perennial grasses, sedges, and forbs. Annual plants are rare in this ecosystem and usually are only a few inches tall, with weak root systems.[37] Other common plant life-forms include prostrate shrubs; tussock-forming graminoids; and cryptogams, such as bryophytes and lichens.[7]: 280

Plants have adapted to the harsh alpine environment. Cushion plants, looking like ground-hugging clumps of moss, escape the strong winds blowing a few inches above them. Many flowering plants of the alpine tundra have dense hairs on stems and leaves to provide wind protection or red-colored pigments capable of converting the sun's light rays into heat. Some plants take two or more years to form flower buds, which survive the winter below the surface and then open and produce fruit with seeds in the few weeks of summer.[38] Non-flowering lichens cling to rocks and soil. Their enclosed algal cells can photosynthesize at temperatures as low as −10 °C (14 °F),[39] and the outer fungal layers can absorb more than their own weight in water.[40]

An alpine mire in the Swiss Alps

The adaptations for survival of drying winds and cold may make tundra vegetation seem very hardy, but in some respects the tundra is very fragile. Repeated footsteps often destroy tundra plants, leaving exposed soil to blow away, and recovery may take hundreds of years.[38]

Alpine landscape below Malyovitsa Peak, Rila Mountain, Bulgaria

## See also

* Forest ecology
* Tree line
* Temperate coniferous forests
* Ecology of the Rocky Mountains
* Sierra Nevada lower montane forest
* East African montane forests
* Afromontane, a series of high-elevation regions in Africa
* California montane chaparral and woodlands, an ecoregion.
* Angolan montane forest-grassland mosaic, an ecoregion.
* Australian Alps montane grasslands, an ecoregion.
* South Western Ghats montane rain forests, an ecoregion
* Polonyna (montane meadow)
* Altitudinal zonation
* Biome

## References

1. ↑ Mayor, Jordan R.; Sanders, Nathan J.; Classen, Aimée T.; Bardgett, Richard D.; Clément, Jean-Christophe; Fajardo, Alex; Lavorel, Sandra; Sundqvist, Maja K. et al. (February 2017). "Elevation alters ecosystem properties across temperate tree lines globally" (in en). Nature 542 (7639): 91–95. doi:10.1038/nature21027. ISSN 1476-4687. PMID 28117440. Bibcode: 2017Natur.542...91M. https://www.nature.com/articles/nature21027.
2. ↑ Aparecido, Luiza Maria T.; Teodoro, Gazelle S.; Mosquera, Giovanny; Brum, Mauro; Barros, Fernanda de V.; Pompeu, Patricia Vieira; Rodas, Melissa; Lazo, Patricio et al. (2018). "Ecohydrological drivers of Neotropical vegetation in montane ecosystems" (in en). Ecohydrology 11 (3). doi:10.1002/eco.1932. ISSN 1936-0592. Bibcode: 2018Ecohy..11E1932A. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/eco.1932.
3. ↑ Goody, Richard M.; Walker, James C.G. (1972). "Atmospheric Temperatures". Atmospheres. Prentice-Hall. http://lasp.colorado.edu/~bagenal/3720/GoodyWalker/AtmosCh3sm.pdf.
4. ↑ Blyth, S.; Groombridge, B.; Lysenko, I.; Miles, L.; Newton, A. (2002). "Mountain Watch". UNEP World Conservation Monitoring Centre, Cambridge, UK. p. 15. http://www.unep-wcmc.org/mountains/mountain_watch/pdfs/WholeReport.pdf.
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 Lugo, Ariel E.; Brown, Sandra L.; Dodson, Rusty; Smith, Tom S.; Shugart, Hank H. (1999). "The Holdridge Life Zones of the conterminous United States in relation to ecosystem mapping". Journal of Biogeography 26 (5): 1025–1038. doi:10.1046/j.1365-2699.1999.00329.x. Bibcode: 1999JBiog..26.1025L. http://www.fs.fed.us/global/iitf/pubs/ja_iitf_1999_lugo002.pdf.
6. ↑ Testolin, Riccardo; Attorre, Fabio; Jiménez-Alfaro, Borja (2020). "Global distribution and bioclimatic characterization of alpine biomes". Ecography 43 (6): 779–788. doi:10.1111/ecog.05012. Bibcode: 2020Ecogr..43..779T.
7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Körner, Christian (2013). Alpine Plant Life: Functional Plant Ecology of High Mountain Ecosystems. Berlin: Springer. ISBN 978-3-642-98018-3.
8. ↑ Stokstad, Erik (2020-07-30). "Many beloved garden flowers originated in this mountain hot spot—the oldest of its kind on Earth" (in en). https://www.science.org/content/article/many-beloved-garden-flowers-originated-mountain-hot-spot-oldest-its-kind-earth.
9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Price, Larry W. (1986). Mountains and Man: A Study of Process and Environment. University of California Press. p. 271. ISBN 978-0-520-05886-6. https://archive.org/details/mountainsmanstud00pric. Retrieved 2012-03-09.
10. ↑ Rundel, P.W.; D. J. Parsons; D. T. Gordon (1977). "Montane and subalpine vegetation of the Sierra Nevada and Cascade Ranges". in Barbour, M.G.; Major, J.. Terrestrial vegetation of California. New York, USA: Wiley. pp. 559–599.
11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 Nagy, László; Grabherr, Georg (2009). The biology of alpine habitats. Oxford University Press.
12. ↑ Perry, David A. (1994). Forest Ecosystems. JHU Press. p. 49. ISBN 0-8018-4987-X. https://archive.org/details/forestecosystems00perr. Retrieved 2012-03-09.
13. ↑ Albert, James S.; Reis, Roberto E. (2011). Historical Biogeography of Neotropical Freshwater Fishes. University of California Press. p. 311. ISBN 978-0-520-26868-5. https://books.google.com/books?id=_Suu7a-ERdMC&pg=PA311. Retrieved 2012-03-09.
14. ↑ Huntley, Brian (1993). "Species-Richness in North-Temperate Zone Forests". Journal of Biogeography 20 (2): 163–180. doi:10.2307/2845669. Bibcode: 1993JBiog..20..163H. https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1566936.
15. ↑ "European-Mediterranean Montane Mixed Forests". World Wildlife Fund. http://www.panda.org/about_wwf/where_we_work/ecoregions/europeanmed_montane_forests.cfm.
16. ↑ Billings, WD (1990). "The Mountain Forests of North America and Their Environments". Plant Biology of the Basin and Range. Ecological Studies. 80. Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer. pp. 47–86. doi:10.1007/978-3-642-74799-1_3. ISBN 978-3-642-74801-1.
17. ↑ Nagy, L (2023). "South American mountain ecosystems and global change – a case study for integrating theory and field observations for land surface modelling and ecosystem management". Plant Ecology & Diversity 16 (1–2): 1–27. doi:10.1080/17550874.2023.2196966. Bibcode: 2023PlEcD..16....1N.
18. ↑ Dawson, John. Forest Vines to Snow Tussocks: The Story of New Zealand Plants. Wellington: Victoria University Press. https://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-DawFore-t1-body-d11-d3-d3.html.
19. ↑ Lee, Se-Yeun; Ryan, Maureen E.; Hamlet, Alan F.; Palen, Wendy J.; Lawler, Joshua J.; Halabisky, Meghan (2015-09-02). "Projecting the Hydrologic Impacts of Climate Change on Montane Wetlands" (in en). PLOS ONE 10 (9). doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0136385. ISSN 1932-6203. PMID 26331850. Bibcode: 2015PLoSO..1036385L.
20. ↑ Kelly, Anne E; Goulden, Michael L (April 2016). "A montane Mediterranean climate supports year-round photosynthesis and high forest biomass". Tree Physiology 36 (4): 459–468. doi:10.1093/treephys/tpv131. PMID 26764269.
21. ↑ Tracey, J. G. (John Geoffrey) (1982), The Vegetation of the Humid Tropical Region of North Queensland, pp. 34–38, https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/23224781?q&versionId=45832425
22. ↑ Mulligan, M. (2011). "Modeling the Tropics-Wide Extent and Distribution of Cloud Forest and Cloud Forest Loss, with Implications for Conservation Priority". in Bruijnzeel, L. A.. Tropical Montane Cloud Forests: Science for Conservation and Management. Cambridge University Press. pp. 15–38. ISBN 978-0-521-76035-5. https://books.google.com/books?id=N6FkwMnSX8EC&pg=PA15. Retrieved 2012-03-09.
23. ↑ Webb, Len (1 Oct 1959). "A Physiognomic Classification of Australian Rain Forests". Journal of Ecology (British Ecological Society : Journal of Ecology Vol. 47, No. 3, pp. 551–570) 47 (3): 551–570. doi:10.2307/2257290. Bibcode: 1959JEcol..47..551W.
24. ↑ Clarke, C.M. (1997). Nepenthes of Borneo. Kota Kinabalu: Natural History Publications (Borneo). p. 29.
25. ↑ Bruijnzee, L.A.; Veneklaas, E. J. (1998). "Climatic Conditions and Tropical Montane Forest Productivity: The Fog Has Not Lifted Yet". Ecology 79 (1): 3. doi:10.2307/176859.
26. ↑ Loope, Lloyd L.; Giambelluca, Thomas W. (1998), Markham, Adam, ed., "Vulnerability of Island Tropical Montane Cloud Forests to Climate Change, with Special Reference to East Maui, Hawaii" (in en), Potential Impacts of Climate Change on Tropical Forest Ecosystems (Dordrecht: Springer Netherlands): pp. 363–377, doi:10.1007/978-94-017-2730-3_18, ISBN 978-94-017-2730-3
27. ↑ Sukumar, R.; Suresh, H. S.; Ramesh, R. (1995). "Climate Change and Its Impact on Tropical Montane Ecosystems in Southern India". Journal of Biogeography 22 (2/3): 533–536. doi:10.2307/2845951. ISSN 0305-0270. Bibcode: 1995JBiog..22..533S.
28. ↑ Karmalkar, A. V.; Bradley, R. S.; Diaz, H. F. (2008). "Climate change scenario for Costa Rican montane forests" (in en). Geophysical Research Letters 35 (11): L11702. doi:10.1029/2008GL033940. ISSN 1944-8007. Bibcode: 2008GeoRL..3511702K.
29. ↑ Foster, Pru (2001-10-01). "The potential negative impacts of global climate change on tropical montane cloud forests" (in en). Earth-Science Reviews 55 (1): 73–106. doi:10.1016/S0012-8252(01)00056-3. ISSN 0012-8252. Bibcode: 2001ESRv...55...73F. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0012825201000563.
30. ↑ Blasco, F.; Whitmore, T.C.; Gers, C. (2000). "A framework for the worldwide comparison of tropical woody vegetation types". Biological Conservation 95 (2): 175–189. doi:10.1016/S0006-3207(00)00032-X. Bibcode: 2000BCons..95..175B. http://www.ecolab.ups-tlse.fr/IMG/pdf/BC_Blasco_et_al.2000.pdf. Retrieved 2012-03-11. p. 178.
31. ↑ Grace, John; Berninger, Frank; Nagy, Laszlo (2002). "Impacts of Climate Change on the Tree Line". Annals of Botany 90 (4): 537–544. doi:10.1093/aob/mcf222. PMID 12324278. fig. 1.
32. ↑ "Pinus mugo". Gymnosperm Database. https://www.conifers.org/pi/Pinus_mugo.php.
33. ↑ McKenzie, Neil (2004). Australian Soils and Landscapes. p. 98.
34. ↑ Gold, W. (2008-01-28). "BIS258 lecture notes". University of Washington. http://faculty.washington.edu/wgold/bis358/012808.pdf.
35. ↑ "Subalpine ecosystem". Rocky Mountain National Park. U.S. National Park Service. https://www.nps.gov/romo/learn/nature/subalpine_ecosystem.htm.
36. ↑ "Tuolumne Meadows and Tioga Road". Yosemite National Park. US National Park Service. https://www.nps.gov/yose/planyourvisit/tm.htm.
37. ↑ This article incorporates public domain material from the Bureau of Land Management document "Grassland Habitat Group".
38. ↑ 38.0 38.1 This article incorporates public domain material from the National Park Service website http://www.nps.gov/romo/naturescience/alpine_tundra_ecosystem.htm.
39. ↑ Kappen, Ludger (1993). "Plant Activity under Snow and Ice, with Particular Reference to Lichens". Circumpolar Ecosystems in Winter II. 46. 297–302.
40. ↑ Whitesel, Todd (2006). "Lichens: two lives in one". Minnesota Conservation Volunteer. https://files.dnr.state.mn.us/mcvmagazine/young_naturalists/young-naturalists-article/lichens/lichens.pdf.

## External links

* Tree cover map for mountain forests – UNEP Map 2011

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