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The Changing Alpine Treeline, Volume 12 - The Example of Glacier National Park, MT, USA (Hardcover, 12th edition)
Loot Price: R4,086
Discovery Miles 40 860
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The Changing Alpine Treeline, Volume 12 - The Example of Glacier National Park, MT, USA (Hardcover, 12th edition)
Series: Developments in Earth Surface Processes
Expected to ship within 12 - 17 working days
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Total price: R4,106
Discovery Miles: 41 060
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The alpine treeline ecotone (ATE) is an area of transition high on
mountains where closed canopy forests from lower elevations give
way to the open alpine tundra and rocky expanses above. Alpine
tundra is an island biome and its ecotone with forest is subject to
change, and like oceanic islands, alpine tundra is subject to
invasion or the upward advance of treeline. The invasion of tundra
by trees will have consequences for the tundra biome as invasion
does for other island flora and fauna. To examine the invasibility
of tundra we take a plant s-eye-view, wherein the local conditions
become extremely important. Among these local conditions, we find
geomorphology to be exceptionally important. We concentrate on
aspects of microtopography (and microgeomorphology) and
microclimate because these are the factors that matter: from the
plant s-eye-view, but we pay attention to multiple scales. At
coarse scales, snow avalanches and debris flows are widespread and
create disturbance treelines whose elevation is well below those
controlled by climate. At medium scales, turf-banked terraces
create tread-and-riser topography that is a difficult landscape for
a tree seedling to survive upon because of exposure to wind,
dryness, and impenetrable surfaces. At fine scales, turf
exfoliation of the fronts of turf-banked risers, and boulders,
offer microsites where tree seedlings may find shelter and are able
to gain a foothold in the alpine tundra; conversely, however,
surfaces of needle-ice pans and frost heaving associated with
miniature patterned ground production are associated with sites
inimical to seedling establishment or survival. We explicitly
consider how local scale processes propagate across scales into
landscape patterns.
The objective of this book is to examine the controls on change at
alpine treeline. All the papers are focused on work done in Glacier
National Park, Montana, USA. Although any one place is limiting, we
are able to examine the alpine treeline here in some detail and an
advantage is that the treeline ecotone in Glacier National Park is
quite variable in itself due to the underlying variability in
geomorphology at multiple scales.
This book will provide insights into an important ecological
phenomenon with a distinctly geomorphic perspective. The editors
collectively have over 100 years of experience in working in
geomorphology, biogeography, and ecology. They also have each
worked on research in Glacier National Park for several decades.
The book will be a reference for a variety of professionals and
students, both graduate and undergraduate, with interests in
Physical Geography, Geomorphology, Ecology, and Environmental
Science. Because of the importance of the alpine treeline ecotone
for recreation and aesthetic interests in mountain environments,
wildland and park managers will also use this book.
* Subject matter: geomorphology at alpine treeline
* Expertise of contributors: each editor brings over 25 years of
experience in studies of ecotones and geomorphology, and
collectively over 100 years of experience in Glacier National
Park
* Changing alpine treeline examines climate change"
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