A recent study by researchers at the University of Leeds in the United Kingdom reveals another aspect of the impacts created by climate change. Global warming has also been found to alter the tree line in mountainous regions.
What you need to know
- A series of trees appears on the hills, marking the maximum altitudinal limit of tree expansion.
- The satellite images served as the basis for developing a powerful algorithm capable of identifying almost one million kilometers of tree lines in 243 mountain ranges.
- A combination of factors determines the height of the tree line. Some are: temperature, precipitation and humidity – all can be affected by climate change.
- Between 2000 and 2010 alone, nearly 70% of observed tree lines moved above 12 meters in height.
- In the tropics, the change was even faster: 3.1 meters per year, according to a British study.
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According to Dominic Spraglen, co-author of the study, trees around the world are moving to higher altitudes more quickly in areas where temperature is a decisive factor in line position. In temperate regions, where precipitation plays a more important role, tree lines do not change rapidly.
Risk of extinction
Xinyue He, the researcher who led the research, warns that the plants and animals living in these high altitude areas are more vulnerable to environmental changes.
Plants and animals at these high altitudes are more susceptible to environmental changes. As tree lines move up they begin to compete for space and nutrients, and some native species living in these spaces are squeezed out.
A study was conducted on the topic.Global distribution and climate controls of natural mountain trees” published in the Journal of Education Global Change Biology and provides new evidence on the impacts of global warming, highlighting the need to develop initiatives to address climate change and its damage to mountain ecosystems.
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