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Alpine treelines

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Alpine Plant Life

Abstract

The distribution of trees reaches a natural limit somewhere along thermal, drought, or disturbance gradients. The limit set by low temperature at high elevation or high polar latitudes is termed ‘treeline’ (alpine or arctic treeline). Treelines represent an abrupt change in land cover by a dominant life form, a change from tall woody to small, mostly herbaceous or graminoid forms, and the treeline is defined irrespective of the species of trees that reach it. Beyond the treeline, tall, single-stemmed, woody plants with crowns protruding into the free atmosphere either can not establish or be sustained (Fig. 7.1). Why do trees disappear above a certain elevation? What causes the alpine life zone to be treeless? The answer to this question would also indicate which functional attributes alpine plants must have to thrive where trees are unable to exist. Thus, there is a reciprocal interest in this question, upslope for forest ecology, and downslope (because of its lower boundary) for alpine ecology.

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    Christian Körner

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Körner, C. (2021). Alpine treelines. In: Alpine Plant Life. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-59538-8_7

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