Trees move up mountains in response to climate change

New research from the University of Leeds in the UK shows just that Global Warming It affects what’s called the “tree line,” which refers to the level at which trees stop growing in elevated areas such as mountain ranges. From 2000 to 2010, about 70% of tree lineages rose an average of 1.2 meters per year. The fastest change was observed in the tropics, where the rise was about 3.1 meters per year.

The researchers used satellite imagery to develop an algorithm that detects nearly 1 million kilometers of closed-loop tree lines across 243 mountain ranges. Closed-loop tree lines form rings around the upper slopes of a mountain.

A complex set of factors, affected by climate change, determine treeline height, including ambient temperature, native species, precipitation, humidity, and degree of sun exposure, among others. The study is titled “Global distribution and climate controls of mountain landscapes” It was published in the academic journal The biology of global change.

“Our study provides new evidence that the world’s trees are moving uphill in response to climate change,” said study co-author Dominic Spracklen, while the new research provides a global picture.

“We found that tree lines move uphill more quickly in regions where temperature is the dominant component of tree line position. In temperate regions, where precipitation is more important, tree lines do not change so quickly,” he explains. Since the 1970s, scientists have noticed the accelerated movement of tree lines, possibly due to changes in the world’s climate.

Competition for space and resources

This movement has a worrying environmental impact. Moving to higher regions, trees find different ecosystems, with plant and animal species competing with them for space and resources. Alpine species may face a higher risk of extinction, researchers say, than, for example, trapped between creeping forests and uninhabitable habitats at higher altitudes.

“Plants and animals at these elevations are very vulnerable to environmental changes. As tree lines rise, they start to compete for space and nutrients, and this can cause pressure on some of the endemic species that live in these places,” warns Xinyue He, a doctoral researcher who led the project. The research is working jointly at the University of Leeds and the Southern University of Science and Technology.

“This important research gives us an idea of how these vulnerable areas are being affected, and gives us the opportunity to think about how we can intervene to try to protect some species,” he wonders.