Current issue: 58(2)

Under compilation: 58(3)

Scopus CiteScore 2021: 2.8
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Articles containing the keyword 'alpine'

Category : Article

article id 7290, category Article

K. J. Valle. (1934). Fennoskandian koivuvyöhykkeen eläinmaantieteellisestä merkityksestä. Acta Forestalia Fennica vol. 40 no. 13 article id 7290. https://doi.org/10.14214/aff.7290

English title: The zoogeographical significance of the birch zone in Fennoscandia.

Original keywords: tunturikoivu; koivuvyöhyke; eläinmaantiede; maaselkärankaiset; suurperhoset

English keywords: Betula pubescens subsp. czerepanovii; vertebrate; subarctic-subalpine birch forest zone; fell area; mountain birch; butterfly

Abstract | View details | Full text in PDF | Author Info

The subarctic-subalpine mountain birch forest zone discerns Fennoscandia from other northern regions. The zone offers protection against wind to animal life, protects soil from evaporation and increases humidity. The article reviews distribution of vertebrate and butterfly species in the birch forest zone. There are no vertebrates that occur solely in the birch forest zone, and only few live mostly in the zone. Many species live either both on the birch forest zone and the treeless fell area above it, or in the birch forest zone and coniferous zone below it. Similarly, no butterflies occur only in the birch forest zone, but the zone is the main habitat for some species. Consequently, the subarctic-subalpine birch forest zone cannot be considered to be an independent ecozone but a transitional zone between regio silvatica and regio arctica that is nearer to the northern coniferous zone than the fell region

The PDF includes a summary in German.

Valle, E-mail: kv@mm.unknown

article id 7243, category Article

Franz Heske. (1929). Paper on knowledge on forest zones in West-Himalayan Mountains. Acta Forestalia Fennica vol. 34 no. 30 article id 7243. https://doi.org/10.14214/aff.7243

Keywords: forest zone; Himalayan; tropical; temperate; alpine

Abstract | View details | Full text in PDF | Author Info

The article presents forests on Tehri Garhwal district (former kingdom, now part of India). Most of the area is middle-mountainous area with valleys and hills. The forests in the area belong to three different forest zones: tropical, temperate and alpine. The article presents the characteristics of the forests and vegetation for every zone.

The volume 34 of Acta Forestalia Fennica is a jubileum publication of professor Aimo Kaarlo Cajander.

Heske, E-mail: fh@mm.unknown

Category : Research article

article id 307, category Research article

Jacqueline C. Bolli, Andreas Rigling, Harald Bugmann. (2007). The influence of changes in climate and land-use on regeneration dynamics of Norway spruce at the treeline in the Swiss Alps. Silva Fennica vol. 41 no. 1 article id 307. https://doi.org/10.14214/sf.307

Keywords: tree growth; dendroecology; microsites; subalpine meadow succession; tree invasion

Abstract | View details | Full text in PDF | Author Info

Recent changes of climate and land-use are often regarded to affect the European Alpine region substantially and to trigger an increase in the elevation of the upper treeline. The patterns of tree invasion on a subalpine meadow at 1900 m a.s.l. in Sedrun, Canton Grisons, Switzerland, were studied in order 1) to reconstruct the process of tree establishment and tree–growth dynamics in space and time, and 2) to evaluate the influence of site properties, land-use change and climate on these processes. Dendroecological analysis of 105 Norway spruce combined with an assessment of 48 vegetation plots and 17 soil profiles revealed that the trees were established in one main period (1965–1980s), starting 15 years after the abandonment of the agricultural use of the meadow, and that there is a pronounced environmental gradient along the forest-meadow ecotone. Tree establishment and height growth were favoured close to the former forest edge, but all saplings irrespective of their distance to the forest edge and their age showed increased radial growth since 1990, coinciding with a period of higher summer temperatures in the region. Therefore, we conclude that the observed tree-line dynamics in Sedrun are the result of both land-use and climate change: Tree establishment was triggered by the abandonment of the agricultural use of the meadow, and strongly favoured by particularly good growing conditions in a warm decade, which illustrates the sensitivity of conifers near the alpine tree-line to temperature fluctuations.

Bolli, Swiss Federal Research Institute, Zürcherstrasse 111, CH-8903 Birmensdorf, Switzerland E-mail: jacqueline.bolli@wsl.ch
Rigling, Swiss Federal Research Institute, Zürcherstrasse 111, CH-8903 Birmensdorf, Switzerland E-mail: ar@nn.ch
Bugmann, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) Zürich, Universitätstrasse 16, CH-8092 Zürich, Switzerland E-mail: hb@nn.ch

article id 533, category Research article

Anna Liisa Ruotsalainen, Juha Tuomi, Henry Väre. (2002). A model for optimal mycorrhizal colonization along altitudinal gradients. Silva Fennica vol. 36 no. 3 article id 533. https://doi.org/10.14214/sf.533

Keywords: alpine gradient; mycorrhiza; nutrient uptake kinetics; photosynthetic nutrient use efficiency

Abstract | View details | Full text in PDF | Author Info

Mycorrhizal associations are generally favourable for vascular plants in nutrient-poor conditions. Still, non-mycorrhizal plants are common in high arctic and alpine areas, which are often poor in nitrogen and phosphorus. The relative proportion of mycorrhizal plants has been found to decrease along with increasing altitude, suggesting that the advantage of the mycorrhizal symbiosis may change along an altitudinal gradient. This may be related to the environmental factors that possibly constrain the amount of photosynthesized carbon to be shared with mycorrhizal fungi. We propose a simple optimization model for root colonization by fungal symbionts and analyze the advantages of mycorrhizas in relation to the nutrient use efficiency of photosynthesis (PNUE), the kinetics of nutrient uptake and the soil nutrient levels. Our model suggests that mycorrhizas are not usually favoured at low PNUE values. At low nutrient levels, mycorrhizas may be advantageous if they have a lower threshold concentration of nutrient uptake (xmin) compared to non-mycorrhizal roots. If mycorrhizal roots have a higher maximum capacity of nutrient uptake (Vmax), mycorrhizas can be favourable for the host plant even at relatively low nutrient concentrations and at relatively low PNUE. Consequently, the possible patterns along altitudinal gradients essentially depend on PNUE. If the soil nutrient concentration is constant and PNUE decreases, the advantage of mycorrhizal symbiosis declines independently of the nutrient uptake kinetics. If PNUE remains constant and the soil nutrient concentration decreases along with increasing altitude, the emerging colonization pattern (either increasing, decreasing or intermediate) depends on the nutrient uptake kinetics. Additionally, if both PNUE and the soil nutrient concentration decrease, several patterns may emerge, depending on the nutrient uptake kinetics.

Ruotsalainen, Department of Biology, Botanical Museum, Box 3000, FIN-90014 University of Oulu, Finland E-mail: annu.ruotsalainen@oulu.fi
Tuomi, Department of Biology, Box 3000, FIN-90014 University of Oulu, Finland E-mail: jt@nn.fi
Väre, Botanical Museum, Finnish Museum of Natural History, Box 7, FIN-00014 University of Helsinki, Finland E-mail: hv@nn.fi

article id 635, category Research article

Manfred J. Lexer, Karl Hönninger, Helfried Scheifinger, Christoph Matulla, Nikolaus Groll, Helga Kromp-Kolb. (2000). The sensitivity of central European mountain forests to scenarios of climatic change: methodological frame for a large-scale risk assessment. Silva Fennica vol. 34 no. 2 article id 635. https://doi.org/10.14214/sf.635

Keywords: climate change; potential natural vegetation; alpine forests; risk assessment; patch model; multi-attribute decision making

Abstract | View details | Full text in PDF | Author Info

The methodological framework of a large-scale risk assessment for Austrian forests under scenarios of climatic change is presented. A recently developed 3D-patch model is initialized with ground-true soil and vegetation data from sample plots of the Austrian Forest Inventory (AFI). Temperature and precipitation data of the current climate are interpolated from a network of more than 600 weather stations to the sample plots of the AFI. Vegetation development is simulated under current climate (‘control run’) and under climate change scenarios starting from today's forest composition and structure. Similarity of species composition and accumulated biomass between these two runs at various points in time were used as assessment criteria. An additive preference function which is based on Saaty’s AHP is employed to synthesize these criteria to an overall index of the adaptation potential of current forests to a changing climate. The presented methodology is demonstrated for a small sample from the Austrian Forest Inventory. The forest model successfully simulated equilibrium species composition under current climatic conditions spatially explicit in a heterogenous landscape based on ground-true data. At none of the simulated sites an abrupt forest dieback did occur due to climate change impacts. However, substantial changes occured with regard to species composition of the potential natural vegetation (PNV).

Lexer, Institute of Silviculture, University of Agricultural Sciences, Peter-Jordanstrasse 70, A-1190 Vienna, Austria E-mail: lexer@edv1.boku.ac.at
Hönninger, Institute of Silviculture, University of Agricultural Sciences, Peter-Jordanstrasse 70, A-1190 Vienna, Austria E-mail: kh@nn.at
Scheifinger, Institute of Meteorology and Physics, University of Agricultural Sciences, Türkenschanzstrasse 18, A-1180 Vienna, Austria E-mail: hs@nn.at
Matulla, Institute of Meteorology and Physics, University of Agricultural Sciences, Türkenschanzstrasse 18, A-1180 Vienna, Austria E-mail: cm@nn.at
Groll, Institute of Meteorology and Physics, University of Agricultural Sciences, Türkenschanzstrasse 18, A-1180 Vienna, Austria E-mail: ng@nn.at
Kromp-Kolb, Institute of Meteorology and Physics, University of Agricultural Sciences, Türkenschanzstrasse 18, A-1180 Vienna, Austria E-mail: hkk@nn.at

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