Treeline Research—From the Roots of the Past to Present Time. A Review

Remote sensing and geographic information systems techniques in studies on treeline ecotone dynamics

(2019) Parveen K. Chhetri et al.   JOURNAL OF FORESTRY RESEARCH

Quantifying structural diversity to better estimate change at mountain forest margins

(2019) Peter J. Morley et al.   REMOTE SENSING OF ENVIRONMENT

Treeline composition and biodiversity change on the southeastern Tibetan Plateau during the past millennium, inferred from a high-resolution alpine pollen record

(2019) Kai Li et al.   QUATERNARY SCIENCE REVIEWS

Why tree lines are lower on islands-Climatic and biogeographic effects hold the answer

(2019) Dirk Nikolaus Karger et al.   GLOBAL ECOLOGY AND BIOGEOGRAPHY

Terrestrial lidar scanning reveals fine-scale linkages between microstructure and photosynthetic functioning of small-stature spruce trees at the forest-tundra ecotone

(2019) Andrew J. Maguire et al.   AGRICULTURAL AND FOREST METEOROLOGY

Himalayan arc and treeline: distribution, climate change responses and ecosystem properties

(2019) S. P. Singh et al.   BIODIVERSITY AND CONSERVATION

Accelerating upward treeline shift in the Altai Mountains under last-century climate change

(2019) Roberto Cazzolla Gatti et al.   Scientific Reports

Higher soil fauna abundance accelerates litter carbon release across an alpine forest-tundra ecotone

(2019) Yang Liu et al.   Scientific Reports

Effects of Climate Change at Treeline: Lessons from Space-for-Time Studies, Manipulative Experiments, and Long-Term Observational Records in the Central Austrian Alps

(2019) Gerhard Wieser et al.   Forests

Microsites and Climate Zones: Seedling Regeneration in the Alpine Treeline Ecotone Worldwide

(2019) Johnson et al.   Forests

Divergent growth rates of alpine larch trees (Larix lyallii Parl.) in response to microenvironmental variability

(2018) Evan E. Montpellier et al.   ARCTIC ANTARCTIC AND ALPINE RESEARCH

Soil properties as constraints to seedling regeneration beyond alpine treelines in the Canadian Rocky Mountains

(2018) Emma L. Davis et al.   ARCTIC ANTARCTIC AND ALPINE RESEARCH

Reproduction as a bottleneck to treeline advance across the circumarctic forest tundra ecotone

(2018) Carissa D. Brown et al.   ECOGRAPHY

Moisture availability limits subalpine tree establishment

(2018) Robert A. Andrus et al.   ECOLOGY

Global drivers of tree seedling establishment at alpine treelines in a changing climate

(2018) Signe Lett et al.   FUNCTIONAL ECOLOGY

Limited prospects for future alpine treeline advance in the Canadian Rocky Mountains

(2018) Emma L. Davis et al.   GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY

A climate-driven tree line position model in the White Mountains of California over the past six millennia

(2018) Jamis M. Bruening et al.   JOURNAL OF BIOGEOGRAPHY

Low recruitment above treeline indicates treeline stability under changing climate in Dhorpatan Hunting Reserve, Western Nepal

(2018) Parveen K. Chhetri et al.   PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY

Tree recruitment at the treeline across the Continental Divide in the Northern Rocky Mountains, USA: the role of spring snow and autumn climate

(2018) Grant P. Elliott et al.   Plant Ecology & Diversity

Climate warming enhances snow avalanche risk in the Western Himalayas

(2018) J. A. Ballesteros-Cánovas et al.   PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Henry Gannett

(2018) Clayton J Whitesides   PROGRESS IN PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY

8800 years of high-altitude vegetation and climate history at the Rutor Glacier forefield, Italian Alps. Evidence of middle Holocene timberline rise and glacier contraction

(2018) Federica Badino et al.   QUATERNARY SCIENCE REVIEWS

Biotic and abiotic drivers of tree seedling recruitment across an alpine treeline ecotone

(2018) Esther R. Frei et al.   Scientific Reports

Factors influencing the establishment and growth of tree seedlings at Subarctic alpine treelines

(2018) Dasvinder Kambo et al.   Ecosphere

Fire enhances the complexity of forest structure in alpine treeline ecotones

(2018) C. Alina Cansler et al.   Ecosphere

Topographic heterogeneity explains patterns of vegetation response to climate change (1972–2008) across a mountain landscape, Niwot Ridge, Colorado

(2018) Clifton P. Bueno de Mesquita et al.   ARCTIC ANTARCTIC AND ALPINE RESEARCH

Non-stationary Response of Tree Growth to Climate Trends Along the Arctic Margin

(2018) Annika Hofgaard et al.   ECOSYSTEMS

Anthropogenic and environmental factors affect the tree line position of Fagus sylvatica along the Apennines (Italy)

(2018) Giuliano Bonanomi et al.   JOURNAL OF BIOGEOGRAPHY

Triggers of tree mortality under drought

(2018) Brendan Choat et al.   NATURE

Tree cover response to climate change in the forest-tundra of north-central Canada: fire-driven decline, not northward advance

(2018) Kevin P. Timoney et al.   ECOSCIENCE

Ice cave reveals environmental forcing of long-term Pyrenean tree line dynamics

(2018) Maria Leunda et al.   JOURNAL OF ECOLOGY

Characterizing the Mass Elevation Effect across the Tibetan Plateau

(2018) Fang Han et al.   Journal of Mountain Science

Pine recolonization dynamics in Mediterranean human-disturbed treeline ecotones

(2018) Alessandro Vitali et al.   FOREST ECOLOGY AND MANAGEMENT

Fine-scale modeling of bristlecone pine treeline position in the Great Basin, USA

(2017) Jamis M Bruening et al.   Environmental Research Letters

Deconstructing human-shaped treelines: Microsite topography and distance to seed source control Pinus nigra colonization of treeless areas in the Italian Apennines

(2017) Alessandro Vitali et al.   FOREST ECOLOGY AND MANAGEMENT

Growth response of Scots pines in polar-alpine tree-line to a warming climate

(2017) A.K. Franke et al.   FOREST ECOLOGY AND MANAGEMENT

Open tundra persist, but arctic features decline-Vegetation changes in the warming Fennoscandian tundra

(2017) Katariina E. M. Vuorinen et al.   GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY

Warming drives a front of white spruce establishment near western treeline, Alaska

(2017) Amy E. Miller et al.   GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY

Does tree growth sensitivity to warming trends vary according to treeline form?

(2017) Václav Treml et al.   JOURNAL OF BIOGEOGRAPHY

Growth strategies and threshold responses to water deficit modulate effects of warming on tree seedlings from forest to alpine

(2017) Brynne E. Lazarus et al.   JOURNAL OF ECOLOGY

Biotic interactions and seed deposition rather than abiotic factors determine recruitment at elevational range limits of an alpine tree

(2017) Eike Lena Neuschulz et al.   JOURNAL OF ECOLOGY

Decreasing nutrient concentrations in soils and trees with increasing elevation across a treeline ecotone in Rolwaling Himal, Nepal

(2017) Simon Drollinger et al.   Journal of Mountain Science

Topography and human disturbances are major controlling factors in treeline pattern at Barun and Manang area in the Nepal Himalaya

(2017) Parveen K. Chhetri et al.   Journal of Mountain Science

Competitor or facilitator? The ambiguous role of alpine grassland for the early establishment of tree seedlings at treeline

(2017) Hannah Loranger et al.   OIKOS

Seedling recruitment and facilitation dependence on safe site characteristics in a Himalayan treeline ecotone

(2017) Birgit Bürzle et al.   PLANT ECOLOGY

Layering in the Rocky Mountain treeline ecotone: clonal conifer groups’ distribution, structure, and functional role

(2017) Friedrich-Karl Holtmeier et al.   TREES-STRUCTURE AND FUNCTION

Among-tree variability and feedback effects result in different growth responses to climate change at the upper treeline in the Swiss Alps

(2017) Matthias Jochner et al.   Ecology and Evolution

Responses of Tree Seedlings near the Alpine Treeline to Delayed Snowmelt and Reduced Sky Exposure

(2017) Maaike Bader et al.   Forests

Fine Root Abundance and Dynamics of Stone Pine (Pinus cembra) at the Alpine Treeline Is Not Impaired by Self-shading

(2017) Petra Kubisch et al.   Frontiers in Plant Science

Treelines—Approaches at Different Scales

(2017) Friedrich-Karl Holtmeier et al.   Sustainability

Modelling the potential distribution of Betula utilis in the Himalaya

(2017) Maria Bobrowski et al.   Global Ecology and Conservation

Thermal characteristics of alpine treelines in Central Europe north of the Alps

(2016) J Kašpar et al.   CLIMATE RESEARCH

Soil moisture mediates alpine life form and community productivity responses to warming

(2016) Daniel E. Winkler et al.   ECOLOGY

Increased stem density and competition may diminish the positive effects of warming at alpine treeline

(2016) Yafeng Wang et al.   ECOLOGY

Warming and provenance limit tree recruitment across and beyond the elevation range of subalpine forest

(2016) Lara M. Kueppers et al.   GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY

Braking effect of climate and topography on global change-induced upslope forest expansion

(2016) Juha M. Alatalo et al.   INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF BIOMETEOROLOGY

Controls of seed quantity and quality on seedling recruitment of smith fir along altitudinal gradient in southeastern Tibetan Plateau

(2016) Jing-sheng Wang et al.   Journal of Mountain Science

Twentieth century treeline ecotone advance in the Sudetes Mountains (Central Europe) was induced by agricultural land abandonment rather than climate change

(2016) Václav Treml et al.   JOURNAL OF VEGETATION SCIENCE

The Mass Elevation Effect of the Central Andes and Its Implications for the Southern Hemisphere's Highest Treeline

(2016) Wenhui He et al.   MOUNTAIN RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT

Species interactions slow warming-induced upward shifts of treelines on the Tibetan Plateau

(2016) Eryuan Liang et al.   PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Local site conditions drive climate-growth responses ofPicea marianaandPicea glaucain interior Alaska

(2016) E. Fleur Nicklen et al.   Ecosphere

Canopy transpiration of a semi arid Pinus canariensis forest at a treeline ecotone in two hydrologically contrasting years

(2015) Patricia Brito et al.   AGRICULTURAL AND FOREST METEOROLOGY

Recent and Intense Dynamics in a Formerly Static Pyrenean Treeline

(2015) J. Julio Camarero et al.   ARCTIC ANTARCTIC AND ALPINE RESEARCH

Recruitment patterns and growth of high-elevation pines in response to climatic variability (1883–2013), in the western Great Basin, USA

(2015) Constance I. Millar et al.   CANADIAN JOURNAL OF FOREST RESEARCH

Tree-growth response to climatic variability in two climatically contrasting treeline ecotone areas, central Himalaya, Nepal

(2015) Krishna B. Shrestha et al.   CANADIAN JOURNAL OF FOREST RESEARCH

Patterns of island treeline elevation - a global perspective

(2015) Severin D. H. Irl et al.   ECOGRAPHY

Adapting forest management to climate change using bioclimate models with topographic drivers

(2015) Gerald E. Rehfeldt et al.   FORESTRY

Land-use legacies rather than climate change are driving the recent upward shift of the mountain tree line in the Pyrenees

(2015) Aitor Ameztegui et al.   GLOBAL ECOLOGY AND BIOGEOGRAPHY

Contribution of mass elevation effect to the altitudinal distribution of global treelines

(2015) Fang Zhao et al.   Journal of Mountain Science

Winter conditions - not summer temperature - influence establishment of seedlings at white spruce alpine treeline in Eastern Quebec

(2015) Sébastien M. Renard et al.   JOURNAL OF VEGETATION SCIENCE

Moisture rivals temperature in limiting photosynthesis by trees establishing beyond their cold-edge range limit under ambient and warmed conditions

(2015) Andrew B. Moyes et al.   NEW PHYTOLOGIST

Biomass distributions in dwarf tree, krummholz, and tundra vegetation in the alpine treeline ecotone

(2015) Darren R. Grafius et al.   PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY

Using novel metrics to assess biogeographic patterns of abrupt treelines in relation to abiotic influences

(2015) Bradley S. Case et al.   PROGRESS IN PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY

How do soil properties affect alpine treelines? General principles in a global perspective and novel findings from Rolwaling Himal, Nepal

(2015) Michael Müller et al.   PROGRESS IN PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY

Response of Scots Pine (Pinus sylvestris) to Warming Climate at Its Altitudinal Limit in Northernmost Subarctic Finland

(2014) Friedrich-Karl Holtmeier et al.   ARCTIC

Organic Carbon Pools and Genesis of Alpine Soils with Permafrost: A Review

(2014) James G. Bockheim et al.   ARCTIC ANTARCTIC AND ALPINE RESEARCH

Consequences of Treeline Shifts for the Diversity and Function of High Altitude Ecosystems

(2014) Sarah Greenwood et al.   ARCTIC ANTARCTIC AND ALPINE RESEARCH

A novel framework for disentangling the scale-dependent influences of abiotic factors on alpine treeline position

(2014) Bradley S. Case et al.   ECOGRAPHY

Is the growth of birch at the upper timberline in the Himalayas limited by moisture or by temperature?

(2014) Eryuan Liang et al.   ECOLOGY

Changing climate response in near-treeline bristlecone pine with elevation and aspect

(2014) Matthew W Salzer et al.   Environmental Research Letters

Variations in the live biomass and carbon pools of Abies georgei along an elevation gradient on the Tibetan Plateau, China

(2014) Genxu Wang et al.   FOREST ECOLOGY AND MANAGEMENT

The mass elevation effect of the Tibetan Plateau and its implications for Alpine treelines

(2014) Yonghui Yao et al.   INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF CLIMATOLOGY

Fire-regime complacency and sensitivity to centennial-through millennial-scale climate change in Rocky Mountain subalpine forests, Colorado, USA

(2014) Philip E. Higuera et al.   JOURNAL OF ECOLOGY

A prominent stepwise advance of the tree line in north-east Finland

(2014) Tuomas Aakala et al.   JOURNAL OF ECOLOGY

North Ethiopian Afro-Alpine Tree Line Dynamics and Forest-Cover Change Since the Early 20th Century

(2014) Miro Jacob et al.   LAND DEGRADATION & DEVELOPMENT

Formation mechanisms of the alpine Erman’s birch (Betula ermanii) treeline on Changbai Mountain in Northeast China

(2014) Dapao Yu et al.   TREES-STRUCTURE AND FUNCTION

A climate-based model to predict potential treeline position around the globe

(2014) Jens Paulsen et al.   Alpine Botany

Convergent space–time tree regeneration patterns along an elevation gradient at high altitude in the Alps

(2013) Marco Carrer et al.   FOREST ECOLOGY AND MANAGEMENT

Low photosynthesis of treeline white spruce is associated with limited soil nitrogen availability in the Western Brooks Range, Alaska

(2013) Robert W. McNown et al.   FUNCTIONAL ECOLOGY

Plant response to climate change along the forest-tundra ecotone in northeastern Siberia

(2013) Logan T. Berner et al.   GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY

Multi-proxy study of Holocene environmental change and human activity in the Central Apennine Mountains, Italy

(2013) A. G. Brown et al.   JOURNAL OF QUATERNARY SCIENCE

Climate sensitivity of reproduction in a mast-seeding boreal conifer across its distributional range from lowland to treeline forests

(2013) Carl A. Roland et al.   OECOLOGIA

Is land abandonment affecting forest dynamics at high elevation in Mediterranean mountains more than climate change?

(2013) C. Palombo et al.   PLANT BIOSYSTEMS

Similar tree seedling responses to shrubs and to simulated environmental changes at Pyrenean and subarctic treelines

(2013) Oriol Grau et al.   Plant Ecology & Diversity

Availability of Ectomycorrhizal Fungi to Black Spruce above the Present Treeline in Eastern Labrador

(2013) Laura Reithmeier et al.   PLoS One

Warming-induced upslope advance of subalpine forest is severely limited by geomorphic processes

(2013) M. Macias-Fauria et al.   PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Shifts in Arctic vegetation and associated feedbacks under climate change

(2013) Richard G. Pearson et al.   Nature Climate Change

Multisensor NDVI-Based Monitoring of the Tundra-Taiga Interface (Mealy Mountains, Labrador, Canada)

(2013) Élizabeth Simms et al.   Remote Sensing

How the timberline formed: altitudinal changes in stand structure and dynamics around the timberline in central Japan

(2012) Koichi Takahashi et al.   ANNALS OF BOTANY

Latitudinal forest advance in northernmost Norway since the early 20th century

(2012) Annika Hofgaard et al.   JOURNAL OF BIOGEOGRAPHY

Mass elevation effect and its forcing on timberline altitude

(2012) Fang Han et al.   Journal of Geographical Sciences

Land-use history and topographic gradients as driving factors of subalpine Larix decidua forests

(2012) Matteo Garbarino et al.   LANDSCAPE ECOLOGY

Landform Influences on Treeline Patchiness and Dynamics in a Changing Climate

(2012) Friedrich-Karl Holtmeier et al.   PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY

Holocene high-altitude vegetation dynamics in the Pyrenees: A pedoanthracology contribution to an interdisciplinary approach

(2012) Raquel Cunill et al.   QUATERNARY INTERNATIONAL

Rapid vegetation response to Lateglacial and early Holocene climatic fluctuation in the South Carpathian Mountains (Romania)

(2012) E.K. Magyari et al.   QUATERNARY SCIENCE REVIEWS

Contrasting climate- and land-use-driven tree encroachment patterns of subarctic tundra in northern Norway and the Kola PeninsulaThis article is a contribution to the series Tree recruitment, growth, and distribution at the circumpolar forest–tundra transition.

(2011) Sigrun Aune et al.   CANADIAN JOURNAL OF FOREST RESEARCH

A century of tree line changes in sub-Arctic Sweden shows local and regional variability and only a minor influence of 20th century climate warming

(2011) Rik Van Bogaert et al.   JOURNAL OF BIOGEOGRAPHY

Climate Warming and the Recent Treeline Shift in the European Alps: The Role of Geomorphological Factors in High-Altitude Sites

(2010) Giovanni Leonelli et al.   AMBIO

Multi-scale Influences of Slope Aspect and Spatial Pattern on Ecotonal Dynamics at Upper Treeline in the Southern Rocky Mountains, U.S.A

(2010) Grant P. Elliott et al.   ARCTIC ANTARCTIC AND ALPINE RESEARCH

Tree-line dynamics in Ungava peninsula, northern Quebec

(2010) Serge Payette et al.   ECOGRAPHY

Spatial variability of biotic and abiotic tree establishment constraints across a treeline ecotone in the Alaska Range

(2010) Kirk M. Stueve et al.   ECOLOGY

A thousand years of human impact in the northern Scandinavian mountain range: Long-lasting effects on forest lines and vegetation

(2010) Hanna Staland et al.   HOLOCENE

Scattered late-glacial and early Holocene tree populations as dispersal nuclei for forest development in north-eastern European Russia

(2010) Minna Väliranta et al.   JOURNAL OF BIOGEOGRAPHY

Wind as an Ecological Agent at Treelines in North America, the Alps, and the European Subarctic

(2010) Friedrich-Karl Holtmeier et al.   PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY

Landscape metrics indicate differences in patterns and dominant controls of ribbon forests in the Rocky Mountains, USA

(2009) Matthew F. Bekker et al.   APPLIED VEGETATION SCIENCE

Regional Summer Temperature Reconstruction in the Khibiny Low Mountains (Kola Peninsula, NW Russia) by Means of Tree-ring Width during the Last Four Centuries

(2009) Yu M. Kononov et al.   ARCTIC ANTARCTIC AND ALPINE RESEARCH

Short-term responses of ecosystem carbon fluxes to experimental soil warming at the Swiss alpine treeline

(2009) Frank Hagedorn et al.   BIOGEOCHEMISTRY

The Altitude of Alpine Treeline: A Bellwether of Climate Change Effects

(2009) William K. Smith et al.   BOTANICAL REVIEW

Site-aspect influence on climate sensitivity over time of a high-altitude Pinus cembra tree-ring network

(2009) Giovanni Leonelli et al.   CLIMATIC CHANGE

Spatio-temporal analysis of alpine ecotones: A spatial explicit model targeting altitudinal vegetation shifts

(2009) Ramón Alberto Díaz-Varela et al.   ECOLOGICAL MODELLING

Are treelines advancing? A global meta-analysis of treeline response to climate warming

(2009) Melanie A. Harsch et al.   ECOLOGY LETTERS

Treeline shifts in the Ural mountains affect soil organic matter dynamics

(2009) ADRIAN KAMMER et al.   GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY

Seedling recruitment, survival and facilitation in alpinePinus uncinatatree line ecotones. Implications and potential responses to climate warming

(2009) Enric Batllori et al.   GLOBAL ECOLOGY AND BIOGEOGRAPHY

Summer temperature variations in Lapland during the Medieval Warm Period and the Little Ice Age relative to natural instability of thermohaline circulation on multi-decadal and multi-centennial scales

(2009) Samuli Helama et al.   JOURNAL OF QUATERNARY SCIENCE

Treeline vegetation composition and change in Canada's western Subarctic from AVHRR and canopy reflectance modeling

(2009) Ian Olthof et al.   REMOTE SENSING OF ENVIRONMENT

Mountain Birch Seedlings in the Treeline Ecotone, Subarctic Finland: Variation in Above- and Below-Ground Growth Depending on Microtopography

(2008) Kerstin Anschlag et al.   ARCTIC ANTARCTIC AND ALPINE RESEARCH

Spatial Reconstructions and Comparisons of Historic Snow Avalanche Frequency and Extent Using Tree Rings in Glacier National Park, Montana, U.S.A

(2008) B. A. Reardon et al.   ARCTIC ANTARCTIC AND ALPINE RESEARCH

Evaluating thermal treeline indicators based on air and soil temperature using an air-to-soil temperature transfer model

(2008) Jacqueline Gehrig-Fasel et al.   ECOLOGICAL MODELLING

Expanding forests and changing growth forms of Siberian larch at the Polar Urals treeline during the 20th century

(2008) NADEZHDA DEVI et al.   GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY

Factors structuring the treeline ecotone in Fennoscandia

(2008) Jon Moen et al.   Plant Ecology & Diversity

Climate change and the northern Russian treeline zone

(2007) G.M MacDonald et al.   PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES