Article
Environmental Sciences
Zhong Xin-Yue, Zhang Tingjun, Su Hang, Xiao Xiong-Xin, Wang Shu-Fa, Hu Yuan-Tao, Wang Hui-Juan, Zheng Lei, Zhang Wei, Xu Min, Wang Jian
Summary: This study investigated the spatial variations of snow depth, SWE, and snow density in the Altai Mountains of northwestern China from 2015 to 2017. Results showed that snow properties were strongly controlled by topography and vegetation, with elevation and latitude being the most important factors affecting snow depth and SWE, while snow density was strongly influenced by longitude.
ADVANCES IN CLIMATE CHANGE RESEARCH
(2021)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Yantao Liu, Wei Zhou, Si Gao, Xuanlong Ma, Kai Yan
Summary: This study investigates the long-term effects of seasonal snow cover on land surface phenology in high-elevation mountains using MODIS data. The results show a significant correlation between snow seasonality and land surface phenology metrics, suggesting that a more snow-prone non-growing season benefits a more flourishing vegetation growing season in the following year. The sensitivity of land surface phenology metrics to snow seasonality varies among elevation and vegetation types.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Xiaoxia Li, Eryuan Liang, J. Julio Camarero, Sergio Rossi, Jingtian Zhang, Haifeng Zhu, Yongshuo H. Fu, Jian Sun, Tao Wang, Shilong Piao, Josep Penuelas
Summary: Under warmer springs, growth reactivation in trees is advanced while delayed in shrubs at the alpine treeline. This phenological mismatch creates a competitive advantage for trees and offers a new explanation for the dynamics of alpine treeline under climate change. A combination of long-term monitoring and meta-analysis revealed that shrubs are more sensitive to chilling accumulation, leading to delayed response in warmer winters and a shorter growing season. The findings suggest that the warming-induced phenological mismatch may contribute to the increasing shifts in alpine treeline.
NATIONAL SCIENCE REVIEW
(2023)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Tao Yang, Qian Li, Qiang Zou, Rafiq Hamdi, Fengqi Cui, Lanhai Li
Summary: The accumulation and ablation processes of seasonal snow significantly affect the land surface phenology in a mountainous ecosystem. The study investigated the impact of snowpack changes on land surface phenology in the Tianshan Mountains and found that changes in snow cover fraction, snowmelt amount, and snow water equivalent have significant effects on vegetation greenness. Grassland is particularly sensitive to variations in snow cover fraction.
Article
Environmental Sciences
Linqing Zou, Feng Tian, Tianchen Liang, Lars Eklundh, Xiaoye Tong, Torbern Tagesson, Yujie Dou, Tao He, Shunlin Liang, Rasmus Fensholt
Summary: The upper elevational limits of vegetation growth in global high-mountains have been studied using two independent methods based on satellite remote sensing data and land cover dataset. The results demonstrate that mountain height is the dominant factor in determining the upper elevational limits of tree and vegetation lines globally, while climatic conditions and soil properties also play important roles at regional scales.
REMOTE SENSING OF ENVIRONMENT
(2023)
Article
Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences
Huadong Wang, Xueliang Zhang, Pengfeng Xiao, Ka Zhang, Senyao Wu
Summary: The study found that snow phenology at different elevations responds differently to climate change, with surface temperature and precipitation affecting the temporal and spatial trends of snow cover. The altitude threshold of 3600 meters plays a key role in distinguishing the influencing factors, with temperature consistently more important than precipitation in most altitudes.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF CLIMATOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Water Resources
Peng Zhao, Zhibin He, Jun Du
Summary: Warming in mountainous regions has accelerated the melting of ice and snow, affecting glaciers and water resources. The Qilian Mountains show an increasing trend in elevation-dependent warming, with the most obvious warming occurring in summer. Enhanced regional warming has caused decreases in snow cover, with significant implications for water resources, especially above 5,000 meters.
JOURNAL OF WATER AND CLIMATE CHANGE
(2023)
Article
Forestry
Chenhui Deng, Xinping Ma, Meilin Xie, Hongying Bai
Summary: Due to the fragility of mountain nature reserves, vegetation in these areas is highly sensitive to climate change. This study examines the effects of topography and climate on vegetation phenology in the Niubeiliang Nature Reserve using data from MODIS EVI2 and temperature records. The results show that the start of the growing season has advanced, the end of the growing season has been delayed, and the length of the growing season has increased. There are significant effects of topography, altitude, aspect, and temperature on the phenophases, with variations across seasons and between slopes.
Article
Plant Sciences
Zhengjie Yan, Jinfeng Xu, Xiaoyi Wang, Zhiyong Yang, Dan Liu, Guoshuai Li, Huabing Huang
Summary: Research shows that during the warming hiatus, the spring phenology in the Pan-Third Pole region continues to advance due to increased preseason minimum temperature and water availability. The importance of precipitation in spring phenological changes is also increasing, potentially shifting the control from temperature to precipitation in a warmer world.
FRONTIERS IN PLANT SCIENCE
(2022)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Li Mei, Gang Bao, Siqin Tong, Shan Yin, Yuhai Bao, Kang Jiang, Yu Hong, Alateng Tuya, XiaoJun Huang
Summary: In this study, the changes in spring phenology of mountain vegetation in northwest Mongolia were examined using MODIS datasets and climate data. The results showed that spring temperature and winter precipitation significantly influence the start of the growing season, with different responses at different elevations.
ECOLOGICAL INDICATORS
(2021)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Adria Descals, Aleixandre Verger, Gaofei Yin, Iolanda Filella, Yongshuo H. Fu, Shilong Piao, Ivan A. Janssens, Josep Penuelas
Summary: This study investigates the impact of temperature and radiation on carbon uptake in temperate and cold regions. The results show that radiation constrains the temperature response during the end-of-season, while temperature has a strong influence on the start of carbon uptake.
GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Plant Sciences
Fuyan Zou, Chengyi Tu, Dongmei Liu, Chaoying Yang, Wenli Wang, Zhiming Zhang
Summary: This study extracted the positions of alpine treeline from high-resolution images and analyzed their patterns and dynamics. The results showed that the treeline position remained stable over the past 20 years, but vegetation cover increased, which was related to decreased precipitation. The study also revealed the influence of geographical and climatic factors on the alpine treeline.
FRONTIERS IN PLANT SCIENCE
(2022)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Tong Heng, Xinlin He, Lili Yang, Jiawen Yu, Yulin Yang, Miaoling Li
Summary: The analysis of the climatic warming in the Tianshan mountains showed a greater nighttime warming rate and a decrease in snow cover percentage. The asymmetrical warming trend has an impact on snow cover activity, which is expected to accelerate in the future.
Article
Environmental Sciences
Yiting Wang, Yuanyuan Chen, Pengfei Li, Yinggang Zhan, Rui Zou, Bo Yuan, Xiaode Zhou
Summary: Accurately estimating the start of season (SOS) is crucial for understanding vegetation phenology trends under climate change. However, in regions with winter snow cover, the presence of snow introduces bias into SOS detection. This study combined simulation experiments and real satellite data to investigate the effect of snow cover on vegetation index (VI) and SOS detection. The presence of snow significantly reduces VI values and increases the local gradient of the growth curve, allowing for the detection of SOS. The bias in SOS detection caused by snow cover depends on snow season end, duration, and snow-free SOS. The five VIs differed in sensitivity to snow cover in SOS detection, with NDPI/NDGI < NIRv < EVI2 < NDVI.
Article
Environmental Sciences
Xia Cui, Gang Xu, Xiaofei He, Danqi Luo
Summary: This study investigates the spatiotemporal patterns of vegetation phenology and the influence of soil moisture on vegetation phenology in the Qilian Mountains. The results show that temperature, precipitation, and soil moisture have heterogeneous effects on vegetation phenology, with soil moisture having a stronger influence in lower elevations and water-limited areas.
Review
Plant Sciences
Anthony P. Walker, Martin G. De Kauwe, Ana Bastos, Soumaya Belmecheri, Katerina Georgiou, Ralph F. Keeling, Sean M. McMahon, Belinda E. Medlyn, David J. P. Moore, Richard J. Norby, Soenke Zaehle, Kristina J. Anderson-Teixeira, Giovanna Battipaglia, Roel J. W. Brienen, Kristine G. Cabugao, Maxime Cailleret, Elliott Campbell, Josep G. Canadell, Philippe Ciais, Matthew E. Craig, David S. Ellsworth, Graham D. Farquhar, Simone Fatichi, Joshua B. Fisher, David C. Frank, Heather Graven, Lianhong Gu, Vanessa Haverd, Kelly Heilman, Martin Heimann, Bruce A. Hungate, Colleen M. Iversen, Fortunat Joos, Mingkai Jiang, Trevor F. Keenan, Jurgen Knauer, Christian Korner, Victor O. Leshyk, Sebastian Leuzinger, Yao Liu, Natasha MacBean, Yadvinder Malhi, Tim R. McVicar, Josep Penuelas, Julia Pongratz, A. Shafer Powell, Terhi Riutta, Manon E. B. Sabot, Juergen Schleucher, Stephen Sitch, William K. Smith, Benjamin Sulman, Benton Taylor, Cesar Terrer, Margaret S. Torn, Kathleen K. Treseder, Anna T. Trugman, Susan E. Trumbore, Phillip J. van Mantgem, Steve L. Voelker, Mary E. Whelan, Pieter A. Zuidema
Summary: Increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration has the potential to enhance plant growth and contribute to a global terrestrial carbon sink, slowing down the rate of climate change. However, the complexity of ecosystem responses and interactions with other global change factors make it challenging to determine the exact impact of CO2 on the climate.
Letter
Ecology
Cindy E. Prescott, Sue J. Grayston, Helja-Sisko Helmisaari, Eva Kastovska, Christian Korner, Hans Lambers, Ina C. Meier, Peter Millard, Ivika Ostonen
TRENDS IN ECOLOGY & EVOLUTION
(2021)
Article
Plant Sciences
Maria Vorkauf, Ansgar Kahmen, Christian Korner, Erika Hiltbrunner
Summary: The study found that flowering phenology of alpine plants is mainly influenced by snowmelt dates and photoperiod under climate change. The plants in alpine grasslands can be divided into two types, one primarily tracking snowmelt dates, and the other mainly controlled by photoperiod. Photoperiod affects flowering time by modulating temperature sums at flowering.
Correction
Plant Sciences
Song-Wei Wang, Xiao-Fang He, Jian-Guo Chen, Hang Sun, Christian Korner, Yang Yang
Letter
Biodiversity Conservation
Christian Korner
GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Plant Sciences
Christian Korner, Davnah Urbach, Jens Paulsen
Summary: This communication explains the differences among various popular mountain definitions, which are crucial for global assessments of plant species richness and their responses to climatic change, as well as for assessing human population density in and around mountainous regions.
Article
Ecology
Nan Jiang, Miaogen Shen, Philippe Ciais, Matteo Campioli, Josep Penuelas, Christian Korner, Ruyin Cao, Shilong Piao, Licong Liu, Shiping Wang, Eryuan Liang, Nicolas Delpierre, Kamel Soudani, Yuhan Rao, Leonardo Montagnani, Lukas Hortnagl, Eugenie Paul-Limoges, Ranga Myneni, Georg Wohlfahrt, Yongshuo Fu, Ladislav Sigut, Andrej Varlagin, Jin Chen, Yanhong Tang, Wenwu Zhao
Summary: This study investigates the response of the timing of leaf coloration to temperature and finds that the onset of leaf coloration is not sensitive to climate warming, while the rate of progress of leaf coloration is more sensitive to temperature, resulting in an extension of the duration of leaf senescence under warming. It also provides observational evidence of photoperiod control of autumnal leaf senescence at biome and continental scales.
GLOBAL ECOLOGY AND BIOGEOGRAPHY
(2022)
Article
Ecology
Christian Korner, Patrick Mohl, Erika Hiltbrunner
Summary: The concept of growing season in terrestrial ecosystems, which determines plant biomass production, lacks a well-defined definition. This study shows different aspects of growing season, including the actual growth period of plants, the period defined by phenological markers, the period of vegetation achieving net primary production, and the potential growth period based on meteorological criteria. The duration of this "window of opportunity" is a strong predictor for global net primary production, especially in forests. These different definitions have important implications for understanding and modeling plant growth and biomass production, challenging the common view that phenology is a proxy for productivity variation.
Article
Ecology
Christian Korner, Gunter Hoch
Summary: This perspective article addresses the recent interest in treeline studies as a result of attempts to identify climate warming effects on mountain and arctic vegetation. The article emphasizes the importance of clear-cut definitions, consistent terminology, and a theoretical framework for hypothesis testing. By applying the ecological niche concept, the potential and realized niche edges can be used to define the climatic limit and deviations of tree growth at treeline. Additionally, it is explained why other abiotic factors, such as microclimate and moisture, do not diminish the classical isotherm concept.
JOURNAL OF BIOGEOGRAPHY
(2023)
Article
Plant Sciences
Christian Korner, Armando Lenz, Günter Hoch
Summary: In a 2013 paper, Lenz et al. investigated the effects of chronic warming or cooling on trees growing at the low-temperature limit. They found that a 3 K cooling did not impact lignification at treeline, but when a frost event occurred during early ring formation, the cooling resulted in a non-lignified layer of cells followed by normally lignified cells. This suggests that chronic cooling does not affect lignification but increases the risk of frost damage in premature xylem tissue.
Article
Agronomy
Erik A. Hobbie, Rolf Siegwolf, Christian Koerner, Katharina Steinmann, Markus Wilhelm, Matthias Saurer, Sonja G. Keel
Summary: In a Swiss forest, the spatial and temporal dynamics of carbon transfer from tree hosts to ectomycorrhizal fungi were studied. The results showed that fungal morphology did not affect carbon transfer, and carbohydrates were the primary form of carbon transferred to sporocarps across different zones. Environmental factors such as solar radiation and drought influenced carbon transfer.
Article
Plant Sciences
Christian Korner
Summary: The alpine life zone is a unique biome where mountains are high enough to host small stature plants with varying morphology, anatomy, and physiology. This article summarizes several principles that govern life in this cold and hostile environment, including the role of aerodynamic decoupling, the concepts of limitation and stress in an evolutionary context, and the importance of developmental flexibility and functional diversity.
Editorial Material
Biology
Christian Korner, Alex Fajardo, Erika Hiltbrunner
COMMUNICATIONS BIOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Julia Seeber, Christian Newesely, Michael Steinwandter, Alexander Rief, Christian Koerner, Ulrike Tappeiner, Erwin Meyer
Summary: This study focused on the abundance, diversity, and composition of soil invertebrates along snowmelt gradients in the European Alps. Soil conditions and time of snowmelt were not correlated with densities of soil animals, indicating that variations in soil organic matter and sand content had little effect on soil invertebrates in snowbed habitats. Invertebrate species assemblages in snowbeds along the west-east transect of the European Alps were found to be rather similar.
ARCTIC ANTARCTIC AND ALPINE RESEARCH
(2021)