Treeline (Pinus sylvestris) landscape evolution in the Swedish Scandes - a 40-year demographic effort viewed in a broader temporal context

Auteur(s) et Affiliation(s)



Description :
The study was carried out in the Handölan valley in the southern Swedish Scandes. Annual censures were undertaken of recruitment, mortality, growth, seed viability, and causes of mortality during the period 1973-2012 in a set of 18 permanent plots of Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.). A net gain in total population size occurred over the study period as the result of periodic fluctuations in recruitment and mortality, broadly congruent with annual variations in summer and winter temperatures. The results highlight a rigid climate-forest disequilibrium and falsify models suggesting extensive and swift expansion of the treeline ecotone and closed forest at the expense of alpine tundra in response to anticipated future warming during the present century. The balance of evidence suggests that patchy forest expansion is likeky to occur at a very slow (plurisecular) pace, given that climate warming prevails.


Type de document :
Article de périodique

Source :
Norsk geografisk tidsskrift, issn : 0029-1951, 2014, vol. 68, n°. 3, p. 155-167, nombre de pages : 13, Références bibliographiques : 2 p.

Date :
2014

Editeur :
Pays édition : Norvege, Oslo, Norske geografiske selskab ; Universitetsforlaget