Topographical and biophysical modeling of vegetation patterns at alpine treeline
Availability and abundance of several important topo-climatic elements explains much of the variation in the patterns of vegetation along the treeline ecotone. Active geomorphic and biophysical disturbance regimes in alpine areas introduce additional variability on the treeline transition. The purpose of this research was to model the spatial patterns of vegetation communities along the treeline ecotone relative to topo-climatic and disturbances processes. Surrogates of several topographically controlled climatic elements (solar radiation potential, soil moisture potential, and wind/snow potential) were constructed from digital elevation models (DEMs) for a study area in east-central Glacier National Park, Montana. Vegetation communities in the study area were characterized through statistical classification of Landsat Thematic Mapper digital data, field calibration, and validation. Topographical empirical Models of Treeline (TEMTREEs) were constructed to examine the relative importance of factors which affected the treeline transition. TEMTREEs were also evaluated as predictive tools for extending the analysis through additional variables representing multi-scale processes. Empirical models were constructed for selected elevation zones (from 1600 to 2350 meters a.m.s.l.) at 150 meter intervals. The Kappa statistic was used to assess the predictive ability of the models. The results suggested that the elevation gradient accounted for much of the variation in the vegetation patterns at alpine treeline. Geomorphic disturbance patterns, characterized by mapping talus slopes, snow avalanche paths, and slope angles greater than 34 degrees, consistently explained significant variations in the vegetation patterns. This finding suggests that predictions of treeline responses to climatic change must account for potential changes in the frequency and magnitude of geomorphic process disturbances.
- Research Organization:
- North Carolina Univ., Chapel Hill, NC (United States)
- OSTI ID:
- 5431714
- Resource Relation:
- Other Information: Thesis (Ph.D.)
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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