Global controls of forest line elevation in the northern andsouthern hemispheres

EG JOBBÁGY; RB JACKSON

GLOBAL ECOLOGY AND BIOGEOGRAPHY

Blackwell

Lugar: United Kingodm; Año: 2000 vol. 9 p. 253 - 253

0960-7447

.We explored whether the independent evolutionaryhistory of extratropical forests in thesouthern and northern hemispheres affects thetemperature–elevation relationship of mountainforest lines. We compiled 115 forest line descriptionsfrom the literature, covering the majorextratropical mountain ranges of the world. Werelated forest line elevation to thermal regimesusing mean annual temperature adjusted to sealevel (MAT) and seasonal thermal amplitude(STA, mean of the warmest month minus themean of the coldest) obtained from a globalclimate database.2.Thermal variables explained 79% of the globalvariability of forest line elevation, whichincreased approximately 130 m for every 1 K ofMAT and for every 2 K of STA. After consideringSTA, there was no significant effect of ‘hemisphere’on forest line elevation. MAT-elevationrelationships for sites with STA < 15 K we