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Cited by 45Tree-ring climate responsesEcology and Vegetation Dynamics StudiesSpecies Distribution and Climate Change

A century of high elevation ecosystem change in the Canadian Rocky Mountains

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Trant, Andrew, Higgs, Eric, Starzomski, Brian M.·2020·Scientific Reports
DOI 10.1038/s41598-020-66277-2PMC PMC7298051
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Abstract

Mountain ecosystems serve as sentinels of change, and those in the Canadian Rocky Mountains have undergone a pronounced shift over the past century. We present quantitative analyses of 81 high-resolution image pairs of systematic historic surveys and repeat photographs of Canadian Rocky Mountain habitats, measuring treeline advance, changes in tree density, and shifts in growth form from krummholz to trees. With a time-lapse of 68 to 125 years (mean 93.5 years) between image pairs, these photographs contain novel information about long-term ecological change across broad spatial scales. In the 197 linear km of mountain habitat over 5 degrees of latitude examined, we found evidence of treeline advance at 90/104 sites, increases in tree density at 93/104 sites, and many sites (79/95) showing detectable changes in the growth form of trees from krummholz to erect tree form. Using generalized linear mixed models, we found that treeline at higher altitudes and further north had a greater probability of advancing while regional climate factors in our model did not significantly explain our results. Historic references, such as those documented here, are invaluable for providing conservation targets and for contextualizing disturbance and broad scale ecosystem change.

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  • Climate change impacts can also increase forest productivity in cases where other factors are not limiting, resulting in faster tree growth or elevating treelines in mountain regions.

    “However, climate change impacts (including also the effects of increasing atmospheric CO 2 concentration) can, in cases where other factors are not limiting, also increase forest productivity, resulting in, for example, faster tree growth (13) or elevating treelines in mountain regions (14).”

    From Restoring Degraded Lands (2021) · cites this paper as [14]

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Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Trant, A., Higgs, E., & Starzomski, B. M.
Affiliations
  • University of Waterloo (CA)
  • University of Victoria (CA)
Corresponding author
Trant, Andrew
ORCID
Venue
Scientific Reports
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Published
2020-06-16
Volume
10
Issue
1
Pages
9698-9698
ISSN
2045-2322 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1038/s41598-020-66277-2
PMC
PMC7298051
OpenAlex
W3035477168
Cited by
45
References
2
Citations by year
2026: 5 · 2025: 10 · 2024: 6 · 2023: 8 · 2022: 4 · 2021: 10 · 2020: 2
FWCI
1.97
Type
journal article
Language
en
Update notices
correction (2020-11-10)
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • Scientific Reports (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Funders
Gouvernement du Canada | Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (RGPIN-2018-05185)
Topics
  • Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Atmospheric Science › Tree-ring climate responses
  • Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Nature and Landscape Conservation › Ecology and Vegetation Dynamics Studies
  • Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Ecological Modeling › Species Distribution and Climate Change
Keywords
treeline advance, high-altitude ecosystems, Canadian Rocky Mountains, krummholz, tree density, tree form, long-term ecological change, repeat photography, climate change, conservation targets
MeSH terms
Altitude, Canada, Trees, Ecosystem, Climate Change, Forests, Tundra

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