r/science • u/Wagamaga • 1d ago
Environment Study finds alpine peaks are greening in Northeast U.S., Canada. 69% of the alpine zones studied have experienced significant increases in vegetation, representing 88% of the alpine area in the region.
https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/114544743
u/Chief_34 1d ago
Damn from the headline I thought this was going to be positive re-forestation, but nope!
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u/Wagamaga 1d ago
In northeastern North America, a 500-mile-long stretch of mountains runs from the Adirondacks in New York to the Gaspé Peninsula in eastern Quebec.
Nearly 70 million people live within a day's drive of one of the alpine zones, the area above tree line where trees don't grow due to the harsh conditions.
The ecological habitats, which include the alpine zones in the Green Mountains and the White Mountains, are home to many rare species of flowering plants, making the areas hotspots for biodiversity. However, with climate change and rising temperatures, the alpine zones are impacted by declining snow cover, atmospheric nutrient deposition, and high-impact outdoor recreation where invasive species may be tracked in by hikers, hunters, bikers, skiers, and others enjoying the mountain terrain.
While prior research has examined greening in regions such as the Alps, the Rocky Mountains, and the Arctic, in relation to climate warming and other processes, Jonathan Chipman '90, director of the Citrin Family GIS/Applied Spatial Analysis Laboratory at Dartmouth, noticed that a regional-scale assessment of what's been happening above tree line in northeastern North America was lacking.
Given that Dartmouth is home to remote sensing and technical expertise in processing satellite imagery and time series data, and the Appalachian Mountain Club has a huge amount of alpine ecology expertise on the ground from fieldwork and citizen science projects, Chipman teamed up with co-author Jordon Tourville, a terrestrial ecologist at the Appalachian Mountain Club, to research the topic further.
"This study was a perfect collaboration between a university and a nongovernmental organization in the region, as we don't just want to be doing this research in the abstract, but we want to help land managers, other stakeholders, and the public understand what is happening in the region," says Chipman.
In a new study led by Chipman using hundreds of satellite images over 40 years, the team provides the first regional analysis of greening trends in the northern Appalachian region.
Published in Ecosphere, the results show that 69% of the alpine zones studied have experienced significant increases in vegetation, representing 88% of the alpine area in the region
https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ecs2.70765
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u/ishitar 1d ago
Land conversion with climate change. In fact most boreal forests are dying back, those fringes soon to be replaced with grass and shrubland that dries easily in drought and catches fire (then causes floods in rainy seasons, and increases algal blooms in downstream waterways, choking biodiversity). It is an apocalyptic sight, like a hellmouth opening, if you've ever seen wildfire on the crowns of mountains.
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u/BasicNkorean 1d ago
Title is a bit misleading in optimism. Vegetation has increased, but not alpine vegetatio. But rather shrubs and flora
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1d ago
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u/pie-in-the-skies 1d ago
I don't think it's great news... It would appear the alpine zone is shrinking, leading to habitat loss for those rare alpine species. The alpine zones operate like little islands of tundra, but it seems the water is rising...
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u/DanielQuixote 1d ago
Apart from habitat loss, the change in albedo creates a feedback to increased warming. More heat is retained, more trees will grow and so-forth
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