TREELINE

Sensitivity and Response of the Treeline Ecotone in Rolwaling Himal, Nepal, to Climate Warming

11/07/2012

Integrating field sampling/mapping, experimental treatments, remote sensing, geostatistics, GIS applications, and GIS-integrated modelling, the project aims at investigating the sensitivity and response of the treeline ecotone in Rolwaling Himal, Nepal, to climate warming using a landscape approach. Treeline response will be analysed focusing on spatially differentiated patterns and processes. Correlating varied responses to landscape- and local-scale site conditions and mechanisms (geomorphic controls, soil physical and chemical conditions, plant interactions associated with facilitation, competition, feedback systems) will then allow inferences on how the region-wide climate warming input and finer-scale modulators interact to govern non-uniform treeline response patterns. Building on that, scenarios of treeline dynamics under climate warming will be developed.