地理学报(英文版)

›› 2014, Vol. 24 ›› Issue (2): 226-236.doi: 10.1007/s11442-014-1084-4

• Research Articles • 上一篇    下一篇

A study of the contribution of mass elevation effect to the altitudinal distribution of timberline in the Northern Hemisphere

ZHAO Fang1,2, ZHANG Baiping1, PANG Yu3, YAO Yonghui1   

  1. 1. Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, CAS, Beijing 100101, China;
    2. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China;
    3. College of Resources Environment and Tourism, Anyang Normal University, Anyang 455000, Henan, China
  • 收稿日期:2013-07-10 修回日期:2013-08-12 出版日期:2014-04-15 发布日期:2014-03-24
  • 通讯作者: Zhang Baiping (1963-）, Professor, E-mail：zhangbp@lreis.ac.cn E-mail:zhangbp@lreis.ac.cn
  • 作者简介:Zhao Fang (1984-), PhD, specialized in GIS/RS application and mountain environment. E-mail：zhaofang@ lreis.ac.cn
  • 基金资助:

    National Natural Science Foundation of China, No.41030528; No.40971064

A study of the contribution of mass elevation effect to the altitudinal distribution of timberline in the Northern Hemisphere

ZHAO Fang1,2, ZHANG Baiping1, PANG Yu3, YAO Yonghui1   

  1. 1. Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, CAS, Beijing 100101, China;
    2. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China;
    3. College of Resources Environment and Tourism, Anyang Normal University, Anyang 455000, Henan, China
  • Received:2013-07-10 Revised:2013-08-12 Online:2014-04-15 Published:2014-03-24
  • Contact: Zhang Baiping (1963-）, Professor, E-mail：zhangbp@lreis.ac.cn E-mail:zhangbp@lreis.ac.cn
  • About author:Zhao Fang (1984-), PhD, specialized in GIS/RS application and mountain environment. E-mail：zhaofang@ lreis.ac.cn
  • Supported by:

    National Natural Science Foundation of China, No.41030528; No.40971064

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被引次数

6

摘要：

Alpine timberline,as the "ecological transition zone," has long attracted the attention of scientists in many fields,especially in recent years. Many unitary and dibasic fitting models have been developed to explore the relationship between timberline elevation and latitude or temperature. However,these models are usually on regional scale and could not be applied to other regions;on the other hand,hemispherical-scale and continental-scale models are usually based on about 100 timberline data and are necessarily low in precision. The present article collects 516 data sites of timberline,and takes latitude,continentality and mass elevation effect (MEE) as independent variables and timberline elevation as dependent variable to develop a ternary linear regression model. Continentality is calculated using the meteorological data released by WorldClim and mountain base elevation (as a proxy of mass elevation effect) is extracted on the basis of SRTM 90-meter resolution elevation data. The results show that the coefficient of determination (R2) of the linear model is as high as 0.904,and that the contribution rate of latitude,continentality and MEE to timberline elevation is 45.02% (p=0.000),6.04% (p=0.000) and 48.94% (p=0.000),respectively. This means that MEE is simply the primary factor contributing to the elevation distribution of timberline on the continental and hemispherical scales. The contribution rate of MEE to timberline altitude differs in different regions,e.g.,50.49% (p=0.000) in North America,48.73% (p=0.000) in the eastern Eurasia,and 43.6% (p=0.000) in the western Eurasia,but it is usually very high.

关键词: Northern Hemisphere, altitudinal distribution of timberline, mass elevation effect, mountain base elevation, multiple linear regression

Abstract:

Alpine timberline,as the "ecological transition zone," has long attracted the attention of scientists in many fields,especially in recent years. Many unitary and dibasic fitting models have been developed to explore the relationship between timberline elevation and latitude or temperature. However,these models are usually on regional scale and could not be applied to other regions;on the other hand,hemispherical-scale and continental-scale models are usually based on about 100 timberline data and are necessarily low in precision. The present article collects 516 data sites of timberline,and takes latitude,continentality and mass elevation effect (MEE) as independent variables and timberline elevation as dependent variable to develop a ternary linear regression model. Continentality is calculated using the meteorological data released by WorldClim and mountain base elevation (as a proxy of mass elevation effect) is extracted on the basis of SRTM 90-meter resolution elevation data. The results show that the coefficient of determination (R2) of the linear model is as high as 0.904,and that the contribution rate of latitude,continentality and MEE to timberline elevation is 45.02% (p=0.000),6.04% (p=0.000) and 48.94% (p=0.000),respectively. This means that MEE is simply the primary factor contributing to the elevation distribution of timberline on the continental and hemispherical scales. The contribution rate of MEE to timberline altitude differs in different regions,e.g.,50.49% (p=0.000) in North America,48.73% (p=0.000) in the eastern Eurasia,and 43.6% (p=0.000) in the western Eurasia,but it is usually very high.

Key words: Northern Hemisphere, altitudinal distribution of timberline, mass elevation effect, mountain base elevation, multiple linear regression