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The Biomes of the Coldest Corners of the World

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Biomes of the Southern Hemisphere

Part of the book series: Biome Ecology ((BE,volume 1))

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Abstract

The regions around the polar caps and elevation high enough to produce very cold, sometimes snow and ice-rich conditions, are the coldest corners on our planet. They support relatively species-poor vegetation adapted to seasonal alternation of cold and less cold periods or diurnal alternation of cold nights and hot days. The biomes occurring under such conditions are called tundra (tree-less, moss- and lichen-rich dwarf shrublands and sedgelands) when found beyond the climatic tree line separating vegetation zones. In the case of high mountains, similar biomes occur above the timberline (tree line), separating the alpine belt from the rest of the vegetation on a mountain range. Walter’s zonobiome system recognised only one zonobiome, encompassing all these cold regions—the zonobiome IX (Tundra). The Global Hierarchical Biome System (GHBS) separates the Arctic (A1) and Antarctic (A4) zonobiomes (by splitting Walter’s zonobiome IX) and assigns the respective alpine temperate biomes to the respective zonobiomes A1 and A4. The global biome position of the subtropical and tropical alpine biomes has been confusing. The GHBS presents a novel solution by recognising these biomes at the zonobiome level (the zonobiome A2, Subtropical Alpine Zone and the zonobiome A3, Tropical Alpine Zone), characterised by macroclimatic dynamics of the climatic systems affecting the Tropics and Subtropics. Abandoning the orobiome concept of Walter’s system assisted in developing the new scheme of classification of the alpine biome. The tree line is the crucial climatic and ecological threshold separating the world of the alpine biomes from the rest of the planet’s vegetation. Its position is under the control of many climatic and disturbance factors, modified by the mass-elevation effect (MEE) in many instances. This chapter revisits the MEE phenomenon and suggests new interpretations and ideas to understand the physical nature of the MEE, the influence of exposure and wind shadowing by surrounding mountains on the MEE, the effect of the cloud-belt formation and its relation to the soil nutrient status, nutrient cycling, and carbon residence, and finally the effect of the distance from the sea on the MEE.

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    Ladislav Mucina

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Mucina, L. (2023). The Biomes of the Coldest Corners of the World. In: Biomes of the Southern Hemisphere. Biome Ecology, vol 1. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-26739-0_7

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