Chemistry Reference
In-Depth Information
and, by the last 30 years of the 21
st
century, they predict that the species will be
absent from most of its current range. By 2050, there is likely to be a significant
decrease in its distribution, especially in central Oregon and Washington,
British Columbia and the western side of the Rocky Mountains, so that by
2080 lodgepole pine is projected to be gone from Oregon, Washington and
Idaho (Figure 2). The most restricting factor in the pine persistence is soil
water.
As the climate warms, tree species are expected to migrate to higher altitudes
and higher latitudes into areas previously characterised by low temperatures.
The compositions of high-elevation forests are changing rapidly.
15
Altitudinal
tree lines are seen as the most sensitive to global warming, because historic
temperature decreases at higher altitudes have been the main limitation on tree
lines globally.
73
As temperatures increase, altitude becomes a less reliable
predictor of tree-line limitation. In the Andes, Chile, Patagonia and the Rocky
Mountains of Montana, tree growth at tree lines did increase in brief pulses
with subsequent infilling over several centuries, but, in the past fifty years,
d
n
1
r
2
n
g
|
8
Figure 2
This map shows the lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta) projected range
contraction in North America between the present and 2080.
72
(An
interactive version of this map and other maps of future species
distribution simulations can be found at: http://app.databasin.org/app/
pages/galleryPage.jsp?id5896ee1c381fd4a50b5f811b4b11c0898).
