World's Mountain Research Articles

Ant impacts on global patterns of bird elevational diversity.

Using data on bird species elevational distributions from the world's mountain ranges, bird diets, and the distribution of the ant genus Oecophylla, we report that global patterns in bird elevational diversity show signals of competition with ants. Oecophylla is an abundant and effective predator of invertebrates, preying on the same species that invertivorous birds feed on. In mountain ranges with Oecophylla present in the foothills, the maximum species richness of invertivorous birds (but not other trophic guilds) occurs, on average, at 960 m, ca. 450 m higher than in mountain ranges without Oecophylla, resulting in a mid-elevation peak in bird species richness. Where Oecophylla is absent, bird species richness for all guilds generally show monotonic declines with increasing elevation. We argue that Oecophylla reduces prey density for invertivorous birds and that low prey abundance reduces invertivorous bird density, which in turn is correlated with lower bird species richness. These findngs suggest that competition between distantly related taxa can set range limits, leading to emergent diversity patterns over large scales.

Biodiversity hotspot assessment in the Altai Mountains transboundary region based on Mammals and Aves.

Most of the world's mountains are distributed across national boundaries. However, due to the sovereignty of national boundaries, conservation plans between neighboring countries are often uncoordinated. Against the backdrop of impending environmental changes, transboundary mountain ecosystems and biodiversity face significant threats. This study employs the MaxEnt model, leveraging data on climate, topography, landscape, and human activities to predict potential distribution areas for mammals and birds, aiming to identify biodiversity hotspots (BHs) and analyze their distribution mechanisms in the Altai Mountains transboundary region (AMTR). Results indicate that BHs are primarily located near the Russian-Mongolian border, significantly influenced by climate variables, elevation, and human activities. The study also highlights changes in key habitat types (KHTs), particularly transitions between grassland and bareland, and the impact of climate-driven land cover change on the distribution of BHs. Furthermore, the research evaluates the coverage of protected areas and emphasizes the importance of identifying key biodiversity areas (KBAs) and establishing transboundary corridors for enhanced species protection and future environmental change adaptation. The findings underscore the necessity of transboundary cooperation and focused strategies for biodiversity conservation to mitigate the adverse effects of climate change and human activities.

"My Reputation is at Stake." Humboldt's Mountain Plant Geography in the Making (1803-1825).

Alexander von Humboldt's depictions of mountain vegetation are among the most iconic nineteenth century illustrations in the biological sciences. Here we analyse the contemporary context and empirical data for all these depictions, namely the Tableau physique des Andes (1803, 1807), the Geographiae plantarum lineamenta (1815), the Tableau physique des Îles Canaries (1817), and the Esquisse de la Géographie des plantes dans les Andes de Quito (1824/1825). We show that the Tableau physique des Andes does not reflect Humboldt and Bonpland's field data and presents a flawed depiction of plant occurrences and vertical succession of vegetation belts, arising from Humboldt's misreading of La Condamine's description (1751). Humboldt's 1815 depiction, by contrast, shows a distribution of high-vegetation belts that is consistent with La Condamine's description, while the 1824 depiction drops innovations made in 1815 and returns to simply showing numerous species' names, thus not applying Humboldt's own earlier zonation framework. Our analysis of contemporary reactions to Humboldt's TPA includes Francis Hall's posthumously published 1834 illustration of Andean plant zonation near Quito and Humboldt's reaction to Hall's critique. Throughout his work on plant geography, Humboldt disregarded some of his own observations, or confused them. At stake was his reputation as an innovator in the field of plant geography and a discoverer of the sequence of high-elevation vegetation belts on the world's mountains.

Melting Alpine Water Towers Aggravate Downstream Low Flows: A Stress‐Test Storyline Approach

AbstractDroughts can lead to extreme low flow situations in rivers, with resulting severe impacts. Upstream snow and ice melt in many of the world's mountain water towers can alleviate the hydrological consequences of drought, yet global warming threatens the cryosphere. To improve the understanding of melt water contributions during drought in the case of future glacier retreat, we developed stress‐test storyline scenarios to model streamflow and tested them in the European river Rhine basin. Meteorological conditions of past drought and low flow years in Europe, 1976, 2003, and 2018, were repeated at three future moments in time, representing nowadays, near future and far future conditions. The latter two conditions were obtained by climate projections under the RCP8.5 scenario. Results show that the low flow situations caused by the meteorological drought situations aggravate in future conditions, more so for the far future and for the year 2003 because of the relatively large glacier ice melt contribution in the past. Summer (July–September) streamflow may decline by 5%–25% far downstream and 30%–70% upstream and the duration of extreme low flow situations may double compared to the selected past drought events. These results are relevant for the Rhine as a major European river but stand exemplary for many other river basins and highlight the importance of cryospheric changes for downstream low flow situations in a changing climate. The stress‐test scenarios allow a glimpse into future extreme low flow events aiding adaptation planning, and might be adapted to include other important low flow drivers.

Coverage of In Situ Climatological Observations in the World's Mountains

Many mountainous environments and ecosystems around the world are responding rapidly to ongoing climate change. Long-term climatological time-series from such regions are crucial for developing improving understanding of the mechanisms driving such changes and ultimately delivering more reliable future impact projections to environmental managers and other decision makers. Whilst it is already established that high elevation regions tend to be comparatively under-sampled, detailed spatial and other patterns in the coverage of mountain climatological data have not yet been comprehensively assessed on a global basis. To begin to address this deficiency, we analyse the coverage of mountainous records from the Global Historical Climatological Network-Daily (GHCNd) inventory with respect to space, time, and elevation. Three key climate-related variables—air temperature, precipitation, and snow depth—are considered across 292 named mountain ranges. Several additional datasets are also introduced to characterize data coverage relative to topographic, hydrological, and socio-economic factors. Spatial mountain data coverage is found to be highly uneven, with station densities in several “Water Tower Units” that were previously identified as having great hydrological importance to society being especially low. Several mountainous regions whose elevational distribution is severely undersampled by GHCNd stations are identified, and mountain station density is shown to be only weakly related to the human population or economic output of the corresponding downstream catchments. Finally, we demonstrate the capabilities of a script (which is provided in the Supplementary Material) to produce detailed assessments of individual records' temporal coverage and measurement quality information. Overall, our contribution should help international authorities and regional stakeholders identify areas, variables, and other monitoring-related considerations that should be prioritized for infrastructure and capacity investment. Finally, the transparent and reproducible approach taken will enable the analysis to be rapidly repeated for subsequent versions of GHCNd, and could act as a basis for similar analyses using other spatial reporting boundaries and/or environmental monitoring station networks.

Regime Shifts in Glacier and Ice Sheet Response to Climate Change: Examples From the Northern Hemisphere

Glaciers and ice sheets are experiencing dramatic changes in response to recent climate change. This is true in both mountain and polar regions, where the extreme sensitivity of the cryosphere to warming temperatures may be exacerbated by amplification of global climate change. For glaciers and ice sheets, this sensitivity is due to a number of non-linear and threshold processes within glacier mass balance and glacier dynamics. Some of this is simply tied to the freezing point of water; snow and ice are no longer viable above 0°C, so a gradual warming that crosses this threshold triggers the onset of melting or gives rise to an abrupt regime shift between snowfall and rainfall. Other non-linear, temperature-dependent processes are more subtle, such as the evolution from polythermal to temperate ice, which supports faster ice flow, a shift from meltwater retention to runoff in temperate or ice-rich (i.e., heavily melt-affected) firn, and transitions from sublimation to melting under warmer and more humid atmospheric conditions. As melt seasons lengthen, there is also a longer snow-free season and an expansion of glacier ablation area, with the increased exposure of low-albedo ice non-linearly increasing melt rates and meltwater runoff. This can be accentuated by increased concentration of particulate matter associated with algal activity, dust loading from adjacent deglaciated terrain, and deposition of impurities from industrial and wildfire activity. The loss of ice and darkening of glaciers represent an effective transition from white to grey in the world's mountain regions. This article discusses these transitions and regime shifts in the context of challenges to model and project glacier and ice sheet response to climate change.

Vulnerability assessments of mountain forest ecosystems: A global synthesis

The present study synthesizes existing literature on Forest Ecosystem Vulnerability (FEV) assessments across the world's mountain regions. The synthesis reveals a globally substantial number of studies are available on FEV assessment. However, such studies are limited in the mountain regions. Of the total 75 peer-reviewed research papers considered for synthesis, there are 61 (81.32%) studies specific to the country, 6 (8%) to continental, 4 (5.34%) to global scales, and the remaining 4 (5.34%) to local. The study results reveal that most assessments are model-based projections, where complex topography of mountains creates uncertainty for climate projections in limited analyses of socio-ecological indicators. Only a few studies (12%) have considered socio-ecological and ground-based data, which are primarily required for adaptation and management planning at the local level. Overall synthesis of literature provided vital information on climate change impacts and suggested management and adaptation plans but was far from a broad reality for the future of the mountain ecosystem under the paradox of climate change. Scales, targets, indicators, and assessment approaches varied widely and focused on only a subset of resources. We recommend forest managers should critically examine the scale, indicators, methods, and targets when planning forest vulnerability assessments. This synthesis of FEV assessment will help suggest the best approaches and indicators given the limited number of model studies in the mountain area for decision and policy making for forest resource management.

Hydration Strategies for Physical Activity and Endurance Events at High (>2500 m) Altitude: A Practical Management Article

A growing number of adventurous athletes are seeking new challenges through endurance events or physical activities held at high altitude (>2500 m). This coincides with a significant increase in the numbers of trekkers who ascend into the world's mountains. Altitude itself influences and complicates the athlete's effective and safe hydration. This article considers the physiology of adaptation to altitude and the effects on hydration at altitude compared with sea level, reviews the "ad libitum versus programmed hydration" controversy in conventional endurance event hydration, examines the evidence for extrapolation of sea level hydration strategies to the high-altitude environment, and synthesizes these disparate factors into a set of practical recommendations for hydration management during high-altitude physical activity. The guidelines will be relevant to participants of physical activity at altitude and health care staff who may care for them in the preparation or performance phases of their adventure.

How much snow falls in the world's mountains? A first look at mountain snowfall estimates in A-train observations and reanalyses

Abstract. CloudSat estimates that 1773 km3 of snow falls, on average, each year over the world's mountains. This amounts to 5 % of the global snowfall accumulations. This study synthetizes mountain snowfall estimates over the four continents containing mountains (Eurasia, North America, South America and Africa), comparing snowfall estimates from a new satellite cloud-radar-based dataset to those from four widely used reanalyses: Modern-Era Retrospective analysis for Research and Applications (MERRA), MERRA-2, Japanese 55-year Reanalysis (JRA-55), and European Center for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts Re-Analysis (ERA-Interim). Globally, the fraction of snow that falls in the world's mountains is very similar between all these independent datasets (4 %–5 %), providing confidence in this estimate. The fraction of snow that falls in the mountains compared to the continent as a whole is also very similar between the different datasets. However, the total of snow that falls globally and over each continent – the critical factor governing freshwater availability in these regions – varies widely between datasets. The consensus in fractions and the dissimilarities in magnitude could indicate that large-scale forcings may be similar in the five datasets, while local orographic enhancements at smaller scales may not be captured. This may have significant implications for our ability to diagnose regional trends in snowfall and its impacts on snowpack in rapidly evolving alpine environments.

(ADHVC) VIRGINEVSQVE HELICON: A SUBTEXTUAL RAPE IN OVID'S CATALOGUE OF MOUNTAINS (MET. 2.219)

In his lengthy survey of the cosmic devastation wrought by Phaethon's disastrous chariot ride, Ovid includes two catalogues detailing the scorching of the world's mountains (Met. 2.217–26) and rivers (2.241–59). Ovid enlivens these lists through his usual play with sound patterns and revels in the opportunity to adapt so many Greek names to Latin prosody; for instance the opening line of the catalogue of mountains (ardet Athos Taurusque Cilix et Tmolus et Oete, 2.217) masterfully illustrates both of these features. The lists are also brimming with playful erudition. To take but a few examples: a dried-up Ida belies its standard epithet πολυπῖδαξ, ‘many-fountained’ (2.218); the sun's heat doubles the flames of volcanic Etna (2.220); burning Xanthus is destined to burn again (2.245; cf. Hom. Il. 21.330–82); and the famous gold-bearing sands of the Tagus are melting (2.251). These features not only ‘relieve monotony’; they warrant the catalogues’ inclusion in the category of Ovid's most entertaining.

Atmospheric flow deflection in the late Cenozoic Sierra Nevada

Given the intimate links between topography, tectonics, climate, and biodiversity, considerable effort has been devoted to developing robust climate and elevation histories of orogens. In particular, quantitative geochemical reconstructions using stable oxygen and hydrogen isotopes have been applied to many of the world's mountain belts. Recent advances in atmospheric modeling have suggested that such stable isotope records from leeward sites can be affected by the complicating role that sufficiently elevated topography such as the southern (High) Sierra plays in diverting atmospheric circulation. While such “terrain blocking” effects are a hallmark feature of modern atmospheric circulation in the Sierra, their evolution remains poorly constrained. In order to examine the history of these terrain blocking effects, we developed stable isotope records from three late Cenozoic sedimentary basins in the Eastern Sierra and Basin and Range: 1) Authigenic clay minerals in the Mio-Pliocene Verdi Basin (VB) near present-day Reno, Nevada, 2) Fluvial and lacustrine carbonates from the Plio-Pleistocene Coso Basin (CB) in the southern Owens Valley, and 3) Miocene to Holocene pedogenic, fluvial and lacustrine carbonates of Fish Lake Valley (FLV). Whereas both the VB and CB are proximal to the Sierra crest, FLV is a distal leeward site east of the White and Inyo Mountains in the Basin and Range. The CB oxygen isotope record exhibits an increase of 1-2‰ over the last 6 Myr while VB and FLV show no significant change. These results suggest that terrain blocking around the southern Sierra initiated prior to the late Cenozoic, though it may have been modestly enhanced during the last 6 Ma.

Catalyzing Transformations to Sustainability in the World's Mountains

AbstractMountain social‐ecological systems (MtSES) are vital to humanity, providing ecosystem services to over half the planet's human population. Despite their importance, there has been no global assessment of threats to MtSES, even as they face unprecedented challenges to their sustainability. With survey data from 57 MtSES sites worldwide, we test a conceptual model of the types and scales of stressors and ecosystem services in MtSES and explore their distinct configurations according to their primary economic orientation and land use. We find that MtSES worldwide are experiencing both gradual and abrupt climatic, economic, and governance changes, with policies made by outsiders as the most ubiquitous challenge. Mountains that support primarily subsistence‐oriented livelihoods, especially agropastoral systems, deliver abundant services but are also most at risk. Moreover, transitions from subsistence‐ to market‐oriented economies are often accompanied by increased physical connectedness, reduced diversity of cross‐scale ecosystem services, lowered importance of local knowledge, and shifting vulnerabilities to threats. Addressing the complex challenges facing MtSES and catalyzing transformations to MtSES sustainability will require cross‐scale partnerships among researchers, stakeholders, and decision makers to jointly identify desired futures and adaptation pathways, assess trade‐offs in prioritizing ecosystem services, and share best practices for sustainability. These transdisciplinary approaches will allow local stakeholders, researchers, and practitioners to jointly address MtSES knowledge gaps while simultaneously focusing on critical issues of poverty and food security.

Changes in ice volume of the Ningchan No.1 Glacier, China, from 1972 to 2014, as derived from in situ measurements

ABSTRACTGlobal climate change is causing widespread glacier retreat, with many small glaciers disappearing from the world's mountain ranges. We obtained the annual mass balance of a small glacier (the Ningchan No.1 Glacier) located on the northeastern Tibetan Plateau, from the years 2010 to 2015 using glaciological and geodetic methods. We also measured the glacier's thickness in 2014 using ground-penetrating radar. Employing topographical maps and ZY-3 images, we obtained Digital Elevation Models for 1972 and 2014. Our results showed that the mean annual mass balance from 2010 to 2015 was ~−0.9 ± 0.5 m w.e. The mean equilibrium line altitude was ~4680 m in the period 2010–15, which exceeds the maximum elevation of the glacier. The glacier has lost area and mass across its elevation range. The mean ice thickness was 24.0 ± 2.5 m in 2014. From 1972 to 2014, the glacier's area shrank from 0.77 ± 0.05 to 0.39 ± 0.04 km2, and the ice volume decreased by (14.96 ± 0.97) × 106 m3, equivalent to (12.72 ± 0.82) × 106 t w.e. over the same period.

South China Sea: the gateway to China's deep-sea ambitions

Abstract For most parts of its history, China has largely turned its back on ocean exploration. Even after it started oceanographic research in the 1950s, the focus was mostly on coastal and offshore waters. But this changed a decade ago when the country began to invest heavily on deep-sea research—resulting in the launch in 2011 of its first multi-disciplinary deep-sea research programme called the South China Sea (SCS)-Deep to probe the mystery of this marginal sea. Covering an area of 3.5 million square kilometres and with a maximum depth of 5500 metres, SCS occupies a scientifically interesting position between the world's highest mountains, the Himalayas, and the deepest point on Earth, the Mariana Trench in the western Pacific Ocean. In a forum organized by National Science Review at the Annual Conference of the South China Sea-Deep Programme held in January in Shanghai, a panel of scientists explained what China's deep-sea ambitions are, why SCS is a fantastic natural laboratory, the importance of international collaboration, what China needs to do to develop cutting-edge marine technologies and how SCS could be an ideal platform for regional cooperation. Nianzhi Jiao an ecologist at Xiamen University, Xiamen, China Dongxiao Wang a physical oceanographer at South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, China Jian Lin a marine geophysicist at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, Massachusetts, USA, and South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, China Pinxian Wang a paleoceanographer at Tongji University, Shanghai, China Jiwei Tian a physical oceanographer at Ocean University of China, Qingdao, China Aiqun Zhang chief engineer at the Institute of Deep Sea Science and Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Sanya, China

Framing the Human Dimensions of Mountain Systems: Integrating Social Science Paradigms for a Global Network of Mountain Observatories

The Global Network of Mountain Observatories (GNOMO) is an international initiative seeking to increase communication and collaboration and align methodologies to assess commonalities and differences across the world's mountain landscapes. Oriented toward sustainable mountain development, GNOMO requires the integration of social and natural sciences, as well as a diverse array of stakeholder perspectives. This paper highlights challenges associated with integrating social sciences because of the inherent paradigmatic differences within the social sciences. The value orientations of mountain researchers, as well as the divergent societal and institutional values regarding mountains, create a need for new approaches to observing mountain landscapes. A framework is presented to organize complex information about mountain social–ecological systems based on human conditions (from vulnerability to wellbeing), environmental actions (from degradation to stewardship), and environmental conditions that vary across ...

Synergies and trade-offs between ecosystem services in an alpine ecosystem grazed by sheep – An experimental approach

Domestic livestock drives ecosystem changes in many of the world's mountain regions, and can be the dominant influence on soil, habitat and wildlife dynamics. Grazing impacts on ecosystem services (ES) vary according to densities of sheep, but an ES framework accounting for these is lacking. We devised an experiment to evaluate synergies and trade-offs of ESs and components of biodiversity affected by sheep density at the alpine landscape scale in southern Norway. We examined the effects of increased (80 per km2), decreased (0 per km2) and maintained sheep densities (25 per km2) on ‘supporting’, ‘regulating’ and ‘provisioning’ services and biodiversity (plants, invertebrates and birds). Overall, ESs and biodiversity were highest at maintained sheep density. Regulating services, including carbon storage and habitat openness, were particularly favoured by maintained densities of sheep. There was no overall decline in ESs from maintained to increased sheep densities, but several services, such as runoff water quality, plant productivity and carbon storage, declined when grazing increased. Our study provides experimental evidence for a positive effect of grazing on ES, but only at maintained low sheep densities. By identifying ES and biodiversity components that are traded-off at decreased and increased grazing, our study also demonstrates some of the negative impacts on ecosystems that can occur in mountain regions if management does not regulate herbivore densities.

Estimating the spatial distribution of snow water equivalent in the world's mountains

Estimating the spatial distribution of snow water equivalent (SWE) in mountainous terrain is currently the most important unsolved problem in snow hydrology. Several methods can estimate the amount of snow throughout a mountain range: (1) Spatial interpolation from surface sensors constrained by remotely sensed snow extent provides a consistent answer, with uncertainty related to extrapolation to unrepresented locations. (2) The remotely sensed date of disappearance of snow is combined with a melt calculation to reconstruct the SWE back to the last significant snowfall. (3) Passive microwave sensors offer real‐time global SWE estimates but suffer from several problems like subpixel variability in the mountains. (4) A numerical model combined with assimilated surface observations produces SWE at 1‐km resolution at continental scales, but depends heavily on a surface network. (5) New methods continue to be explored, for example, airborne LiDAR altimetry provides direct measurements of snow depth, which are combined with modelled snow density to estimate SWE. While the problem is aggressively addressed, the right answer remains elusive. Good characterization of the snow is necessary to make informed choices about water resources and adaptation to climate change and variability. WIREs Water 2016, 3:461–474. doi: 10.1002/wat2.1140This article is categorized under: Science of Water > Methods

The comparative tableau of mountains and rivers: emulation and reappraisal of a popular 19th-century visualization design

The ‘comparative tableau of mountains and rivers’ is a recently ‘rediscovered’ cartographic layout, aiming to illustrate the size distributions of the world's highest mountains and longest rivers. Its ‘river’ component is basically a barplot of the rivers’ unbent shapes, retaining a ‘thick’ cartographic description of their immediate hinterland. This display was a common feature of French and Anglo-American atlases during most of the 19th century, before it fell totally into disfavour, supplanted by more watershedcentred approaches. The paper is a critical assessment of the design principles of this visualization, via a modern emulation based on generic GIS rubbersheeting algorithms. A recreation of the chart of the world's longest rivers allows for a showcasing of the characteristics of the layout, its intellectual framing, and its political uses. Beyond a discussion of the approach's limitations, its innovative merits are demonstrated with two mapping applications on the evolution of landcover and administrative zonings alongside the Garonne River (southwest France), highlighting complex relationships of human societies along the streams of ‘their’ rivers.

The ubiquity of alpine plant radiations: from the Andes to the Hengduan Mountains.

Alpine plant radiations are compared across the world's major mountain ranges and shown to be overwhelmingly young and fast, largely confined to the Pliocene and Pleistocene, and some of them apparently in the early explosive phase of radiation. Accelerated diversification triggered by island-like ecological opportunities following the final phases of mountain uplift, and in many cases enabled by the key adaptation of perennial habit, provides a general model for alpine plant radiations. Accelerated growth form evolution facilitated by perenniality provides compelling evidence of ecological release and suggests striking parallels between island-like alpine, and especially tropicalpine radiations, and island radiations more generally. These parallels suggest that the world's mountains offer an excellent comparative system for explaining evolutionary radiation.

Global Distribution of Cryosols with Mountain Permafrost: An Overview

About 30 per cent of the mountain soils with permafrost have an active layer depth (ALD) of less than 1 or 2 m and, therefore, can be classified as Cryosols. Mountain Cryosols have a total area of approximately 1.26 million km2 and account for approximately 12 per cent of the Cryosols worldwide. An ALD of less than 2 m appears to occur only where the mean annual air temperature is < -6 °C. There is a negative correlation (R = 0.86; p <0.001) between latitude (°N) and elevation (m) at which the ALD occurs at less than 2 m. Mountain Cryosols are most abundant in the western Cordillera of the USA and Canada (360 000 km2), the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau of China (280 000 km2), Greenland (185 000 km2), the Yablonoi-Sayan-Stanovoi Mountains of Russia (153 000 km2) and the Ural Mountains of Russia (90 000 km2). Despite that the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau contains 70 per cent of the world's mountain permafrost, only about 20 per cent of the soils are Cryosols, because they are limited to areas above 5100 m asl. Cryosols occur in the central Andes above 4900 m asl and in the southern Andes above 1000 m asl. Potential impacts of recent climate warming on mountain permafrost and Cryosols are discussed. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.