The Ecological Processes and Landscape Patterns at Alpine Treeline Ecotone
YANG Zhenlin,  SHI Peili

1. 中国科学院地理科学与资源研究所，北京100101； 2. 中国科学院研究生院，北京 100039

Abstract

The Alpine Treeline Ecotone (ATE) indicates the characteristics of the complicated ecosystems in the mountainous environment. It can also reflect the transition of the lower vegetations to the alpine vegetations. The location of the treeline is the result of a combination of a great number of unfavorable conditions for tree regeneration, seedling establishment and tree growth. For the sensitivity of the ATE to the climate change, ATE has become a hot topic in the alpine environmental and global change research. Recently, the landscape patterns and ecological processes of the ATE are mainly two aspects of the researches in the ATE. The researches majored in the landscape patterns of the ATE focus mainly on the landscape pattern of the ATE. And the researches majored in ecological processes of the ATE focus mainly on the formation mechanisms of the treeline. The development of GIS enhances the integration of the pattern and process of the ATE, and provides a useful tool to evaluate the relative importance of the biotic and abiotic factors in the research of the ATE.
Keywords: treeline ecotone ecological process; landscape pattern; global change