A Bioclimatic Characterisation of Europe’s Alpine Areas

Abstract

Introduction The natural high altitude treeline, thoe sole bio-reference for defining the alpine zon, integrates local thermal conditions in such a way that it occurs at equal temperatures, at both European and glocal scales (Körner 1998). This is seen by its occurrence at progressively lower elevations along a northward latitudinal gradient. Does this mean in pracitce that, for example, a Norwegian fellfield offers comparable life contitions to that of a Macedonian alpine heath? For our study, it was of interest if what in varius localities in Europe has been referred to as alpine did indeed represent a quantetatively comparable environment. We undertook a concerted programme of biocliamtological data collection spannin 30 degrees in latitude across Europe between 1998 and 2000. We report the results of soil temperatures measured 10 cm belowground at 23 sites in the alpine zone of European mountain systems. As will be discussed below, ground temperature is the single best surrogate of the alpine bioclimate in general.