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Comparative analysis of the mass elevation effect and its implication for the treeline between the Tibetan and Bolivian plateaus based on solar radiation

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Abstract

As one of the main non-zonal factors, the mass elevation effect (MEE) has significant impacts on both regional climates and mountain ecological patterns. In recent years, with the development of quantitative techniques and methods, quantitative studies on the MEE and its implication on mountain altitudinal belts have developed rapidly. However, some issues have not been solved yet, such as high errors in spatial temperature estimations and difficulties in the definition and extraction of intramountain base elevation. Moreover, there is still a lack of comparative studies on the MEE and its influence on treelines and snowlines as most studies were conducted on specific mountains or plateaus. To compare the MEE magnitudes of the Tibetan Plateau (TP) and the Bolivian Plateau (BP), we estimated the correspondent air temperatures and simulated the solar radiations based on MODIS surface temperature, station observation, and treeline data. Then, we analyzed the elevation of the 10°C isotherms on the two plateaus, the temperatures at the same elevation, and the solar radiations. According to the mechanism of the MEE and the relationship of solar radiation and treeline, we constructed treeline models for the two plateaus through a stepwise regression analysis by considering several influencing factors of the MEE (e.g., air temperature and precipitation) and using solar radiation as its proxy. The results showed that: (1) the MEE magnitude on the TP is equivalent to that on the BP although the former is slightly higher than the latter; (2) the MEE strongly influences the highest treelines in the northern and southern hemispheres, which both occur on the two plateaus. Notably, the treeline distribution models based on solar radiation had higher accuracies than those models with parameters of temperature and precipitation (the adjusted R2 values were 0.76 for the TP and 0.936 for the BP), indicating that solar radiation can be used to quantify the MEE and its implications on treelines. Overall, the results of this study can serve as a basis for subsequent analyses on the MEE’s impact factors.

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 41871350, 41571099) and the Scientific and Technological Basic Resources Survey Project (Grant No. 2017FY100900). The authors wish to thank Prof. ZHANG Baiping from the Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, for providing the treeline data. Our appreciation also goes to two anonymous reviewers, whose comments and suggestions have helped to greatly improve the manuscript.

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  1. State Key Laboratory of Resource and Environmental Information System, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101, China

    Yong-hui Yao & Yi-chi Zhang

  2. Qinghai National Park, Scientific Research Monitoring and Evaluation Center, Xining, 810000, China

    Nan-dong-zhu Suo

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  1. Yong-hui Yao
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  2. Nan-dong-zhu Suo
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Correspondence to Yong-hui Yao.

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Yao, Yh., Suo, Ndz. & Zhang, Yc. Comparative analysis of the mass elevation effect and its implication for the treeline between the Tibetan and Bolivian plateaus based on solar radiation. J. Mt. Sci. 19, 1082–1094 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11629-021-6971-4

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