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Contemporary expansion of Siberian larch into the mountain tundra of the Polar Urals

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Abstract

The spatiotemporal dynamics of forest–tundra communities growing in the upper treeline ecotone on the eastern macroslope of the Polar Urals (Rai-Iz mountain massif) influenced by centennial and intracentennial climate changes is analyzed in detail. Particular attention is paid to the expansion of Siberian larch into the mountain tundra for the last 110 years due to climate warming and moistening in the summer and winter periods. To date, the upper treeline has not yet reached those high levels where it grew in the Middle Ages, due to a short period of favorable climate and low availability of Siberian larch seeds in tundra area.

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Correspondence to S. G. Shiyatov.

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Original Russian Text © S.G. Shiyatov, V.S. Mazepa, 2015, published in Ekologiya, 2015, No. 6, pp. 403–410.

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Shiyatov, S.G., Mazepa, V.S. Contemporary expansion of Siberian larch into the mountain tundra of the Polar Urals. Russ J Ecol 46, 495–502 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1134/S1067413615060168

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