PROTECTED AREAS

Alpine Tundra: a particularly productive ecosystem between cryosphere and forest

Alpine tundra is a type of biome found on high altitude, which is too cold and windy to support tree growth. Alpine tundra occurs in mountains worldwide, and the climate there is similar to polar climates. The dry adiabatic lapse rate is 10 °C per km of elevation or altitude. The flora of the alpine tundra is characterized by dwarf shrubs close to the ground. Because the habitat of alpine vegetation is subject to intense radiation, wind, cold, snow, and ice; it grows close to the ground and consists mainly of perennial grasses, sedges, and forbs. They have much more root and rhizome biomass than that of shoots, leaves, and flowers. Large regions of alpine tundra occur in the Himalayas in Asia, American Cordillera in North and South America, the Alps, the Scandinavian mountains and Pyrenees of Europe, the Caucasus Mountains, the Rift Mountains of Africa, and a large portion of the Tibetan Plateau.