Subalpine grasslands support biodiversity, agriculture, and tourism but their resilience to extreme climatic events is challenged accelerating vulnerability tipping points. Microbial communities, central in ecosystem functioning, are usually considered more resistant highly resilient albeit functional redundancy strong selection by local harsh conditions. This study explored the soil microbial ...

Like many other high elevation alpine tree species, Rocky Mountain bristlecone pine (Pinus aristata Engelm.) may be particularly vulnerable to climate change. To evaluate its potential vulnerability to shifts in climate, we defined the suitable climate space for each of four genetic lineages of bristlecone pine and for other subalpine tree species in close proximity to bristlecone pine forests....

In the 6 yr following the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens in Washington state, vascular plant invasion of barren substrates in subalpine habitats has been limited despite the proximity of seed sources from resprouted vegetation. From 1983 to 1985 we counted 1st-yr seedlings and estimated percent cover of adults in grids of permanent plots located across the ecotone between residual vegetation...

The Great Khingan Mountain range, Northeast China, is located on the northern limit of modern East Asian Summer Monsoon (EASM) and thus highly sensitive to the extension of the EASM from glacial to interglacial modes. Here, we present a high-resolution pollen record covering the last glacial maximum and the early Holocene from a closed crater Lake Moon to reconstruct vegetation history during t...

Montane and subalpine grasslands are prominent, but poorly understood, features of the Rocky Mountains. These communities frequently occur below reversed tree lines on valley floors, where nightly cold air accumulation is spatially coupled with fine soil texture. We used field experiments to assess the roles of minimum temperature, soil texture, grass competition, and ungulate browsing on the g...