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An Alpine chough in flight at 3,900 m (12,800 ft). Organisms can live at high altitude, either on land, in water, or while flying.Decreased oxygen availability and decreased temperature make life at such altitudes challenging, though many species have been successfully adapted via considerable physiological changes.
The first recorded observation of the elevational diversity gradient was by Carl Linnaeus in his treatise On the growth of the habitable Earth.In this document, Linnaeus based his predictions on flood geology, assuming most of the world was at one point inundated, leaving only the highest elevations available for terrestrial life.
Typically animal species diversity and abundance decrease as a function of elevation above the montane zone because of the harsher environmental conditions experienced at higher elevations. Fewer studies have explored animal zonation with elevation because this correlation is less defined than the vegetation zones due to the increased mobility ...
An extensive meta-analysis of nearly 600 latitudinal gradients from published literature tested the generality of the latitudinal diversity gradient across different organismal, habitat and regional characteristics. [1] The results showed that the latitudinal gradient occurs in marine, terrestrial, and freshwater ecosystems, in both hemispheres ...
Studies suggest a warmer climate would cause lower-elevation habitats to expand into the higher alpine zone. [53] Such a shift would encroach on rare alpine meadows and other high-altitude habitats. High-elevation plants and animals have limited space available for new habitat as they move higher on the mountains in order to adapt to long-term ...
Organisms and biological communities often vary in a regular fashion along geographic gradients of latitude, elevation, isolation and habitat area. [1] Phytogeography is the branch of biogeography that studies the distribution of plants. Zoogeography is the branch that studies distribution of animals.
Bergmann's rule - Penguins on the Earth (mass m, height h) [1] Bergmann's rule is an ecogeographical rule that states that, within a broadly distributed taxonomic clade, populations and species of larger size are found in colder environments, while populations and species of smaller size are found in warmer regions.
The elevation of treeline rises steadily at the rate of 330 feet (100 m) per degree of latitude from the northern to the southern Rocky Mountains. Dominant treeline species, including spruces, firs, and white pines, often have a shrublike form in response to the extreme conditions at the elevational limits of their physiological tolerance; such ...