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Orographic lift occurs when an air mass is forced from a low elevation to a higher elevation as it moves over rising terrain. As the air mass gains altitude it quickly cools down adiabatically , which can raise the relative humidity to 100% and create clouds and, under the right conditions, precipitation .
For example, species abundance usually changes along environmental gradients in a more or less predictable way. However, the species abundance along an environmental gradient is not only determined by the abiotic factor associated with the gradient but, also by the change in the biotic interactions , like competition and predation, along the ...
The generally strong dependency on elevation is known as altitudinal zonation: the average temperature of a location decreases as the elevation increases. The general effect of elevation depends on atmospheric physics. However, the specific climate and ecology of any particular location depends on specific features of that location.
Climate charts provide an overview of the climate in a particular place. The letters in the top row stand for months: January, February, etc. The bars and numbers convey the following information: The blue bars represent the average amount of precipitation (rain, snow etc.) that falls in each month.
Tectonic–climatic interaction is the interrelationship between tectonic processes and the climate system. The tectonic processes in question include orogenesis, volcanism, and erosion, while relevant climatic processes include atmospheric circulation, orographic lift, monsoon circulation and the rain shadow effect.
Alpine climate is the average weather for the alpine tundra. The climate becomes colder when reaching higher elevations—this characteristic is described by the lapse rate of air: air tends to get colder as it rises, since it expands. The dry adiabatic lapse rate is 10 °C per km (5.5 °F per 1000 ft) of elevation or altitude.
An example of a limiting stand is the upper elevation treeline: here, trees are expected to be more affected by temperature variation (which is "limited") than precipitation variation (which is in excess). Conversely, lower elevation treelines are expected to be more affected by precipitation changes than temperature variation.
Elevational diversity gradient (EDG) is an ecological pattern where biodiversity changes with elevation. The EDG states that species richness tends to decrease as elevation increases, up to a certain point, creating a "diversity bulge" at middle elevations. There have been multiple hypotheses proposed for explaining the EDG, none of which ...