What happens when you take one of the many sea-level biomes that we've looked at in this series, and climb into the mountains? How does cooling temperatures affect the type of plants that can grow. The answer varies depending upon whether you're in the tropics, or temperate regions, whether the conditions are wet or dry. Join me as I explore the most spectacular scenery on our planet - the Highlands of Earth.
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🕐TIMESTAMPS🕖
👉0:00 Opening Montage
👉1:01 Introduction and Titles
👉2:09 Altitude and Temperature
👉3:05 Effect of Altitude on Biomes
👉4:55 Polar Ice
👉6:36 Subarctic Highland Tundra
👉7:20 Wet Temperate Highland Biomes
👉8:49 Dry Highland Biomes
👉10:11 Tropical Montane Forest and Moorland
👉13:40 Mount Kilimanjaro - The World In Miniature
👉14:45 Outro
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As one rises in altitude, the air temperature drops. So when you take a sea-level biome, and climb into the mountains, this has the effect of pushing the biome toward the poles in equivalent latitude. For instance, broadleaf forest in temperate latitudes turns to coniferous forest like taiga.
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At the poles, the ice at sea-level is just more ice at altitude. But in the arctic tundra, only small rises in altitude lead us into ice glaciers. The subarctic boreal forest will turn to tundra and then ice over relatively small hills, as a tree-line develops. Above this tree-line, found in most biomes, the summer temperatures are insufficient to permit tree-growth.
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In temperate latitudes, wet biomes such as grassland and broadleaf or mixed forest turn to coniferous forests on mountain slopes, and above the tree line, alpine meadows, and then glaciers if the mountains are particularly high.
A similar pattern occurs in dry biomes such as scrub or semi-desert, in that slopes are forested as less evapotranspiration in the cooler temperatures permits the growth of trees over shrubs. Only very dry deserts such as the Atacama or the heart of the Sahara skip the forested layer as conditions are too dry even for trees to grow in the cooler upland areas.
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But it's in the tropics that we find the most interesting effects on biomes at altitude. For here there are low variations in seasonal temperatures, and this leads to unique species of trees, succulents, palms etc. to grow within and above the now very high treeline.
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FURTHER READING:
Additional charts, maps and images along with the narrative script - click here:
👉 geodiode.com/biomes/highlands
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📷📹🎥 VIDEO & PHOTO CREDITS ❤️❤️❤️
geodiode.com/biomes/highlands#...
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Research and Media Procurement Assistance: Richard Torres
Narrated, Written and Produced by
B.J.Ranson
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