Patterns of snow, deposition, and soil nutrients at multiple spatial scales at a Rocky Mountain tree line ecotone

The forest-alpine tundra ecotone in the Front Range of Colorado typically occurs as a gradual transition from the treeless tundra to the closed canopy coniferous subalpine forest. We evaluated the patterns of snow, deposition inputs, and soil properties at three spatial scales: across the entire ecotone, with distance from tree limit in the transitional krummholz zone, and around individual trees. Snow depth was deepest in the krummholz zone and lowest in the alpine tundra and upwind of trees near tree limit, but was not predictive of most soil properties except for surface litter decomposition. Inorganic deposition ranged from 0.7 to 7.7 g m−2 yr−1 across the ecotone and tended to be higher downwind than upwind...

Categories: Publication; Types: Citation, Journal Citation; Tags: American Geophysical Union, Colorado Front Range, Journal of Geophysical Research, Niwot Ridge, dust deposition, All tags... ecotone, nitrogen cycling, tree line, Fewer tags