Alpine Vegetation of the Rocky Mountains

Melting Alpine Glaciers in the Rocky Mountains: Impacts on Ecosystems, Agriculture, and Economics

Seasonal changes in an alpine soil bacterial community in the colorado rocky mountains.

The period when the snowpack melts in late spring is a dynamic time for alpine ecosystems. The large winter microbial community begins to turn over rapidly, releasing nutrients to plants. Past studies have shown that the soil microbial community in alpine dry meadows of the Colorado Rocky Mountains changes in biomass, function, broad-level structure, and fungal diversity between winter and earl...

Persistent organic pollutants in air and vegetation from the Canadian Rocky Mountains.

The exchange of chlorinated organic pollutants between air and vegetation in cold, mountain environments was investigated through the extraction of coniferous vegetation and high-volume air samples collected from the Canadian Rocky Mountains during the summers of 1999 and 2000. Concentrations of several compounds in vegetation increased as temperatures decreased, whereas atmospheric concentrati...

Holocene fire and vegetation along environmental gradients in the Northern Rocky Mountains

Holocene records of fire, vegetation, and climate were reconstructed from four sites in the Bitterroot Range region of the Northern Rocky Mountains in order to examine the vegetation and fire histories and evaluate the hypothesis proposed by Whitlock and Bartlein (1993) regarding the effects of increased summer insolation on precipitation patterns. Vegetation history in the series of sites was ...

Lee-side Frontogenesis in the Rocky Mountains

The development and motion of fronts associated with lee-side troughs on large mountain barriers has been investigated. These fronts differ from ordinary cold fronts in their horizontal temperature field, which is characterized by a sinusoidal thermal ridge. The thermal ridge intensifies, while remaining stationary with respect to the mountains, and moves eastward upon the approach of a Pacific...