Thermal Conditions of Vertical Distribution of Main Tree Species in the Tohoku Mountains, Japan1)

The subalpine zones on the mountains south of the Tohoku mountains in the Japanese Islands are normally occupied by coniferous forests dominated by Abies mariesii, A. veitchii, Picea jezoensis var. hondoensis and Tsuga diversifolia. But there are many mountains where the subalpine coniferous forest does not exist; the thermometrical subalpine zones on such mountains are replaced by subalpine and/or montane deciduous broad-leaved forests. Especially in the Tohoku mountains, the subalpine zone without A. mariesii forest