Archives of the
Global Climate Change Digest
A Guide to Information on Greenhouse Gases and Ozone Depletion
Published July 1988 through June 1999

"Climate Effects on Mountain Plants," G. Grabherr (Dept. Vegetation Ecol., Univ. Vienna, POB 285, A1091 Vienna, Austria), M. Gottfried, H. Pauli, Nature, 369(6480), 448, June 9, 1994.

Compares results of a recent survey of cover and abundance of vascular plant species above 3,000 meters in the central Alps with historical data. There is no doubt that even moderate warming induces upward migration, and that this process is underway; results suggest that global warming is already having a significant effect on alpine plant ecology.

"A Possible Mechanism Relating Increased Soil Temperature to Forest Decline," G.H. Tomlinson (920 Perrot Blvd., Ile-Perrot PQ J7V 3K1, Can.), Water, Air & Soil Pollut., 66, 365-380, 1993.

Leaching of nutrient cations in soils by acid deposition is associated with periods of increased temperature and reduced rainfall. This paper discusses the relevance of earlier studies on the influence of temperature, when considered in relation to more recent findings such as the impacts of increased temperature and drought in Hawaii resulting from the El Niño/Southern Oscillation. The unusual periods of increased temperature and drought that have occurred in other localized areas may have led to the decline symptoms recently observed; this possibility should be investigated in view of the threat of global warming.