Late-glacial and Holocene evolution as a driver of diversity and complexity of the northeastern North American alpine landscapes: a synthesis
Mid-altitude, mid-latitude mountains are complex environments owing to their Pleistocene glacial heritage, the importance of geomorphic processes on the steep slopes, and the climatic conditions that are often close to periglacial. These factors, along with the fragmentation of the alpine habitats,...
Published in: | Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences |
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crcansciencepubl:10.1139/cjes-2016-0004 2024-05-19T07:42:11+00:00 Late-glacial and Holocene evolution as a driver of diversity and complexity of the northeastern North American alpine landscapes: a synthesis Martin, Jean-Philippe Germain, Daniel Trenhaile, Alan 2016 http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/cjes-2016-0004 http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/full-xml/10.1139/cjes-2016-0004 http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/cjes-2016-0004 en eng Canadian Science Publishing http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/page/about/CorporateTextAndDataMining Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences volume 53, issue 5, page 494-505 ISSN 0008-4077 1480-3313 journal-article 2016 crcansciencepubl https://doi.org/10.1139/cjes-2016-0004 2024-05-02T06:51:26Z Mid-altitude, mid-latitude mountains are complex environments owing to their Pleistocene glacial heritage, the importance of geomorphic processes on the steep slopes, and the climatic conditions that are often close to periglacial. These factors, along with the fragmentation of the alpine habitats, enhance the topographic and floristic diversity of these environments in northeastern North America. Through case studies, this synthesis underlines the interactions between the geosphere (glacial, paraglacial, and periglacial processes), the atmosphere (climatic fluctuations), and the biosphere (vegetation establishment and evolution to the present day) that explain the low elevation of the northeastern North American alpine environment and that testify to its complexity. Vegetation established earlier in the southern ranges, following the same general trend as the Laurentian Ice Sheet recession. However, local factors such as ice retreat, response to global-scale climate changes, and paraglacial processes acted in synergy to increase the resilience and to influence the occurrence of alpine landscapes. The establishment of the latter environment can therefore be considered to be azonal. Finally, our findings highlight the lack of a conceptual framework, systemic studies, and multi-proxy reconstructions of alpine environments located at the limit of bioclimatic zones controlled by the equilibrium between biostatic and rhexistatic regimes. Article in Journal/Newspaper Ice Sheet Canadian Science Publishing Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 53 5 494 505 |
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Open Polar |
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Canadian Science Publishing |
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crcansciencepubl |
language |
English |
description |
Mid-altitude, mid-latitude mountains are complex environments owing to their Pleistocene glacial heritage, the importance of geomorphic processes on the steep slopes, and the climatic conditions that are often close to periglacial. These factors, along with the fragmentation of the alpine habitats, enhance the topographic and floristic diversity of these environments in northeastern North America. Through case studies, this synthesis underlines the interactions between the geosphere (glacial, paraglacial, and periglacial processes), the atmosphere (climatic fluctuations), and the biosphere (vegetation establishment and evolution to the present day) that explain the low elevation of the northeastern North American alpine environment and that testify to its complexity. Vegetation established earlier in the southern ranges, following the same general trend as the Laurentian Ice Sheet recession. However, local factors such as ice retreat, response to global-scale climate changes, and paraglacial processes acted in synergy to increase the resilience and to influence the occurrence of alpine landscapes. The establishment of the latter environment can therefore be considered to be azonal. Finally, our findings highlight the lack of a conceptual framework, systemic studies, and multi-proxy reconstructions of alpine environments located at the limit of bioclimatic zones controlled by the equilibrium between biostatic and rhexistatic regimes. |
author2 |
Trenhaile, Alan |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Martin, Jean-Philippe Germain, Daniel |
spellingShingle |
Martin, Jean-Philippe Germain, Daniel Late-glacial and Holocene evolution as a driver of diversity and complexity of the northeastern North American alpine landscapes: a synthesis |
author_facet |
Martin, Jean-Philippe Germain, Daniel |
author_sort |
Martin, Jean-Philippe |
title |
Late-glacial and Holocene evolution as a driver of diversity and complexity of the northeastern North American alpine landscapes: a synthesis |
title_short |
Late-glacial and Holocene evolution as a driver of diversity and complexity of the northeastern North American alpine landscapes: a synthesis |
title_full |
Late-glacial and Holocene evolution as a driver of diversity and complexity of the northeastern North American alpine landscapes: a synthesis |
title_fullStr |
Late-glacial and Holocene evolution as a driver of diversity and complexity of the northeastern North American alpine landscapes: a synthesis |
title_full_unstemmed |
Late-glacial and Holocene evolution as a driver of diversity and complexity of the northeastern North American alpine landscapes: a synthesis |
title_sort |
late-glacial and holocene evolution as a driver of diversity and complexity of the northeastern north american alpine landscapes: a synthesis |
publisher |
Canadian Science Publishing |
publishDate |
2016 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/cjes-2016-0004 http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/full-xml/10.1139/cjes-2016-0004 http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/cjes-2016-0004 |
genre |
Ice Sheet |
genre_facet |
Ice Sheet |
op_source |
Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences volume 53, issue 5, page 494-505 ISSN 0008-4077 1480-3313 |
op_rights |
http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/page/about/CorporateTextAndDataMining |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1139/cjes-2016-0004 |
container_title |
Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences |
container_volume |
53 |
container_issue |
5 |
container_start_page |
494 |
op_container_end_page |
505 |
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1799481838553530368 |