HIGH-MOUNTAIN ENVIRONMENT UNDER CLIMATE CHANGE, THE INTERACTIONS BETWEEN CLIMATE, METEOROLOGY AND GEOMORPHOLOGICAL FACTORS

• Main Author: GOLZIO, ALESSIO
• Other Authors: supervisors: M. Pelfini, M. Maugeri, coordinator: G. F. Ficetola, curators: G. Diolaiuti, C.Cassardo, S. Ferrarese, M. Manfrin, A. Golzio, PELFINI, MANUELA, FICETOLA, GENTILE FRANCESCO, MAUGERI, MAURIZIO
• Format: Doctoral or Postdoctoral Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: Università degli Studi di Milano 2020
• Subjects: Climate; Meteorology; High-mountain environment; Glacier foreland; Tree-Growth; Alpe Veglia; Forni Glacier; Boundary Layer; Settore GEO/04 - Geografia Fisica e Geomorfologia; Settore FIS/06 - Fisica per il Sistema Terra e Il Mezzo Circumterrestre; Hannah; Deline; permafrost
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/2434/709596; https://doi.org/10.13130/golzio-alessio_phd2020-02-10

The Alps, and in general the high mountain areas, in recent decades are under going profound changes due to climate change. The peculiarities and the greater vulnerability of these territories, characterized by complex and delicate balances, are threatened by global warming. In fact, it considerably reduces the habitat of many plant and animal species, pushing them towards ever greater elevations. Once this living zones have reached the tops of the reliefs may no longer be available, and may lead to the disappearance, from these environments, of endemic biodiversity (Hannah et al., 2002). At the same time, however, the progressive debris coverage of the glacial tongues (Deline, 2005; Caccianiga et al., 2011) and the progressive expansion of the proglacial areas, offer new spaces and areas that can be colonised by the vegetation systems and animal communities (Whittaker, 1993). The changes underway in these areas not only affect biological systems, but also geodiversity and the geoheritage of the alpine and mountain environment. “Geodiversity” can be defined simply as “the natural range (diversity) of geological (rocks, minerals, fossils), geomorphological (land form, physical processes) and soil features. It includes their assemblages, relationships, properties, interpretations and systems” (Gray, 2004). For definition of “geodiversity” it follows that an impact on geomorphological processes can affect the local diversity of an area. Examples are the changes in the speed and intensity of processes, such as for example the acceleration of glacial shrinkage, the degradation of permafrost (Deline et al., 2015), the impact of the action of running waters connected to extreme events, the mass wasting processes (Cossart and Fort, 2008; Lane et al., 2017) and the related interactions with biological systems (Eichel, 2015). More in detail in the Alps, but as happens in other mountain ranges, glaciers are shrinking and retreating at ever increasing levels, losing the valley tongues and more and more extensive areas are ...