Vegetated areas above the treeline in the Alps have increased by 77% since 1984, a study says. While retreating glaciers have symbolised the speed of global heating in the Alpine region, researchers described the increases in plant biomass as an “absolutely massive” change.
Rising temperatures and increased rainfall are prolonging the growing season, with plants colonising new areas, and becoming denser and taller. Snow cover is decreasing, and the scientists said losses of less than 10% of snow cover above the treeline were still significant.“The scale of the change has turned out to be absolutely massive in the Alps,” said Prof Sabine Rumpf, of the University of Basel, and lead author of the paper which was published in Science.
Mountain areas are heating about twice as fast as the global average. And while the greening of the Alps could increase carbon sequestration, this is likely to be outweighed by negative implications, including thawing permafrost, a reduced albedo effect – less snow reflecting away sunlight – and habitat loss.
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