The mountainous regions of the planet are under the direct threat of climate change induced by humans that could radically alter these fragile habitats, according to an international team of researchers, including an expert from the University of Manchester.
Ecologist and professor Richard Bardgett, who was part of the international team that initiated and designed the study, said they have found a very clear message that climate change could change the most important properties of mountain ecosystems and potentially create an imbalance between plants and soil in high mountain areas.
The international study, which went through seven of the largest mountainous regions on the planet, revealed that the predicted rising elevation is an indicator of climate change and consistently increased the availability of nitrogen from the soil for plant growth, meaning that climate change could disrupt the way the mountain ecosystem functions.
It has been found that plant phosphorus availability it was not controlled by elevation, and as a result the balance of nitrogen to phosphorus in plants leaves a common denominator in the seven regions studied at high altitudes. This means that rising temperatures can upset the crucial balance between those nutrients that support plant growth and could be radically altered in higher mountain areas.
It was also found that the increase in temperatures and their consequences for nutrition of plants were linked to other changes in the soil, including amounts of organic matter and the composition of the soil microbial community.
Professor Bardgett says:
Mountain areas cover more of the planet's surface and they are very vulnerable to climate change. Our results, which come after an extensive study of elevation gradients across seven mountainous regions of the world, including Japan, British Columbia, New Zealand, Patagonia, Colorado, Australia, and Europe, suggest that future change Climate change will substantially alter the way these ecosystems function.