A colorful, complex mosaic of Alpine vegetation

Added: 04/24/2006

The Alpine vegetation is highly adapted to survive in a particularly harsh setting. It has to withstand low temperatures, frost and snow for more than six month a year. At the same time, solar energy in the atmosphere is only enough to provide a frugal day to day living and a renewal of leaves. There are no natural resources for maintaining large root systems and branches, which normal trees have. The plants in Alpine zones are mostly ground hugging and, as a rule, reach no more than a meter in height.

The Alpine vegetation typically forms a complex, fine-scale mixture, which reflects microclimatic variations. Significant environmental factors, which have a great effect on the plant life, include a wind exposure, time of snow melt, soil moisture and a snow depth. The Alpine vegetation is mostly presented with dwarf shrubs, such as willows, herbaceous (non-woody) plants and gramanoides. Term gramanoides comprises grasses, sedges and rushes. A colorful scene of the Alpine plant life, however, hides from a casual observer the adaptation strategies that enable each plant to survive in such environment.

Every species are well adjusted to the growth in particularly harsh conditions. Although most of the Alpine vegetation is recognizably similar to the plant life of other areas and zones, it has evolved special unique attributes in response to a microclimatic setting of the zone. A chilly climate in the Alpine biomes in winter is characterized by low temperatures, frequent frost and strong winds. Snow persists at the highest altitudes for one-four months in the sub Alpine zones and four-nine months in the Alpine zones. These factors have a considerable influence on the plant growth, as they restrict it for most of the year, particularly at high altitudes.

Mountain regions throughout the world are distinguished by a chain of Alpine vegetation communities. Vegetation communities are groups of plants, living together with similar preferences and tolerances for particular environmental conditions. These communities can be described by differences in species, height and growth forms, and structures. Traveling up the mountain, you can observe diverse zones of vegetation, as you will pass through sectors with dissimilar climatic factors and soil characteristics.

The alpine zone, which experiences the coldest temperatures and the most continual snowfalls, is unsuitable for trees. At this level there is a severe lack of solar energy, which limits the trees' growth. Trees do not have enough photosynthesis to carry on the enlargement of root systems, trunks and branches. The vegetation is mostly ground hugging and, normally, as tall as one meter height.

On the exposed rocky ridges and screen slopes, soils are sparse, shallow and well drained. Vegetation communities are likely to be scattered shrubby heath land, ground-hugging field mark or snow patch communities. Contrary to them, the most extensive communities of tall Alpine herb fields and tussock grasslands grow in places, where soils are moderately deep and well drained. Typically, they are found growing on sheltered, gentle slopes and hilltops. Deep and waterlogged soils with an incomplete decomposing of organics are home to Sphagnum bogs and bog heath lands. Normally, they grow at the bottom of basin-like valleys and on poorly drained slopes. As the snow melts on the banks or along streams, it creates moist sites below- perfect places for colorful mosaic herb meadows. Mountaintop communities at the highest altitudes are mostly lichens on rocks and shallow soils.

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