Effects of altitude and temperature changes on ecology (biology)
Introduction
Several years ago, I noticed an article entitled “Research on Salt Lake” published by Fan Qishun, a Chinese scientific journal (Fan Qishune et al, 2005). His column explores the impact of climate change on the ecological environment of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. This indicates that the changes of altitude and temperature have a significant influence on the green background. In order to make the report more authentic and convincing, further investigation is needed to confirm the scientific findings. The aim of the report is to establish a comparative measure of how changes in altitude and temperature affect the ecological environment.
LITERATURE REVIEW
This article by Fan Qishun (2005) is based on the title “Salt Lake Research” published in the Database of Chinese Sci-tech Journals (Sha Zhanjiang 2005). In this essay, he says, 16 according to the Qinghai-Tibet plateau meteorological observation stations of air temperature and precipitation data for many years, in recent 40 years are analyzed the climate change characteristics of the Qinghai-Tibet plateau. The results showed that the general trend of climate change in last 40 years the Qinghai-Tibet plateau is the temperatures and precipitation increase slightly. This climate fluctuation change, vegetation, water and ice and snow land desertification on the plateau has significant influence. The temperature will rise according to forecast that by 2100 the Qinghai-Tibet plateau 2 ~ 3.6 ℃, precipitation in the central plateau and the eastern increase approximately 0 ~ 300 mm, and in the southwest will reduce the 0 ~ 500 mm. Climate change has brought apparent differences in the vegetation, the distribution line The migration to higher elevations also causes the retreat of plateau glaciers, but in the future the glaciers will not necessarily disappear. (p.12-18).
Article by (Liu Bingru 2010)
Changes of soil microbial biomass Carbon and Nitrogen along elevation gradient in typical plant communities in the Eastern slope of Helan Mountain were published in “Journal of Ecological Environment” (page 19).
His article also shows the ecological impact of altitude.
(Zhao et al, 2006) the article “The influence of temperature change on spring wheat growth in different altitude areas of northwest Arid region” was published in
‘Journal of Applied Ecology’ (P. 4) Based on 1981-2006 the northwest arid areas (folk music stand) in high altitude and low altitude (zhang ye stand) agricultural meteorological observatory observation data, the temperature change of folk music and zhang ye stand and its effects on spring wheat growth and yield was studied. The results show that the study period, folk music, the zhang ye stand temperatures were increased, and high altitude increasing amplitude is greater than the low altitudes; The response of spring wheat in Minle Station to temperature warming was shortening growth period and increasing yield, while the reaction of spring wheat in Zhangye Station was reducing growth period and decreasing yield. During the growing period of spring wheat, the increasing period of spring wheat in Minle Station and Zhangye Station shortened 8.3 days and 3.8 Days respectively for every C increase in the average daily temperature. When the highest temperature in the growing period of spring wheat in Minle Station was lower than 30.4c, the growing period and yield of spring wheat increased slightly; when the temperature was higher than 30.4c, the growing period and yield of spring wheat decreased.
(www.cqvip.com)
The sorted data scatter diagram (Figure 1) provides visual support for (Sha Zhanjiang 2005) There is a close and significant linear correlation between the two (R =0.1127) between the effects of altitude and temperature on the ecology of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. (p. 16).
Figure 1. The altitude of the mountain
METHOD
The purpose of this report is to determine the linear relationship between elevation temperatures and to demonstrate the ecological impact, and to compare these data with the values proposed by Fan Qishun. It is essential to use other data sources from Fan Qishun so that it is possible to compare the results rather than just repeat his calculations.
The elevation and peak temperature data for each mountain were collected separately, while the bivariate data were established by combining data from the same ecological environment as the two sets of data.
Data on altitude and temperatures was obtained from the website engineeringtoolbox.com.
Results
Bivariate data were obtained and is presented in table 1.
Table 1 Data for Altitude and Temperature
Altitude Pressure Temp. Density
(feet) (in. Hg) (F) (%)
2000 27.82 51.9 94.3
4000 25.84 44.7 88.8
6000 23.98 37.6 83.6
8000 22.22 30.5 78.6
10000 20.57 23.3 73.8
12000 19.02 16.2 69.3
14000 17.57 9.1 65
16000 16.21 1.9 60.9
The scatter graph of data is presented in figure 2
Figure 2 Altitude vs Temperature
Discussion and Conclusion
Research in phenology change has been one heated topic of current ecological and climate change study. In this study, we use satellite derived NDVI (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index) data to explore the spatio-temporal changes in the timing of spring vegetation green-up in the Qinghai-Xizang (Tibetan) Plateau from 1982 to 2006 and to characterize their relationship with elevation and temperature using concurrent satellite and climate data sets. At the regional scale, no statistically significant trend of the vegetation green-up date is observed during the whole study period (R²=0.00, P=0.95). Two distinct periods of green-up changes are identified. From 1982 to 1999, the vegetation green-up significantly advanced by 0.88daysyear⁻¹ (R²=0.56, P<0.001). In contrast, from 1999 to 2006, a marginal delaying trend is evidenced (R²=0.44, P=0.07), suggesting that the persistent trend towards earlier vegetation green-up in spring between 1980s and 1990s was stalled during the first decade of this century. This shift in the tendency of the vegetation green-up seems to be related to differing temperature trends between these two periods. Statistical analysis shows that the average onset of vegetation green-up over the Qinghai-Xizang Plateau would advance by about 4.1 days in response to 1°C increase of spring temperature. In addition, results from our analysis indicate that the spatial patterns of the vegetation green-up date and its change since 1982 are altitude (piao et al,2011)
Biomes are partially determined by elevation. More specifically, biomes are determined primarily by temperature and precipitation and altitude is going to have effects on both temperature and precipitation. As altitude increases, temperature decreases. This is going to change the structure and composition of our biome. Precipitation and altitude are a bit more complicated. Higher elevations typically receive snow instead of rain because the temperature is lower. Mountains can trap moisture on one side, leading to an increase in precipitation in this area but lower amounts of rainfall on the opposite of the mountain. Thus, altitude is going to affect both temperature and snow which will affect the composition of biome. However, remember that temperature and precipitation are determined by multiple factors, such as air currents and position on the globe https://socratic.org/questions/how-can-altitude-affect-biomes#310823.
Figure 3 provides visual evidence how biome depends on altitude
The altitude affects temperature which affects the composition of the biome.
Summary
This study confirmed a moderate correlation between altitude and temperature in the chances on ecology, while the results indicate the connection between the two to be strong there is no variables that significantly influence the outcome.
Referencing
Engineering ToolBox, (2003). Air Temperature and Altitude. [online] Available at: https://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/air-altitude-temperature-d_461.html [
https://socratic.org/questions/how-can-altitude-affect-biomes#310823
Piao, S., Cui, M., Chen, A., Wang, X., Ciais, P., Liu, J., & Tang, Y. (2011). Altitude and temperature dependence of change in the spring vegetation green-up date from 1982 to 2006 in the Qinghai-Xizang Plateau. Agricultural and forest meteorology.
Sun, Y., Lai, Z., Long, H., Liu, X., & Fan, Q. (2010). Quartz OSL dating of archaeological sites in Xiao Qaida Lake of the NE Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau and its implications for paleoenvironmental changes. Quaternary Geochronology, 5(2-3), 360-364.
Zhan-jiang, S. H. A. (2005). MA Hai-Zhou~(1), LI Ling-in~(2), ZHOU Du-Jun~(1), CAO Gudang-chao~(1, 2), OU Li-ye~(1), YANG H ai-Zheng~(2)(1. Qinghai Institute of Salt Lake, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xining 810008, China; 2. Department of Resources and Environment Sciences, Qinghai Normal University, Xining 810008, China); Landuse and Landcover Changing Course in Longyangxia Reservoir Region of Gonghe Basin from 1987 to 1999 [J]. Journal of Desert Research, 1.