Poster Title: A Hierarchical Framework for the Study of Alpine Treeline

Poster Abstract: Temperature is often cited as the primary variable controlling the potential altitudinal limit of tree growth. However, the response of treeline to temperature change is not linear, making predictions of future shifts as a result of climate warming difficult. Moreover, the actual position and structure of the treeline ecotone is the product of a broad range of physical and biological patterns and processes that interact at multiple scales. This poster presents a methodological framework that attempts to account for such complexity and illustrates its application to the study of treeline in the Kluane Ranges of southwest Yukon. Four investigations have been initiated using (i) experimental warming, (ii) dendrochronology, (iii) repeat photography, and (iv) GIS-based landscape analysis. Hierarchy theory will be used to link the results of the four investigations into a regional heuristic to better understand the relationship between climate change and treeline dynamics.

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