Linear Vegetation Patterns in Subalpine Forests.

The study of vegetation pattern can yield valuable insight into interactions between vegetation and the environment. These interactions often involve positive feedback wherein biological, atmospheric, or geomorphic processes are amplified, resulting in abrupt vegetation boundaries, rapid changes, and/or thresholds in system behavior. Many relatively linear vegetation patterns have been described in subalpine forests, including "ribbon forests," "krummholz islands," "hedges," "fingers," and "fir waves." In this paper I review research on these phenomena, including an assessment of their distribution, the combinations of environment and species that produce them, and the implications of their existence for using vegetation boundaries as indicators of climate change.