Climate change impacts on the dynamics of alpine plant communities and clarification of its mechanisms

本研究旨在评价气候变化对高寒生态系统植被动态的影响，并阐明其变化机制。矮秆竹的扩张和干旱胁迫导致物种多样性迅速下降，高山植被衰退。我们开发了新的方法来利用航空照片来量化植被的变化，并利用遥感数据来评估土壤水分条件的变化。此外，我们还开发了预测气候变化引起的植被剧烈变化的理论模型。

We aimed to evaluate the climate change impacts on the vegetation dynamics in alpine ecosystem and to clarify the changing mechanisms. Expansion of dwarf bamboo and drought stress caused the rapid decrease in species diversity and declining alpine vegetation. We developed new methods to quantify the vegetation changes using air-photographs and to evaluate the changes in soil moisture conditions using remote sensing data. Furthermore, we developed theoretical model to predict a drastic vegetation change caused by climate change.