The world's mountains in the Anthropocene

CHAIR

Udo Schickhoff

CO-CHAIR

Suraj Mal

DESCRIPTION

Mountain regions with complex human-environment systems are known to exhibit a distinct vulnerability to the current fundamental shift in the Earth System driven by human activities. Indicators of the mountain cryosphere and hydrosphere, of mountain biodiversity and of land use and land cover patterns show that mountain environments in the Anthropocene are changing on all continents at an unprecedented rate. Rates of climate warming in the world's mountains substantially exceed the global mean, with dramatic effects on cryosphere, hydrosphere, and biosphere. Current climatic changes result in significantly declining snow-covered areas, widespread decreases in area, length, and volume of glaciers and related hydrological changes, and widespread permafrost degradation. Complex adaptations of mountain biota to novel constellations of bioclimatic and other site conditions are reflected in upslope migration and range shifts, treeline dynamics, invasion of non-native species, phenological shifts, and changes in primary production. Changes in mountain biodiversity are associated with modified structure, species composition, and functioning of alpine ecosystems, and compromise ecosystem services. Human systems have been negatively impacted by recent environmental changes, with both inhabitants of mountain regions as well as people living in surrounding lowlands being affected. Simultaneously, accelerating processes of economic globalization cause adaptation strategies in mountain communities as expressed clearly in changing land use systems and mobility patterns, and in increasing marginalization of peripheral mountains and highlands. The session focuses on climate-driven and human-induced changes in the cryosphere, hydrosphere, pedosphere, and biosphere and will discuss new research results and its implications for ecosystem services and socioeconomic systems. Presentations are welcome that focus on new research findings from diverse mountain regions of the world.