vegetation

All high mountains exhibit azonality; i.e., their vegetation differs from that found in the climatic zones from which they rise. The differences manifest themselves as progressive modifications, which are usually well stratified and reflect altitude-dependent climatic changes. Generally, as elevation increases, temperature decreases (to…

…used in this way, natural vegetation stands out as one of prime importance. The view held by many climatologists is that natural vegetation functions as a long-term integrator of the climate in a region; the vegetation, in effect, is an instrument for measuring climate in the same way that a…

For example, vegetation helps to facilitate the evaporation of water into the atmosphere through evapotranspiration. In this process, plants take up liquid water from the soil through their root systems. Eventually this water is released through transpiration into the atmosphere, as water vapour through the

…a clear overall pattern in vegetation. The major structural feature of vegetation on mountains in all regions—except in very dry or very cold places—is tree line. (This characteristic is sometimes called timberline or forest limit, although strictly speaking the former term refers to the uppermost reaches that commercial-size timber trees…

Vegetation is an excellent insulating medium and removal or disturbance of it, either by natural processes or by humans, causes thawing of the underlying permafrost. In the continuous zone the permafrost table may merely be lowered by the disturbance of vegetation, but in a discontinuous…

Vegetation is also integral, as it controls the flux of water vapour into the air through transpiration. In addition, vegetation can insulate the soil below and reduce temperature variability. Sites of exposed soil then exhibit the greatest temperature variability.

…directly and indirectly influence the vegetation; the length of time snow remains on the ground into spring affects when vegetation will emerge, and this in turn affects the land’s utility for grazing. Even in the tropics, aspect-related climate and vegetation contrasts occur, in spite of the midday vertical position of…

…available drainage area, lithology, and vegetation. Vegetation is obviously climate dependent to a large extent but might well be capable of reaching thresholds of detention ability that do not match recognized climatic boundaries. It is, moreover, liable to the influence of climatically independent factors where it has been disturbed by…

…and real estate development, however, vegetation was destroyed, and large quantities of sediment were eroded. The sediment yields for some small areas reached about 770 tons per square kilometre during urbanization, but with the paving of streets, completion of sewage systems, and planting of lawns, the sediment yields decreased markedly.…

…particles and have virtually no vegetation.

… of Dionysus, a god of vegetation. The origins of comedy are thus bound up with vegetation ritual. Aristotle, in his Poetics, states that comedy originated in phallic songs and that, like tragedy, it began in improvisation. Though tragedy evolved by stages that can be traced, the progress of comedy passed…

…in which a god-genius of vegetation, a “dying god,” who undergoes a seasonal disappearance and return (not to be interpreted as a “resurrection”) is featured. To such vegetation gods, death- or decay-producing figures are sometimes opposed—as Mot (the Death) is opposed to Baal in Canaanite religion, an infernal and lethal…

The establishment of vegetation bands or patches 50 to 100 km (30 to 60 miles) in width in semiarid regions could increase atmospheric convection and precipitation beyond that expected over areas of uniform vegetation. This convection creates spatial differences in the upward and downward wind velocities and contributes…

…carbon include growth of replacement vegetation on cleared land, land-management practices that absorb carbon (see below Carbon sequestration and climate change mitigation), and increased growth due to elevated atmospheric carbon dioxide levels and enhanced nitrogen deposition. It is important to note that carbon sequestered in soils and aboveground vegetation could…