The first scientist who established a global overview on mountain ecology was Alexander von Humboldt (1769-1859). He was the first to recognise the influence of climate and latitude on the elevation of the distinctive altitudinal vegetation belts.

The following figure was elaborated by Carl Troll and published in 1948. It represents a hypothetical global cross section that reaches from north to south pole with its different vegetation belts.
 

Move your mouse over the coloured zones and observe differences in the characteristics of the same zone between the northern, equatorial and southern latitiudes. Press a round button and you will get more information about global altitudinal and latitudinal vegetation zones and their boundaries.
You can also click on the grey columns or region names if you wish to see more detailed examples of a regional altitudinal zone with photos of the different types of ecosystems.

29 August 2011
© ALPECOLe 2002-2007