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This editorial is the product of the Progress in Physical Geography lecture at the April 2013 meeting of the Association of American Geographers. The paper was presented by George Malanson, the North American Editor, and the co-authors presented critiques based on a draft. Subsequently, the manuscript was developed and revised based on discussion at the meeting and additional exchange among the co-authors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although the ecological dynamics of the alpine treeline ecotone are influenced by climate, it is an imperfect indicator of climate change. Mechanistic processes that shape the ecotone—seed rain, seed germination, seedling establishment and subsequent tree growth form, or, conversely tree dieback—depend on microsite patterns. Growth forms affect wind and snow, and so develop positive and negative feedback loops that create these microsites. As a result, complex landscape patterns are generated at multiple spatial scales. Although these mechanistic processes are fundamentally the same for all forest-tundra ecotones across western North America, factors such as prior climate, underlying geology and geomorphology, and genetic constraints of dominant tree species lead to geographic differences in the responses of particular ecotones to climate change. [Key words: climate change, ecotone, establishment, geomorphology, landscape, scale.] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fine-scale geomorphic/pedogenic processes at alpine treeline may facilitate the initial stages of conifer invasion of alpine tundra. Turf-banked terraces and turf exfoliation associated with solifluction may provide both the topographic protection and the seedbed necessary for conifer establishment above treeline. The morphometry, stoniness and surface penetrability of turf-banked terraces were recorded. Whereas differences among sites exist due to topographic constraints, differences in soil penetrability depend on turf exfoliation. Exfoliated turf risers are significantly more penetrable than non-exfoliated solifluction risers and adjacent treads. These penetrable microsites provide favorable conditions for seed germination. The process of turf exfoliation may play a role in conifer advance into tundra during climatic change. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

So-called “ribbon forests” have been attributed to snowdrift patterns and fire history without reference to geomorphology [Vegetatio 19 (1969) 192.]. This paper illustrates how site conditions of geomorphology and geology explain the origin of ribbon forests. In Glacier National Park, MT (USA), regional tectonic uplift associated with the Laramide Orogeny produced structural features that amplify lithologic differences. Pleistocene glaciation scoured deeply along the strike of bedding planes, highlighting this pattern and in some cases producing fine-scale parallel finger lakes between forested ribbon strips.Twelve ribbon forest sites on both sides of the Continental Divide were closely studied on stereoscopic aerial photographs, and several of these sites were examined in the field or from helicopter overflights. In all cases, geologic and geomorphic conditions explain the location and distribution of the ribbon forests. Change-detection of the distribution of trees versus nontree-covered surfaces in an area of ribbon forest on Flattop Mountain, a complex uplifted synclinal structure, was undertaken using panchromatic, low-altitude aerial photographs from 1966 to 1991. Areas changed from forest to meadow and from meadow to forest in roughly equal amounts in a generally random spatial pattern. No evidence was seen to suggest that the creation of one ribbon eventually created another downwind, as suggested by Billings. Aerial photograph interpretation, field examination and soils analyses of forest ribbons and adjacent unforested meadows clearly illustrated that trees occupy higher, parallel to subparallel, well-drained sites where the spatial pattern is in turn a distinct reflection of the spatial pattern of structure and stratigraphy. Meadows occupy topographically lower positions between ridges where erosion along bedding plane strike was concentrated. Topography sets conditions that allow tree growth in certain locations while precluding it in immediately adjacent areas. Ribbon forests there are thus a spatial manifestation of the interaction between structure, lithology, and topography. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]