Aim To quantify tree biomass and stand productivity of treeline ecotones and identify driving factors. Location treeline ecotones of seven regions from the South to Polar Urals, spanning a latitudinal gradient of 1,500 km. Taxa Picea obovata , Betula pubescens , Larix sibirica. Methods Stand biomass and productivity were estimated across 18 elevational transects from the tree species line to the closed forest line based on all...

High‐altitude treelines are temperature‐limited vegetation boundaries, but little quantitative evidence exists about the impact of climate change on treelines in untouched areas of Russia. Here, we estimated how forest‐tundra ecotones have changed during the last century along the Ural mountains. In the South, North, Sub‐Polar, and Polar Urals, we compared 450 historical and recent photographs and determined the ages of 11 100...

The ongoing climatic changes potentially affect plant growth and the functioning of temperature‐limited high‐altitude and high‐latitude ecosystems; the rate and magnitude of these biotic changes are, however, uncertain. The aim of this study was to reconstruct stand structure and growth forms of Larix sibirica (Ledeb.) in undisturbed forest–tundra ecotones of the remote Polar Urals on a centennial time scale. Comparisons of th...