Ecosystems at high altitudes and high latitudes have atracted researchewrs for many decades. Particularly the treline ecotone is probably one of the most studied distributional boundaries on
a global scale. Continued advances in understanding why trees cannot develop above a certain altitudinal limit derive from accumulated knowledge of the abiotic and biotic environmental factors that become limiting for tree growth with increasing elevation. This book gives an excellent overview of the current state of the arts regarding interactions between climate, vegetation, soil and fauna within high mountain ecosystems. The 12 chapters, grouped into four sections, provide a synthesis of the general aspects of soil and vegetation in cold environments (Section 1, Chapters 1–3) and focus on treelines in America (Section 2, Chapters 4–7), Europe (Section 3, Chapters 8–10), and Asia (Section 4, Chapters 11 and 12).
