Impact of climate change in the Hengduan Mountains of northwestern Yunnan, P.R. China: vegetation distribution change in the foretime and future

Alpine meadows in the Hengduan Mountains of northwestern Yunnan, P.R. China are incredibly diverse. The regional climate is warming at a relatively rapid rate. In this paper, analyses of historical climate station data show that mean annual temperature over the last two decades has increased at a rate of 0.6°C/10 yr. In addition, analyses of historical remote sensing data show that the vegetation distribution in this region has changed evidently. We present simulation results from a general circulation model (HadCM3) and a dynamic vegetation model (MC1) showing how changes in future climate may alter alpine ecosystem of the Baima Nature Reserve in northwestern Yunnan.