Chapter 1 gives a brief overview of the climatic and terrestrial environment in which high altitude waters are embedded. This context is necessary to understand the prevailing environmental conditions in the aquatic systems. The chapter begins by defining high altitude, alpine, and mountain, and provides an overview of the distribution of the world’s main high altitude regions. The overall picture of the climatic setting is drawn, from the inevitable consequences of high altitude (low temperature, low atmospheric pressure, and high solar radiation) to the highly region-specific patterns in precipitation and wind. The various ways that highland regions are formed, their temporal evolution, and climatic changes are treated in a section on the palaeo-environmental perspective. Finally, general patterns in high altitude (alpine) vegetation zones and treelines on different continents are synthesized, as well as major soil-forming processes in the catchments surrounding aquatic systems.
Adaptations and responses of the common dandelion to low atmospheric pressure in high altitude environments
