Plants are scaling Mount Everest and the rest of the Himalayas as the world warms.
A study published last week in Ecography found that less snow has resulted in plant life climbing higher into the Himalayan alpine zone, which falls between the mountain chain’s lower treeline and upper snow cover. Researchers, led by the University of Exeter along with scientists in Switzerland and Nepal, examined six regions in and around Nepal from 1999 to 2022 using satellite imagery and climate data.
They discovered that vegetation — mostly shrubs and grasses — crept higher over the two decades, ascending almost five feet per year near Mount Everest. In another part of Nepal, that distance shot up to more than 22 feet per year.
“When we talk about the Himalayas, people often get fixated on glaciers and ice,” said Stephan Harrison, a climate and environment change professor at the University of Exeter. “But there are other ways in which these systems are evolving, and we need to understand vegetation dynamics and how ecosystems are responding in much better ways if we’re really going to get a handle on the impacts of climate change in the mountains.”
