Upper Limit of Montane Deciduous Broad-Leaved Forests Across the Northern Hemisphere

28 mountain ranges across the Northern Hemisphere provide data on the upper elevation limit of montane deciduous broad-leaved forests (ULMDB). The dataset, authored by Li and updated in 2026, includes environmental factors, geographic coordinates, cloud model parameters, and sensitivity indices for each influencing factor. It contains Excel files, MATLAB scripts, shapefiles, and raster datasets derived from remote sensing.

Use Cases

• Model the relationship between ULMDB elevation (Z) and January mean temperature (tmeanc) or annual mean precipitation (meanpr) using regression analysis.
• Assess the sensitivity of forest elevation limits to terrain features like aspect (坡向) and terrain relief (起伏度) across different mountain ranges.
• Calculate the contribution rate of factors like mountaintop effect (sdxy) or NDVI change rate (slope) to elevation distribution using the provided cloud model parameters.
• Validate remote-sensing extracted ULMDB values against literature records using the comparison table in Data Operation.xlsx.
• Perform spatial analysis on ULMDB locations and associated environmental variables using the provided shapefiles (shp) and raster datasets (tiff).

Strengths

• Covers 28 distinct mountain ranges across the Northern Hemisphere for regional comparison.
• Includes multiple data modalities: tabular environmental data, geospatial shapefiles, raster datasets, and analysis code.
• Provides derived sensitivity indices and contribution rates for key influencing factors like temperature and precipitation.
• Dataset is recent, with a last updated date of 2026-04-08.

Limitations

• The exact sample size (number of forest observation points) is not specified in the provided metadata.
• Primary data columns have mixed language labels (e.g., '坡向', '起伏度'), which may require translation for analysis in English-language tools.
• Temporal coverage for the underlying climate and NDVI data is not explicitly stated, limiting understanding of climate change context.

Provenance

Source

Figshare repository, authored by Li.

Collection Method

Data derived from remote sensing (DEM, temperature, precipitation, NDVI rasters) and literature comparison, with analysis using MATLAB cloud models.

Freshness

Last updated on 2026-04-08.

Geography

28 mountain ranges across the Northern Hemisphere.