A century of treeline and forest line data for Betula pubescens subsp. czerepanovii across high elevations in Norway

Abstract Background The global climate is warming, especially in northern regions due to high-latitude amplification. This high-latitude warming leads to range expansion with advancing tree- and forest-lines (TFLs) in the Northern Hemisphere. However, empirical studies can rarely provide a well-documented elevational expansion rate, especially for timescales longer than 40–50 years. This study provides a unique long-term dataset on TFL dynamics of Betula pubescens subsp. czerepanovii in Norway, based on a combination of resampled historical data (n = 319) and new field registrations (n = 447). Our dataset includes a total of 766 registrations from five counties in Norway. In total, the dataset contains 439 treelines and 327 forest lines, most likely representing the highest recorded TFLs for the region at the given time. For all data, both resampled and new, locality, coordinates, elevation, aspect and spatial uncertainty and the resampling/sampling methods and definitions are provided. The entire material is stored and available for download through the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) portal. New information This dataset includes newly-resampled TFLs, based on 57–127-year-old registrations. The entries provide elevational changes, georeferenced localities and potential sites for monitoring climate change effects. The entries enable regional analyses of TFL dynamics on intermediate timescales, including the effect of time lags. The material is available for modelling TFL range shifts along the boreal-alpine ecotone. This dataset most likely provides the highest registered Betula pubescens subsp. czerepanovii locations within their specific regions, thus representing the contemporary ecophysiological range limits for the life-form tree. Additional high-elevation TFL sites and localities have been added to make the material suitable for future remapping and monitoring of climatic TFL dynamics.

• Publication year

  2025

• Venue

  Biodiversity Data Journal

• Publication date

  2025-11-10

• Fields of study

  Biology, Medicine, Environmental Science

• Identifiers
  DOI 10.3897/BDJ.13.e160358PMID 41262206PMCID 12624353
• External record

  Open on Semantic Scholar

• Source metadata

  Semantic Scholar, PubMed

• No claims are published for this paper.

• No concepts are published for this paper.

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