Posted by Ian, Poulsbo WA on 5/19/2008, 7:33 pm, in reply to "David--someone let me know of your climate query...so I'll make a "guest" post"
76.121.33.187
Great thread! I was just thinking about the climate of Canberra myself and wondering how much success with plants at ANBG could possibly translate to success with them here. For example apparently they can grow Grevillea robusta while I can't - what's up with that?? LOL. Unfortunately I can't find any kind of online list anymore of the plants at ANBG, except for some difficult-to-use searchable index. I really like this site for providing a good overall picture of the climate:
http://www.weatherbase.com/weather/weather.php3?s=62949&refer=
A couple more comments about timberlines/lapse rates. I've also heard it postulated (now I can't remember where) that the reason the timberline in Australia is rather low is that eucalypts as a group have failed to adapt as well to cold climates as northern Hemisphere trees. A quick comparison of summer temperatures at equal latitude/altitude in each hemisphere might clear up whether that is fact or myth (haven't done that yet).
It's also my observation that timberline is greatly affected by precipitation. Going from west to east in the Olympic Mountains the timberline goes from about 4,000' up to 6,000'. In the North Cascades it goes from about 4,500' to 7,000' from west to east. In the Andes mountains, Polylepis forests occur at higher altitudes where it is drier such as around Samaja in Bolivia. etc. I think precipitation must be part of the reason for New Zealand's rather low timberline.
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