Talk:Tree line

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I must commend MPF for combining the three articles. The distinction between timberline and treeline in the previous versions seemed artificial: I've heard the terms used interchangably.

I have one additional suggestion.. Can we name the article "timberline" instead of "tree-line"? I believe that is the most common usage. -- hike395 18:06, 10 Feb 2004 (UTC)

Tree-line is the usual that I'm aware of; it may be an international vs US usage, or it may be an ecologists vs timber harvesters difference (with the latter not interested in trees too small to be profitably cut) - MPF 21:59, 25 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Did a quick Google experiment:

• Search for timberline ecotone yielded 945 hits
• Search for tree-line ecotone yielded 6870 hits
• Search for treeline ecotone yielded 5320 hits

So, it looks like you're right, "tree-line" is the preferred term in ecology. Then, I did

• Search for timberline forestry yielded 23,700 hits
• Search for tree-line forestry yielded 27,900 hits
• Search for treeline forestry yielded 13,300 hits

Looks like even in forestry, "tree-line" is preferred.

-- hike395 22:22, 25 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Contents 1 what is the process of a timberline 2 The change I made 3 The term "Tree Line" is in common usage in India NOT Timberline (Never heard of it before), we follow British English 4 tree-line and global warming 5 Spelling 6 thumb size overrides

[edit] what is the process of a timberline

HELP i need to know what the process of a timber line is

[edit] The change I made

Sweden - Approx. elevation of tree-line: 400(m) ---> I changed it to 800(m). http://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalfj%C3%A4ll http://www.dn.se/DNet/jsp/polopoly.jsp?d=597&a=452734 http://www.fjallen.nu/fakta/fjallbjork.htm http://www.laponia.info/underniva/fakta/fakta_visa.asp?Id=177 Also, I checked google earth at around 67-69°N and 400m elevation. There's trees everywhere. --130.243.248.239 10:36, 16 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] The term "Tree Line" is in common usage in India NOT Timberline (Never heard of it before), we follow British English

Tree sounds natural also, TIMBER means commercially exploitable wood, TIMBER is a WOOD/FORESTRY INDUSTRY terminology hence TIMBERLINE is also a WOOD/FORESTRY INDUSTRY terminology.

"TREE LINE" is a naturally occuring feature in nature, hence this is a more appropriate term for this natural phenomena 209.197.167.250 22:20, 14 December 2006 (UTC) Atulsnischal 22:29, 14 December 2006 (UTC)

Um, yes, we settled this 18 months ago: you can see that the article is titled "tree-line". hike395 03:08, 15 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] tree-line and global warming

has there been any measurable change in the tree-line, attributable to global warming?

one would expect that if the climate change was sufficient to melt polar ice, it would soon start to shift the tree-line closer to the poles as well. granted that ice melts faster than trees grow (especially under extreme conditions), but it should still have some noticeable effect, even if small.

Nielkmot 05:00, 18 February 2007 (UTC)

I have read articles menthiong that the alpine tree-line of Sweden is rising slowly. 217.209.225.87 21:37, 19 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Spelling

The hyphen is unacceptable in 21st century English in compounds like tree-line, except perhaps in attributive use. Nobody writes monkey-wrench, motion-picture, or health-care anymore. The page should be moved to either tree line or treeline. JackLumber. 13:13, 12 March 2007 (UTC)

I think it is not clear cut (excuse the pun). Take a quick look at the summaries in the Google search http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&safe=off&q=%22tree+line%22+ecotone ... most (but not all) of the usage in the technical articles is "tree-line". hike395 14:46, 12 March 2007 (UTC) I just realized this test is invalid, because most of the pages are using "tree-line" as an adjective for "ecotone", which is proper usage. hike395 14:49, 12 March 2007 (UTC)

That's just it---attributive use. JackLumber. 15:22, 12 March 2007 (UTC)

I agree, the hyphen is old-fashioned.  :-) Do you know of a source saying the proper spelling has no hyphen? —EncMstr 17:32, 12 March 2007 (UTC)

Chambers, American Heritage, and Merriam-Webster lemmatize tree line; Cambridge Advanced Learner's, Oxford Advanced Learner's, and Concise Oxford have treeline. Longman Contemporary English has tree line and defines it by cross-reference to timberline, as American dictionaries do. Encarta also has tree line, and regards it as British. Actually, both tree line and timberline originated in the U.S., according to Webster's New World. As noted above, outside of North America timber also refers to what I usually call by my last name. JackLumber. 19:18, 12 March 2007 (UTC)

You've convinced me. I was surprised to see that tree line (1893) and timberline (1867) are relatively new words. I wonder what they called it before? How do we decide between treeline and tree line? Google shows ~838,000 for the former and ~999,000 for the latter—probably a tie as searching goes. —EncMstr 19:35, 12 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] thumb size overrides

Hike395, I appreciate the larger images too. But forcing them to 250 (and what's with that one 240?) makes them smaller for me. If you like larger thumbs, you can change it in your preferences (under Files). Wikipedia:Manual of Style#Images was recently debated, and the policy is that thumb size should not be specified so the user's setting is used. Several exceptions are recognized, but don't seem to apply to this article. Thoughts? —EncMstr 02:34, 30 March 2007 (UTC)

It took me forever to dig up the debate (Wikipedia:Image_use_policy#Displayed_image_size). Looks like the consensus was that it's a guideline, not a policy. However, I'm willing to abide by it (even though I think that 180px is too small on most monitors). The lead photo is considered special: I'll bloat that up to 300px, leaving the rest unspecified. hike395 03:55, 30 March 2007 (UTC)