Exploring how animals, plants and people have adapted to live in the Alpine mountain region.
Video
Woah! Check out that view! What a picture-perfect destination! But aside from being a popular ski resort with 80 runs, what else flourishes here in The Alps?
I’m here in La Thuille, in the Aosta Valley, in Italy.
Other similar mountainous areas like these around the world include The Rockies and Appalachian Mountains in North America and The Alps and Pyrenees here in Europe.
As you can see by what I’m wearing it’s pretty cold here today. The winters tend to be very cold, with heavy snowfall - which make it a perfect destination for ski holidays. The summers however are quite the opposite. The weather is hot and they have frequent storms.
These Alpine valleys have been glaciated, so typically they are very deep, with steep sides and wide, flat bases. Because of this characteristic U-shape, towns and villages can be found along the valley floor. People have adapted to the slopes of the valleys in a number of ways.
Traditional farming involves growing crops on the valley floor. In summertime, livestock would be moved up to pasture on the higher slopes, while hay would be grown on the richer soils close to the bottom of valley, ready to feed the animals during winter.
The direction a slope faces also influences land use. So, the sunnier south-facing slopes tend to have crops, settlements and vineyards; whereas the more shaded north-facing slopes tend to have trees. Altitude also effects trees and plants as conditions become colder and more challenging.
It’s starting to feel pretty cold, so how do these trees manage to survive the freezing winters?
Larch and fir trees have really thick bark to help them cope with cold conditions. Their branches are very flexible and droop downwards when covered in snow so they don’t snap - it’s pretty clever, eh? The needles of the fir trees are thin and waxy, helping to reduce water loss, and as they are evergreen they photosynthesize whenever light is available.
Pinecones help to protect the seeds during winter, ensuring that the species survive.
You’ll notice that unlike the fir trees, larches are deciduous - which which means that they lose their leaves in winter.
I’m at the side of the valley floor, but along the valley floor there are fields and mixed woodland of oak and chestnut trees. It’s winter now, but during the spring and summer the valley floor is full of fruit and vines benefiting from the lovely, warm weather.
As you go up the slopes you can see how the vegetation changes.
So, closer to the bottom, you have the mixed woodland; but as you increase you can see the more coniferous trees, like larch and fir, which can grow up to 40m high! And at the very top you get some pine trees as well. The larch really stand out, because they lose their leaves in winter.
So, this here is the treeline - the line, or altitude, above which no tree can grow.
Above this you find small plants and shrubs like Alpine rose and bilberry. These grow really close to the ground to protect themselves from strong, cold winds. And their leaves are thick and waxy to help retain moisture. In the grasses above 2400m, you can also find arnica, which I hear is pretty good for bruises!
On the subject of survival… Meet the ibex - a wild goat, adapted to living in the mountains of Europe. In winter they have thick warm woolly coats to help keep them warm; in summer they moult to help keep cool.
Ibex have very strong legs and specially-adapted feet for moving up and down the steep slopes!
On a smaller scale, this is the Alpine marmot. These little rodents can be found across mountain ranges in Europe.
In the summer months they feed on herbs, grasses, flowers and other plants to build up vital fat reserves in order to survive the lean winter months. They survive throughout winter by hibernating between the months of October and April, so they are busy having a snooze right now!
So, as you can see, lots of things have had to adapt in order to survive the weather conditions here - including us humans, who have adapted to the environment through tourism.
And, on that note, where are my skis? Ah, and you’d better bring some arnica too, because I am definitely going to have some bruises!
Video summary
Download/print a transcript of the video.
Wildlife presenter Ferne Corrigan explores the Alpine mountains around La Thuile in Italy to see how people, plants and animals have adapted to live here.
Ferne starts by locating the alpine mountain ranges around the world before describing the climate and landscape.
She explains traditional alpine farming and land use in the valleys as well as the adaptations of trees and plants, before describing how the ibex and alpine marmot have adapted to the conditions.
This clip is from the series Ecosystems and Biomes.
Teacher notes
Download/print the Teacher Notes for this episode (pdf).
Before watching the video
Look at a map of the Italian Alps. Ask students to give a locational description of the mountain range. Where in Europe is it located?
Ask students about the types of animals that they think might live in the Italian Alps and what type of climate they live in. Students could make predictions, which they could then add to once they have watched the film.
Introduce key terms such as:
Altitude: The height above sea level.
Deciduous: Trees that lose their leaves in winter.
U-shaped valley: A wide flat-bottomed valley carved out by a glacier.
Vineyards: An area where grapes are grown.
During the video
You may wish to stop at relevant points during this short film to pose questions and check understanding or wait until the end. Useful questions might include:
- Which areas are similar to the Italian Alps?
- What is the climate like in the Italian Alps?
- What is a U-shaped valley?
- How is the U-shaped valley used?
- What plants grown in the Italian Alps?
- What is the difference between deciduous and coniferous trees?
- What happens to the vegetation as you move up the slopes?
- How is the ibex adapted to survive in the Italian Alps?
After watching the video
Ask students to look back at their predictions, were they right about what they thought they would see in the Italian Alps? Students could complete a spider diagram to note down the basic information about each of the Italian Alps: vegetation, climate, animals and human uses.
Give students an image of the Ibex and ask them to annotate it with the adaptation, for example their very strong legs. Discuss with students how the adaptations enable it to survive in the climate of the Italian Alps. Students could carry out the same activity with the Alpine marmot. This could then lead students to designing their own plant or animal that could live in the Italian Alps.
Discuss the human uses of the Italian Alps. Ask students whether they think those uses are good for the biome or if they will cause issues. Students could then rank the uses from most damaging to least damaging using their opinion and then writing up their decision.
Where next?
Compare the Italian Alps to a contrasting ecosystem such the Arabian Desert.
Students could compare:
- Animals
- Vegetation
- Climate
- Human uses
Students could also compare the wildlife to similar mountainous areas such as the Rockies.
Curriculum notes
This clip will be relevant for teaching Geography at KS3 and GCSE.
This topic appears in OCR, Edexcel, AQA, WJEC KS4/GCSE in England, CCEA GCSE in Northern Ireland, Progression Step 4/5/GCSE in Wales, and SQA National 4/5 in Scotland.
More videos from this series
The wildlife and ecosystem of tropical rainforests. video
Exploring the plants and animals living in the different layers of the tropical rainforest biome.
The wildlife and ecosystem of temperate savannas. video
Exploring grasslands to discover how plants, animals and people have adapted to the temperate savanna biome.
How animals and people adapt to live in the Arabian Desert. video
How people, plants and animals have adapted to survive the harsh conditions of the Arabian Desert.
