I would like to point out to a major inconsistency in the way a particular biome is classified in the game. Different alpine tundra animals and plants are given different biome tags to represent the same biome. To establish consistency one method should be chosen and applied to all alpine tundra plants and animals.
1) The tundra tag is used for the Himalayan brown bear and polylepis tree to represent alpine tundra
2) The taiga tag is used for the snow leopard and plants like alpine phacelia, alpine sea holly, campion moss, crowberry bush, diamondleaf willow and puya plant to represent alpine tundra
3) The grassland tag is used for the llama to represent alpine tundra grasslands
The inconsistency in tagging causes several issues. For instance llamas and polylepis trees should be compatible, taking into consideration they are from the same region and biome (alpine tundra of the Andean highlands). A similar confusion applies to the Himalayan region, where both the snow leopard and Himalayan brown bear have almost identical ranges, yet the former doesn't have the tundra tag, when in reality they are associated with alpine tundra even more so than the bear. Some herbaceous alpine plants that are associated with regions above the timberline like the alpine phacelia, sea holly, campion moss, crowberry bush, as well as the diamondleaf willow and puya plants have not been given alpine tundra tags in contrast to the polylepis tree. Not suggesting that taiga should be removed from those plants, because usually most high altitude species tend to grow in both alpine and subalpine regions, but they are missing tundra tags if the Himalayan brown bear and polylepis tree's tags are intentional.
In short I am asking which of the three tags (tundra, taiga and grassland) is intended to represent alpine tundra. Whichever is the intended one, the same method should apply to all.
Looks like the closed beta-post release biome classification inconsistency issue we have with the 'Tropical' biome also exists in alpine tundra. Himalayan Brown Bear is a good example to this change.
As seen here, apparently, they used to classify alpine tundra/alpine grasslands as 'Grassland' due to the term "grassland" being in the name of the
alpine grasslands & shrublands biome, then realized this would be a very wrong approach as lowland grasslands and savannas are completely different, no matter how you look at it. Just like the issue with tropical DLC animals using the "old method" by including 'Temperate' in place of tropical forests, DLC alpine tundra animals like the Llama are using the "old method" for the in-game classification of alpine tundra. It is apparently a simple oversight, with DLC animals having missed said quality review.
With 'Grassland' out of question, let's analyze which of the remaining two biomes, 'Tundra' and 'Taiga' would be more appropriate to represent alpine tundra. In order to do that let's define alpine tundra.
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Alpine tundra is a type of natural region or biome that does not contain trees because it is at high elevation. As the latitude of a location approaches the poles, the threshold elevation for alpine tundra gets lower until it reaches sea level, and alpine tundra merges with polar tundra."
Let's also define the alpine treeline and the alpine zone, the biotic region between the alpine treeline and snowline.
"An
alpine tree line is the highest elevation that sustains trees; higher up it is too cold, or the snow cover lasts for too much of the year, to sustain trees. The climate above the tree line of mountains is called an alpine climate, and the terrain can be described as alpine tundra."
"
Alpine level: The zone that stretches between the tree line and snowline."
In terms of climate, alpine tundra and polar tundra are both classified as "
ET: Tundra Climate" according to the
Köppen Climate Classification System, or in other words they both have the same climate, that defines regions above the treeline (but below the snowline/icecap/ice sheet). The difference between the two is, in alpine tundra, altitude is the factor that determines the treeline, while in arctic/polar tundra it is the latitude. Basically the same end result, with different contributing factors.
Taking this into consideration, the in-game biome that would best represent alpine tundra is 'Tundra', as the umbrella biome 'Taiga' represents coniferous forest regions just below the forest line. Similar to how alpine tundra and polar tundra have the same climate, taiga/boreal forests and
subalpine forests also have the same climate, and it is called the subarctic/subpolar climate (
Dfc, Dfd, Dwc, Dwd), with altitude and latitude determining where they occur.
So basically,
- Arctic tundra/alpine tundra/alpine shrublands and grasslands = low lying shrubs and grasses with no trees
- Taiga/boreal forest/subarctic forest/subalpine forest = coniferous forest
There are very few exceptions where some species, like the Dahurain Larch and Polylepis Tree, which can have stunted forms that can survive higher altitudes/latitudes, can penetrate further into the conventional treeline to a certain extent, so those two having the 'Tundra' tag would be accurate and consistent with the game's method of classifying biomes.
Post quality review Himalayan Brown Bear has both 'Taiga' and 'Tundra' tags (and no 'Grassland' tag), which appears to define the system all other alpine flora and fauna should follow. Plus this system would also prevent the removal of the 'Tundra' biome from existing alpine plants and animals like the HBB and Polylepis Tree, which otherwise would have said biome tags removed if 'Taiga' is to represent alpine tundra. In both scenarios, 'Grassland' would have to be removed from the Llama, so this wouldn't be a determining factor in choosing which method to adopt.
Let's see how these set of rules would apply to the plants and animals mentioned in the original post:
Himalayan Brown Bear: Would keep both tags as they are present in both alpine tundra/grasslands and subalpine forests.
Snow Leopard: Would keep the 'Taiga' tag, as they are present in subalpine forests, but would additionally receive the 'Tundra' tag to represent alpine tundra regions, which is the primary habitat of the snow leopard, more so than HBB.
Llama: Would keep 'Temperate' and 'Taiga' tags, but 'Grassland' would have to be removed to be consistent with HBB. Would instead receive the 'Tundra' tag, making them compatible with the Polylepis Tree, which they currently don't tolerate, despite being from the same region.
Polylepis Tree and Dahurian Larch: Would keep their existing tags.
Alpine Sea Holly and Puya Plant: Would keep the 'Taiga' tag but also receive 'Tundra' because they are also present in alpine tundra.
Alpine Phacelia, Campion Moss, Crowberry Bush, Cowberry Bush and Diamondleaf Willow: Would keep existing tags.
Bearberry Bush: Would additionally receive the 'Taiga' tag because they also grow in boreal and subalpine forests.
Despite this discussion, Frontier might still choose to have 'Taiga' to represent alpine tundra, to prevent Arctic animals from sharing alpine plants with alpine animals. In that case the changes to existing tags would have to be the following:
Himalayan Brown Bear: Would have its 'Tundra' tag removed as they are absent from the Arctic tundra.
Snow Leopard: Would keep its current tag.
Llama: Would keep 'Temperate' and 'Taiga' tags, but 'Grassland' would have to be removed to be consistent with HBB.
Dahurian Larch: Would keep both of the existing tags, because tundra in question here is Arctic tundra.
Polylepis Tree: Would have its 'Tundra' tag removed, because it refers to alpine tundra. Would receive the 'Taiga' tag to represent alpine tundra.
Alpine Sea Holly and Puya Plant: Would keep their 'Taiga' tags without receiving the 'Tundra' tag.
Alpine Phacelia, Campion Moss, Crowberry Bush, Cowberry Bush and Diamondleaf Willow: Would keep existing tags.
Bearberry Bush: Would additionally receive the 'Taiga' tag because they also grow in boreal and subalpine forests.
Either method is consistent within itself, therefore either one can be adopted. Depends on how Frontier would like to categorize alpine tundra. However, one thing should be noted that if the second method is the intended one, then it wouldn't be consistent with the front-end globe, as according to it alpine tundra is classified as 'Tundra', since the two major alpine tundra regions on the front-end globe, the Tibetan Plateau and the Andean Highlands are 'Tundra' regions.
This probably signifies that the Polylepis Tree and Himalayan Brown Bear having 'Tundra' tags after the quality review is intended.
