Login | Datasets | Logout
 

View Community Concepts - Detail

A.1355 | EcoArt 2002
  click to update datacart
Name: A.1355
Reference: EcoArt 2002
Description: Plant associations included in this alliance are circumboreal and are common in alpine, wet meadow, or wetland margin habitats in moist, low-gradient valley bottoms and along streams throughout the mountainous areas of the western U.S. Typically, communities occur in areas of abundant snowfall where snowmelt saturates soils from late spring through early summer. Communities occur in the alpine tundra in snowmelt basins and around the edges of alpine wetlands. At lower elevations, the communities are typically wetlands, requiring moist soils through most of the growing season. The lowest elevation stands generally occur in moist maritime climates, on soils with high moisture-holding capacity or a perched water table. Soils are variable. Fine-textured soils retain soil moisture longer in areas of seasonal drought, and coarse substrates allow aeration in areas with perennial high water tables. This vegetation is characterized by a moderately dense to dense herbaceous layer dominated by the perennial bunchgrass ~Deschampsia caespitosa$. Commonly associated species include ~Juncus balticus, Potentilla gracilis, Danthonia intermedia, Carex$ spp., and ~Poa pratensis$. Common forbs include ~Geum rossii, Ligusticum tenuifolium, Polygonum bistortoides$, and ~Caltha leptosepala$. Diagnostic of this herbaceous alliance is the dominance or codominance of ~Deschampsia caespitosa$ and the presence of surface water for only brief periods during the growing season. 
Accession Code: VB.CC.1129.A1355
Plot-observations of this Community Concept: 0
      Party Perspective according to: NatureServe (organization)
Perspective from: 26-Nov-1997 to: 17-Mar-2005
     
  • status: accepted
  • Community's Parent: V.A.5.N.j
  • This Community's Level: Alliance
  • This Community's Children: [none]
Names:   Scientific: DESCHAMPSIA CAESPITOSA TEMPORARILY FLOODED HERBACEOUS ALLIANCE
  Code: A.1355
  Common: Tufted Hairgrass Temporarily Flooded Herbaceous Alliance
(convergence) and Synonyms:
(undetermined) Deschampsia caespitosa Temporarily Flooded Herbaceous Alliance