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A.1541 | EcoArt 2002
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Name: A.1541
Reference: EcoArt 2002
Description: Stands included in this Chihuahuan Desert alliance have been reported from rocky sites in the foothills of south-central New Mexico. Climate is semi-arid. Mean annual precipitation is about 24 cm. Summers are hot and winters have periods of freezing temperatures. The elevations range from 1900-2100 m. Stands are found on moderate to steep slopes, ridges of foothills and mesa escarpments on any aspect. The extremely rocky substrate is often derived from limestone. The soils are shallow, lithic, silty or clay loams with an average of 80% of the ground cover rock or gravel. The soils are relatively mesic because the limited precipitation is held in the fine-textured soil above the shallow bedrock and below rocky ground cover. Adjacent vegetation consists of Chihuahuan desertscrub at lower elevations dominated by ~Larrea tridentata$ and montane woodlands and shrublands at higher elevations. Stands have a sparse woody layer of xeromorphic drought-deciduous and evergreen rosette shrubs such as ~Fouquieria splendens$ or ~Dasylirion wheeleri$. The sparse to moderately dense herbaceous layer is 0.5-0.8 m tall and is dominated by the perennial warm-season bunchgrass ~Muhlenbergia setifolia$. Other associated perennial grasses include ~Bouteloua curtipendula, Bouteloua eriopoda, Bouteloua hirsuta$, and ~Muhlenbergia pauciflora$. Scattered forbs may be also present. More information is needed to fully describe this alliance. 
Accession Code: VB.CC.1302.A1541
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.7.N.h
  • This Community's Level: Alliance
  • This Community's Children: [none]
Names:   Scientific: MUHLENBERGIA SETIFOLIA SHRUB HERBACEOUS ALLIANCE
  Code: A.1541
  Common: Curly-leaf Muhly Shrub Herbaceous Alliance
(convergence) and Synonyms:
(undetermined) Muhlenbergia setifolia Shrub Herbaceous Alliance