Name:
Populus tremuloides Forest Alliance
Reference:
Western Ecology Working Group of...
Description:
Forests in this alliance are found on rolling topography such as the glacial moraines in Minnesota or the Turtle Mountains and Pembina Hills of North Dakota, often occurring between grasslands and other forest types. The soils are usually deep, well-developed, and loamy. Stands in this alliance often originate following disturbance. This alliance is widespread in the western United States, the northern Great Plains, and extends into the western Great Lakes area. The dominant species of the canopy is Populus tremuloides. In the midwestern United States, Quercus macrocarpa and Betula papyrifera are common associates and can even be codominant in some stands. The shrub layer can be made up of several shrubs common to the Great Plains, including Corylus cornuta, Corylus americana, Prunus virginiana, Symphoricarpos occidentalis, Amelanchier alnifolia, and Rubus spp. In wetter stands Cornus spp. and Salix spp. may also be present. The herbaceous layer may contain Aralia nudicaulis, Carex pensylvanica, Maianthemum canadense, Maianthemum stellatum, Viola spp., and Thalictrum dioicum. In the western United States common associates include Acer glabrum, Amelanchier alnifolia, Symphoricarpos oreophilus, Bromus carinatus, Calamagrostis rubescens, Thalictrum fendleri, Carex siccata (= Carex foenea), Carex geyeri, Carex rossii, and Hesperostipa comata (= Stipa comata). In the Dakotas and Wyoming, these stands may remain successionally stable for many dozens of years, while in the more mesic, eastern portion of the range, Populus tremuloides forests succeed to other community types much more quickly. Populus tremuloides (the species) reaches Texas, Virginia, and West Virginia, but it is unclear whether Populus tremuloides communities occur in any of these states. Stands of Populus tremuloides in the Trans-Pecos of western Texas occur in ravines and on open talus slopes above 2134 m (7000 feet) elevation; they may best be treated as Populus tremuloides communities, or merely as other communities with a component of aspen. Texas stands of Populus tremuloides are of limited extent and variable in structure.
Accession Code:
VB.CC.18005.POPULUSTREMULOI
Plot-observations of this Community Concept:
0
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