Name:
Artemisia filifolia Shrubland Alliance
Reference:
Western Ecology Working Group of...
Description:
This alliance includes Artemisia filifolia-dominated shrublands occurring mostly in the southern Great Plains, but associations are distributed as far north as the Black Hills, south to the Trans-Pecos of western Texas, as well as on the Colorado Plateau. These shrublands typically occur on flat, hummocky, or rolling terrain, as well as on partially stabilized dunes and sand sheets. Soils supporting these communities have low water retention and nutrient availability, and are typically sand or loamy sand, primarily of aeolian origin, but include sand deposits derived from sandstone residuum and cinder deposits. Less xeric sites tend to be more grass-dominated. In western Kansas and eastern Colorado, this alliance is found downwind of major waterways where alluvial sand is blown. In Texas these shrublands occur over sandy soils in the Rolling and High Plains and on gypsum dunes in the Trans-Pecos. On the Colorado Plateau, stands occur on a variety of sites including pockets of sand below sandstone cliffs, dunes and sheets of sand or cinder, floodplain terraces and alluvial fans. Vegetation cover is sparse to moderately dense, with a shrub stratum approximately 1 m tall, dominated by Artemisia filifolia, interspersed with areas of bare substrate and scattered tall or mid grasses. Species composition will vary with geography, precipitation, disturbance, and soil texture. Associated species may include Andropogon hallii, Artemisia frigida, Bouteloua curtipendula, Bouteloua gracilis, Carex duriuscula (= Carex eleocharis), Calamovilfa gigantea, Calamovilfa longifolia, Calylophus serrulatus, Carex inops ssp. heliophila, Helianthus petiolaris, Hesperostipa comata (= Stipa comata), Heterotheca villosa var. villosa, Ipomoea leptophylla, Lathyrus polymorphus, Lygodesmia juncea, Opuntia spp., Penstemon buckleyi, Prosopis glandulosa, Prunus angustifolia, Psoralidium lanceolatum, Schizachyrium scoparium, Sporobolus giganteus, Sporobolus cryptandrus, and Yucca glauca. Communities associated with gypsum dunes have many gypsophiles or gypsum endemics. Colorado Plateau shrub associates include Ericameria nauseosa, Ephedra torreyana, Ephedra viridis, Gutierrezia sarothrae, Atriplex canescens, and the graminoids Muhlenbergia pungens, Sporobolus cryptandrus, Bouteloua eriopoda, and Achnatherum hymenoides.
Accession Code:
VB.CC.18399.ARTEMISIAFILIFO
Plot-observations of this Community Concept:
0
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