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A.313 | EcoArt 2002
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Name: A.313
Reference: EcoArt 2002
Description: This forest alliance occurs in riparian areas in the southwestern United States. Stands have been described from floodplains along the valley floors of large rivers in southwestern New Mexico, Utah, and Arizona. Although periodic drought can result in the rivers becoming dry, water tables are generally high throughout the year, with surface flooding during the spring months. Soils are alluvial, deposited in stratified layers of clays, sands, silts and gravels. Forests included in this alliance are characterized in mature stands by a dense overstory canopy 20-25 m tall of ~Populus fremontii$. Canopy cover is variable, depending upon the age of the stand, but averages well over 60%. In the subcanopy, ~Salix gooddingii$, a small tree (to 15 m tall), is usually present with low cover. Scattered shrubs are found in the understory, but total cover of this layer is typically less than 10%. Shrub species may include ~Amorpha fruticosa, Baccharis salicifolia$, and ~Salix exigua$. The herbaceous layer is sparse. Associated species include ~Anemopsis californica, Distichlis spicata$, and ~Juncus balticus$. Tree litter covers much of the ground surface. Diagnostic of this alliance is the dominance of ~Populus fremontii$ in the relatively dense tree canopy of forests that are briefly flooded during the growing season and have relatively high water tables. 
Accession Code: VB.CC.1940.A313
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: I.B.2.N.d
  • This Community's Level: Alliance
  • This Community's Children: [none]
Names:   Scientific: POPULUS FREMONTII TEMPORARILY FLOODED FOREST ALLIANCE
  Code: A.313
  Common: Fremont Cottonwood Temporarily Flooded Forest Alliance
(convergence) and Synonyms:
(undetermined) Populus fremontii Temporarily Flooded Forest Alliance