Name:
Granite - Metamorphic Bedrock Great Lakes Shore Sparse Vegetation
Reference:
Midwestern Ecology Working Group...
Description:
This sparsely vegetated granite (metamorphic) bedrock rocky shore community is found along Lake Superior shorelines of the Unites States and Canada. The bedrock is diverse in both age and origin, and includes an acidic group of granite and metamorphic rocks. The vegetation changes with distance from the lake. Wave action and ice scour are strongest near the shore, producing a wave-washed zone with little or no vegetation. Vegetation cover and height increases towards land. A zone of open, vegetated bedrock occurs first, where the dominant vegetation consists of mosses and lichens. Herbs and shrubs are restricted to bedrock cracks in the lower part of this zone, but increase further inland. Above the zone of wave and ice influence, woody vegetation becomes dominant. Some of the more common vascular plants include Agrostis hyemalis, Campanula rotundifolia, Danthonia spicata, Deschampsia caespitosa, Poa compressa, Vaccinium angustifolium, Betula papyrifera, Sibbaldiopsis tridentata (= Potentilla tridentata), Achillea millefolium, Chamerion angustifolium (= Epilobium angustifolium), and Scirpus cyperinus. Shrubs, further inland, include Arctostaphylos uva-ursi, Diervilla lonicera, Juniperus communis, and Physocarpus opulifolius. The more common ferns include Cystopteris fragilis, Woodsia ilvensis, and Polypodium virginianum. Small pools may also occur, containing Calamagrostis canadensis, Deschampsia caespitosa, Lobelia kalmii, and Scirpus cyperinus.
Accession Code:
VB.CC.21978.GRANITEMETAMORP
Plot-observations of this Community Concept:
0
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