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Pinus albicaulis - Abies lasiocarpa / Vaccinium scoparium / Luzula glabrata var. hitchcockii Woodland | Western Ecology Working Group of...
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Name: Pinus albicaulis - Abies lasiocarpa / Vaccinium scoparium / Luzula glabrata var. hitchcockii Woodland Reference: Western Ecology Working Group of... Description: This association is broadly distributed throughout the mid to upper subalpine zones of the northern Rocky Mountains, concentrated in northern Idaho and western Montana and extending into the Canadian Rockies of southwestern Alberta. Its elevation ranges from 1555 to 2380 m (5100-7800 feet). It is strongly associated with moderate to steep warm slopes, usually having a southeast- through south- to west-facing exposure; it consistently occurs from midslopes upwards to slope shoulders and occasionally extending to high-elevation benchlands as well. It is characterized as having relatively heavy snowpack that persists well into the growing season. These sites have well-drained soils derived from a host of parent materials, including volcanics (granitics, andesite, rhyolite), sedimentaries (limestone, dolomite, siltstone), metamorphics (quartzite, argillite, gneiss, mica-schist) and metasediments. The range in soil surface texture is broad, from silty clays to sandy loams with the gravel content averaging about 30% near the surface and increasing markedly with depth. These are very open woodland sites with the tree component often occurring as scattered clumps and, at the highest and coldest extremes, approaching a krummholz form with trees as short as 5.5 m (18 feet) in height when mature. The canopy is generally strongly dominated by Abies lasiocarpa followed distantly in order of decreasing average cover by Pinus albicaulis, Pinus contorta, and Picea engelmannii (this order may change slightly by region and is undoubtedly due to differences in type and severity of disturbance). The undergrowth component is almost invariably species-poor. Tall shrubs are virtually unrepresented, and the short shrubs Vaccinium membranaceum and Lonicera utahensis have high constancy, but only the former has coverages exceeding 5%. The dwarf-shrub component has only two constant species, Vaccinium scoparium and Vaccinium myrtillus, only one of which exhibits high cover in a given location; Phyllodoce empetriformis may be a conspicuous component but its presence is very inconsistent. The graminoid component is singularly dominated by Luzula glabrata with a cover of 5 to 20% (extremes to 50 or 60%, where Xerophyllum tenax cover is low); Carex geyeri is a common component only in central Idaho representation of the type. Xerophyllum tenax is almost invariably the dominant herb, joined by a number of other forbs none of which express high constancy.  Accession Code: VB.CC.28312.PINUSALBICAULIS Plot-observations of this Community Concept: 0
	Party Perspective according to: NatureServe (organization) Perspective from: 11-Feb-2004 to: 17-Nov-2014
	status: accepted Community's Parent: Pinus albicaulis - Abies lasiocarpa Woodland Alliance This Community's Level: Association This Community's Children: [none]		Names:   Translated: Whitebark Pine - Subalpine Fir / Grouseberry / Hitchcock's Smooth Woodrush Woodland   UID: ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.730893 NatureServe Explorer   Code: CEGL005839   Scientific: Pinus albicaulis - Abies lasiocarpa / Vaccinium scoparium / Luzula glabrata var. hitchcockii Woodland (convergence) and Synonyms: (undetermined) Pinus albicaulis - Abies lasiocarpa / Vaccinium scoparium / Luzula glabrata var. hitchcockii Woodland