Name:
Coleogyne ramosissima Shrubland
Reference:
Western Ecology Working Group of...
Description:
This broadly defined, common shrubland association occurs in the Colorado Plateau, southern Great Basin, Mojave Desert, and Sierra Nevada foothills in areas with hot summers and cold winters. Elevations range from 1065-2133 m (3500-7000 feet). Sites are on level to steep slopes, rarely exceeding 45%. In Nevada, stands occur on lower foothills and upper bajadas, often with cooler northern and eastern aspects. In the Colorado Plateau, stands occupy plateaus, ridges, dunes, alluvial fans, benches and colluvial slopes oriented to any aspect. The unvegetated surface is dominated by bare ground, except on some sandy sites, where biological soil crusts may provide more than 50% cover. Substrates range from barren shales to alluvium and eolian sands to broken limestone. Soils tend to be shallow, calcareous, sandy-textured on eolian sand sites, and clay-textured on shale sites. There is often a caliche subhorizon. Gravel, boulders and rock outcrops are common. The vegetation is characterized by an open to moderately dense short-shrub layer that is clearly dominated by the evergreen microphyllous shrub <i>Coleogyne ramosissima</i>, sometimes in nearly pure stands. Shrub cover is usually around 20%, although it can range as low as 5% or as high as 50%. Other shrub and dwarf-shrub species may be present with low cover, including <i>Ambrosia dumosa, Artemisia filifolia, Atriplex canescens, Atriplex confertifolia, Chrysothamnus viscidiflorus, Ephedra funerea, Ephedra torreyana, Ephedra nevadensis, Ephedra viridis, Ericameria linearifolia, Ericameria teretifolia, Gutierrezia sarothrae, Gutierrezia microcephala, Krascheninnikovia lanata, Lycium</i> spp., <i>Menodora spinescens, Opuntia</i> spp., and <i>Yucca baccata</i>. Occasional <i>Juniperus</i> spp., <i>Pinus edulis</i>, or <i>Pinus monophylla</i> trees are present in some stands. The herbaceous layer generally includes only sparse cover of graminoids and forbs, except during wet years when cover of annuals may be high. Cover of the introduced annual <i>Bromus</i> spp. may be high in disturbed stands, but in general, the substrate does not support the growth of more than a trace of grasses.
Accession Code:
VB.CC.33875.CEGL001332
Plot-observations of this Community Concept:
0
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