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Pinus albicaulis - Abies lasiocarpa / Vaccinium scoparium / Luzula glabrata Woodland | NatureServe Biotics 2019
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Name: Pinus albicaulis - Abies lasiocarpa / Vaccinium scoparium / Luzula glabrata Woodland
Reference: NatureServe Biotics 2019
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 <i>Abies lasiocarpa</i> followed distantly in order of decreasing average cover by <i>Pinus albicaulis, Pinus contorta</i>, and <i>Picea engelmannii</i> (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 <i>Vaccinium membranaceum</i> and <i>Lonicera utahensis</i> have high constancy, but only the former has coverages exceeding 5%. The dwarf-shrub component has only two constant species, <i>Vaccinium scoparium</i> and <i>Vaccinium myrtillus</i>, only one of which exhibits high cover in a given location; <i>Phyllodoce empetriformis</i> may be a conspicuous component but its presence is very inconsistent. The graminoid component is singularly dominated by <i>Luzula glabrata</i> with a cover of 5 to 20% (extremes to 50 or 60%, where <i>Xerophyllum tenax</i> cover is low); <i>Carex geyeri</i> is a common component only in central Idaho representation of the type. <i>Xerophyllum tenax</i> is almost invariably the dominant herb, joined by a number of other forbs none of which express high constancy. 
Accession Code: urn:lsid:vegbank.org:commConcept:34495-{5515E364-8275-465E-BCCF-799BA19A31DE}
Plot-observations of this Community Concept: 0
      Party Perspective according to: NatureServe (organization)
Perspective from: 17-Feb-2004 to: ongoing
      Names:   UID: ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.730893 NatureServe ExplorerNatureServe Explorer logo
  Code: CEGL005839
  Translated: Whitebark Pine - Subalpine Fir / Grouse Whortleberry / Smooth Woodrush Woodland
  Scientific: Pinus albicaulis - Abies lasiocarpa / Vaccinium scoparium / Luzula glabrata Woodland
(convergence) and Synonyms:
(similar) Pinus albicaulis - Abies lasiocarpa / Vaccinium scoparium / Luzula glabrata var. hitchcockii Woodland
(similar) Pinus albicaulis - Abies lasiocarpa / Vaccinium scoparium / Luzula glabrata var. hitchcockii Woodland