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Laurentian-Acadian-Great Lakes Alkaline Cliff Alliance | NatureServe Biotics 2019
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Name: Laurentian-Acadian-Great Lakes Alkaline Cliff Alliance
Reference: NatureServe Biotics 2019
Description: Overall, vegetation varies from sparse nonvascular vegetation to open-treed or shrubby communities. Nonvascular plants (lichens, mosses, and liverworts) are common on the exposed cliff face, but vascular plant cover is sparse and patchy, confined to cracks or between boulders at the base of the slope where thin soils accumulate beneath talus. Overhanging trees from the ridgetop may include <i>Acer saccharum, Thuja occidentalis</i>, and <i>Abies balsamea</i>, and stunted individuals of <i>Betula papyrifera</i> may occur on the cliff face. Other woody plants may include <i>Shepherdia canadensis, Diervilla lonicera, Acer spicatum</i>, and others. Common herbs may include <i>Asplenium trichomanes, Geranium robertianum, Maianthemum canadense, Pellaea glabella, Polypodium virginianum, Pteridium aquilinum</i>, and <i>Trientalis borealis</i>. This alliance is found in the Great Lakes region of the U.S. and Canada east to northern New England where exposed bedrock dominates the cliff face. The bedrock may consist of alkaline igneous, metamorphic, or sedimentary rocks. Alkaline rocky cliffs are predominantly dolostone when associated with the Niagaran Escarpment along the northern Lake Michigan and Lake Huron shorelines, perhaps best developed on Drummond Island and adjacent Ontario islands. Alkaline basalts characterize these systems along portions of the Lake Superior shoreline, with a generally distinguishable flora from those on dolostone. 
Accession Code: urn:lsid:vegbank.org:commConcept:39216-{9B7844EC-5F52-4764-B3E5-88A2717888C8}
Plot-observations of this Community Concept: 0
      Party Perspective according to: NatureServe (organization)
Perspective from: 18-Dec-2014 to: ongoing
      Names:   UID: ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.900057 NatureServe ExplorerNatureServe Explorer logo
  Code: A4006
  Translated: Laurentian-Acadian-Great Lakes Alkaline Cliff Alliance
  Common: Laurentian-Acadian-Great Lakes Alkaline Cliff
  Scientific: Laurentian-Acadian-Great Lakes Alkaline Cliff Alliance