Name:
Abies concolor - Pseudotsuga menziesii Southern Rocky Mountain Dry Forest Group
Reference:
NatureServe Biotics 2019
Description:
This is a group of the southern Rocky Mountains and Great Basin. It occurs from Nevada extending east into the Trans-Pecos plateaus of Texas, south to the Chihuahuan Desert, and throughout the Four Corners region. These are mixed-conifer forests occurring on all aspects at elevations ranging from 1200 to 3300 m. The composition and structure of the overstory are dependent upon the temperature and moisture relationships of the site and the successional status of the occurrence. <i>Pseudotsuga menziesii</i> and <i>Abies concolor</i> are most frequent, but <i>Pinus ponderosa</i> may be present to codominant. <i>Pinus flexilis</i> is common in Nevada. <i>Pseudotsuga menziesii</i> forests occupy drier sites, and <i>Pinus ponderosa</i> is a common codominant. <i>Abies concolor</i>-dominated forests occupy cooler sites, such as upper slopes at higher elevations, canyon sideslopes, ridgetops, and north- and east-facing slopes which burn somewhat infrequently. <i>Picea pungens</i> is uncommon in this group but does occur in cool, moist locations, often as smaller patches within a matrix of other associations. As many as seven conifers can be found growing in the same occurrence, and there are a number of cold-deciduous shrub, forb and graminoid species common, including <i>Juniperus communis, Cercocarpus ledifolius, Artemisia tridentata, Arctostaphylos uva-ursi, Mahonia repens, Paxistima myrsinites, Symphoricarpos oreophilus, Jamesia americana, Quercus gambelii, Galium triflorum, Muhlenbergia straminea</i>, and <i>Festuca arizonica</i>. Forests in this group were undoubtedly characterized by a mixed-severity fire regime under "natural conditions," characterized by a high degree of variability in lethality and return interval.
Accession Code:
urn:lsid:vegbank.org:commConcept:40021-{A5992D9C-767A-493D-AF22-E627A0104E53}
Plot-observations of this Community Concept:
0
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