Name:
Carex elynoides - Kobresia myosuroides - Phlox pulvinata Alpine Turf & Fell-field Group
Reference:
NatureServe Biotics 2019
Description:
This wide-ranging, alpine group includes both wind-scoured fell-fields and dry turf in alpine sites throughout the Rocky Mountains cordillera, high mountain ranges and plateaus in Utah and Nevada, the Sierra Nevada in California, high mountains of eastern Oregon and Washington, and isolated alpine sites in the northeastern Cascades. The vegetation is generally composed of low-growing perennial forbs and graminoids. On fell-field sites, total vegetation cover ranges from sparse to moderate cover dominated by cushion plants, whereas on turf sites, it ranges from open to moderately dense or dense cover dominated by graminoids or a mixture of graminoids and forbs (especially cushion plants). The graminoids are typically rhizomatous, sod-forming sedges such as <i>Carex elynoides, Carex helleri, Carex scirpoidea, Carex siccata, Carex nardina, Carex rupestris, Kobresia myosuroides</i>, and <i>Linanthus pungens</i>. Common fell-field species include <i>Arenaria capillaris, Erigeron pygmaeus, Eriogonum incanum, Geum rossii, Hulsea algida, Minuartia obtusiloba, Myosotis asiatica, Paronychia pulvinata, Phacelia hastata var. compacta, Phlox covillei, Phlox pulvinata, Saxifraga tolmiei, Silene acaulis, Trifolium dasyphyllum</i>, and <i>Trifolium parryi</i>. Many other graminoids, forbs, and prostrate shrubs can also be found, including <i>Calamagrostis purpurascens, Deschampsia cespitosa, Dryas octopetala, Ericameria discoidea, Festuca brachyphylla, Festuca idahoensis, Leucopoa kingii, Luzula spicata, Poa arctica, Poa glauca, Poa secunda</i> (Great Basin), <i>Podistera nevadensis, Polygonum bistortoides, Saxifraga</i> spp., <i>Selaginella densa</i>, and <i>Solidago</i> spp. Fell-fields are usually found within or adjacent to alpine dry turf with many of the same prostrate and mat-forming plants found in both, frequently with broad transition zones. Great Basin alpine areas tend to be drier with smaller turf patches and include some species common in desert scrub such as <i>Elymus elymoides</i> and <i>Poa secunda</i>. Vegetation in these areas is controlled by snow retention, wind desiccation, permafrost, and a short growing season. Fell-fields are typically free of snow during the winter as they are found on ridgetops, upper slopes and exposed saddles, whereas dry turf is found on gentle to moderate slopes, flat ridges, valleys, and basins where the soil has become relatively stabilized and the water supply is more-or-less constant. Fell-field substrates are generally shallow, stony, low in organic matter, and poorly developed with wind deflation often resulting in a gravelly pavement. Alpine turf sites have deeper, more developed soils, although there may be moderately high cover of cobbles and boulders present. Although alpine dry turf may form the matrix or large patches of the alpine zone, it typically intermingles with alpine bedrock and scree, ice field, fell-field, alpine dwarf-shrubland, and alpine/subalpine wet meadow systems.
Accession Code:
urn:lsid:vegbank.org:commConcept:40070-{3DD6B744-D8FC-4958-89E2-AD0884CF3DFB}
Plot-observations of this Community Concept:
0
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