Name:
Carex spp. - Calamagrostis spp. Montane Wet Meadow & Marsh Group
Reference:
NatureServe Biotics 2019
Description:
This group contains the wet meadows found in low and high montane and subalpine elevations, occasionally reaching into the lower edges of the alpine elevations (about 1000-3600 m), from California's Transverse and Peninsular ranges north to British Columbia's Coastal Mountains and from throughout the Rocky Mountains of Canada and the U.S. (including the Black Hills of South Dakota) and mountain ranges of the intermountain Interior West. Varying dominant herbaceous species include graminoids <i>Calamagrostis canadensis, Calamagrostis stricta, Carex bolanderi, Carex exsiccata, Carex illota, Carex microptera, Carex scopulorum, Carex utriculata, Carex vernacula, Deschampsia cespitosa, Eleocharis quinqueflora, Glyceria striata, Juncus drummondii, Juncus nevadensis</i>, and <i>Scirpus</i> and/or <i>Schoenoplectus</i> spp. Forb species include <i>Camassia quamash, Cardamine cordifolia, Dodecatheon jeffreyi, Phippsia algida, Rorippa alpina, Senecio triangularis, Trifolium parryi</i>, and <i>Veratrum californicum</i>. Common but sparse shrubs may include <i>Betula glandulosa, Salix</i> spp., <i>Vaccinium macrocarpon</i>, and <i>Vaccinium uliginosum</i>. Wet meadows occur in open wet depressions, basins and flats with low-velocity surface and subsurface flows. They can be large meadows in montane or subalpine valleys, or occur as narrow strips bordering ponds, lakes and streams, and along toeslope seeps. They are typically found on flat areas or gentle slopes, but may also occur on subirrigated sites with slopes up to 10%. In alpine regions, sites typically are small depressions located below late-melting snow patches. Sites are usually seasonally wet, often drying by late summer, and many occur in a tension zone between perennial wetlands and uplands, where water tables fluctuate in response to long-term climatic cycles. They may have surface water for part of the year, but depths rarely exceed a few centimeters. Wet meadows can be tightly associated with snowmelt and typically are not subjected to high velocity disturbance, but can be flooded by slow-moving waters. Soils are mostly mineral and show typical hydric soil characteristics such as low chroma and redoximorphic features; some areas may have high organic content as inclusions or pockets. Vegetation of this group can manifest as a mosaic of several plant associations, or be a monotypic stand of a single association which is dominated by graminoids or forbs.
Accession Code:
urn:lsid:vegbank.org:commConcept:40204-{F5FC69DF-8ACE-4AA6-99E2-93C31FB09681}
Plot-observations of this Community Concept:
0
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