Name:
Sechura Atacama Semi-Desert Scrub Macrogroup
Reference:
NatureServe Biotics 2019
Description:
This macrogroup includes several communities that develop along the Pacific Coast from central Peru to northern Chile in the area known as the Sechura Desert and the northern Atacama Desert. These are open, mostly succulent, scrub communities formed by shrubs, cacti, forbs and grasses. Scattered trees only occur in some locations in the rocky slopes of the western pre-Puna, at over 2000 m elevation, or with a shallow water table. The different communities are distributed along the altitudinal gradient from the coast up to the western slopes of the Andes, subject to a desertic climate, with several years of minimal rainfall interrupted by one year of relatively high precipitation. The elevational gradient along the ocean allows for the formation of fog at mid altitudes, where certain plant communities develop, formed by <i>Eulychnia aricensis, Eulychnia iquiquensis, Haageocereus australis, Neoporteria islayensis, Neoraimondia arequipensis, Nolana intonsa, Nolana jaffuelii, Nolana sedifolia, Oxalis thyrsoidea, Polyachyrus annus</i>, and <i>Solanum brachyantherum</i>. At low elevations the dominant structure is of columnar cacti alternating with shrub and globular cacti that include <i>Armatocereus procerus, Cnidoscolus basiacanthus, Corryocactus brachypetalus, Espostoa melanostele, Melocactus peruvianus</i>, and <i>Neoraimondia arequipensis</i>. Some of the woody species at higher elevation are of Andean affinity such as <i>Schinus molle, Furcraea andina, Carica candicans, Mentzelia</i> sp., <i>Baccharis</i> sp., <i>Nicotiana</i> sp., and <i>Solanum</i> sp.
Accession Code:
urn:lsid:vegbank.org:commConcept:41012-{C3428088-A72A-45CC-91AD-C05891ECE211}
Plot-observations of this Community Concept:
0
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