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A.1083 | EcoArt 2002
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Name: A.1083
Reference: EcoArt 2002
Description: This dwarf-shrubland alliance is found in alpine and subalpine parklands in high mountains of the Pacific Northwest and northern Rocky Mountains. The climate is cold and snowy with a snow-free period of only 3-4 months. Elevations typically range from 1400 m in the Olympic Mountains to over 3200 m in the mountains of southwestern Montana. These snowbed communities occur in protected, lee slope areas of level or concave glacial topography where late-lying snow and subirrigation from surrounding slopes saturates the sites. In exceptionally wet areas, sites include convex slopes with better drainage. Soils are always strongly acid, usually with substantial peat layers. These dwarf-shrublands often form part of a subalpine parkland mosaic just below the upper treeline. ~Phyllodoce empetriformis$ is the dominant shrub, but ~Cassiope mertensiana$ is usually present and often abundant. Shrub associates may include ~Vaccinium deliciosum, Vaccinium scoparium$, or ~Kalmia microphylla$. The herbaceous layer is usually a lush mixture of forbs and graminoids, especially sedges, and often includes ~Erigeron$ spp., ~Luetkea pectinata, Antennaria lanata, Sibbaldia procumbens, Pedicularis ornithorhyncha, Castilleja parviflora, Deschampsia caespitosa, Erythronium$ spp., ~Carex spectabilis, Carex nigricans, Juncus drummondii$, and ~Polygonum bistortoides$. These communities usually grade into herbaceous meadows dominated by ~Carex$ spp. at their wetter margin and into woodlands of ~Tsuga mertensiana, Abies lasiocarpa$, and/or ~Pinus albicaulis$ at their drier margins. Such changes are generally related to only minor changes in microelevation, and woodland, dwarf-shrubland, and herbaceous meadow communities may be strongly intermingled. Diagnostic of this alliance is a dwarf-shrubland layer dominated by ~Phyllodoce empetriformis$. 
Accession Code: VB.CC.853.A1083
Plot-observations of this Community Concept: 0
      Party Perspective according to: NatureServe (organization)
Perspective from: 26-Nov-1997 to: 17-Mar-2005
     
  • status: accepted
  • Community's Parent: IV.A.1.N.b
  • This Community's Level: Alliance
  • This Community's Children: [none]
Names:   Scientific: PHYLLODOCE EMPETRIFORMIS DWARF-SHRUBLAND ALLIANCE
  Code: A.1083
  Common: Pink Mountain-heath Dwarf-shrubland Alliance
(convergence) and Synonyms:
(undetermined) Phyllodoce empetriformis Dwarf-shrubland Alliance