Login | Datasets | Logout
 

View Community Concepts - Detail

A.1089 | EcoArt 2002
  click to update datacart
Name: A.1089
Reference: EcoArt 2002
Description: The vegetation in this alliance is found in the alpine tundra in mountain ranges of southwestern Montana. The alliance occurs in a narrow elevation band between 2800 and 2900 m on north- and east-facing slopes in snowbed habitats, or areas that accumulate snow in the winter and release snow slowly during the growing season. The vegetation is often located on solifluction lobes, which receive moisture from upslope, subsurface drainage. Consequently, soils are cold and nearly saturated for most of the growing season. Soils are derived from metamorphic and igneous rock types and are slightly acidic. Soil texture tends to be sandy clay. ~Cassiope mertensiana$ stands usually form a mosaic with ~Carex nigricans$ and ~Juncus drummondii$ snowbed communities. ~Salix arctica$ and ~Carex scirpoidea$ communities occur on adjacent unsaturated sites. ~Cassiope mertensiana$, a low-spreading, evergreen shrub, and ~Salix arctica$, a deciduous shrub, dominate the dwarf-shrub canopy. ~Carex paysonis, Carex scirpoidea, Geum rossii$, and ~Potentilla diversifolia$ are common herbaceous species that grow beneath the shrubs and in openings in the shrub canopy. 
Accession Code: VB.CC.859.A1089
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.e
  • This Community's Level: Alliance
  • This Community's Children: [none]
Names:   Scientific: CASSIOPE MERTENSIANA TEMPORARILY FLOODED DWARF-SHRUBLAND ALLIANCE
  Code: A.1089
  Common: Western Moss Heather Temporarily Flooded Dwarf-shrubland Alliance
(convergence) and Synonyms:
(undetermined) Cassiope mertensiana Temporarily Flooded Dwarf-shrubland Alliance