Abstract for CNVC00079

Forest
Forêt

Picea glauca – Betula papyrifera (Populus tremuloides) / Equisetum arvense – E. pratense

White Spruce – Paper Birch (Trembling Aspen) / Field Horsetail – Meadow Horsetail
Épinette blanche – Bouleau à papier (Peuplier faux-tremble) / Prêle des champs – Prêle des prés

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CNVC00079 is a boreal mixedwood forest Association that occurs in Alberta, Yukon and likely British Columbia. It has an open to moderately closed canopy, usually dominated by white spruce (Picea glauca) with paper birch (Betula papyrifera), trembling aspen (Populus tremuloides) or balsam poplar (P. balsamifera) as canopy associates. It has a relatively diverse understory. The shrub layer is usually well developed and commonly includes prickly rose (Rosa acicularis) and squashberry (Viburnum edule). A well-developed, species-rich herb and dwarf shrub layer dominated by field horsetail (Equisetum arvense) and/or meadow horsetail (E. pratense) characterizes this Association. Other common species include tall bluebells (Mertensia paniculata), bunchberry (Cornus canadensis), twinflower (Linnaea borealis), naked mitrewort (Mitella nuda) and dwarf raspberry (Rubus pubescens). The moss layer is poorly to moderately developed depending on the amount of broad-leaf litter on the forest floor and is dominated by feathermosses (Hylocomium splendens, Pleurozium schreberi and Ptilium crista-castrensis). CNVC00079 occurs on moist, nutrient-rich sites (often floodplains) in a region with a subhumid continental climate. It is a mid-seral condition that can succeed an early seral post-fire hardwood Association or develop after low-severity fires or partial disturbances, such as insect outbreaks, flooding or windthrow, in a late-seral white spruce forest. Two subassociations are recognized, typic and Alnus incana.

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