Abstract for CNVC00123
Forest
Forêt
Pinus contorta / Gymnocarpium dryopteris
Lodgepole Pine / Common Oak Fern
Pin tordu / Gymnocarpe du chêne
CNVC00123 is a boreal coniferous forest Association that occurs in the Rocky Mountain foothills of Alberta. It has an open to moderately closed canopy of lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta), sometimes with a minor component of white spruce (Picea glauca), and a relatively species rich understory. The shrub layer varies from moderately to well developed, depending on the patchiness of shrubs. It typically includes squashberry (Viburnum edule) and prickly rose (Rosa acicularis), and often includes bristly black currant (Ribes lacustre) and bracted honeysuckle (Lonicera involucrata). Green alder (Alnus viridis) can be abundant when present. Regenerating P. glauca is often present and Abies lasiocarpa dominates the shrub layer of its subassociation. The herb and dwarf shrub layer is well developed to dense and commonly includes bunchberry (Cornus canadensis), twinflower (Linnaea borealis), dwarf raspberry (Rubus pubescens), stiff clubmoss (Lycopodium annotinum), fireweed (Chamerion angustifolium), common oak fern (Gymnocarpium dryopteris), bluejoint reedgrass (Calamagrostis canadensis), clasping-leaved twisted-stalk (Streptopus amplexifolius), naked mitrewort (Mitella nuda), pink pyrola (Pyrola asarifolia), woodland horsetail (Equisetum sylvaticum), arctic sweet coltsfoot (Petasites frigidus) and wild lily-of-the-valley (Maianthemum canadense). Knight’s plume moss (Ptilium crista-castrensis), red-stemmed feathermoss (Pleurozium schreberi) and stairstep moss (Hylocomium splendens) dominate the well-developed moss layer. CNVC00123 occurs on mesic to moist, nutrient-medium to rich sites in a region with a subhumid continental climate. These are among the most productive sites in the region. CNVC00123 typically establishes as the first cohort after fire. Four subassociations are distinguished: typic, Alnus viridis, Lonicera involucrata and Abies lasiocarpa.
Factsheet