Abstract for CNVC00124
Forest
Forêt
Pinus contorta / Oplopanax horridus
Lodgepole Pine / Devil's Club
Pin tordu / Bois piquant
CNVC00124 is a boreal coniferous forest Association that occurs in the Rocky Mountain foothills of Alberta. It has a moderately closed canopy of lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta) and a moderately developed shrub layer that is relatively diverse and includes numerous nutrient-demanding species. Devil’s club (Oplopanax horridus) characterizes the shrub layer, but other species include squashberry (Viburnum edule), bracted honeysuckle (Lonicera involucrata), prickly rose (Rosa acicularis), Greene’s mountain-ash (Sorbus scopulina), red raspberry (Rubus idaeus), shiny-leaved meadowsweet (Spiraea lucida) and regenerating Abies lasiocarpa and Betula papyrifera. The herb and dwarf shrub layer is well developed and usually includes common oak fern (Gymnocarpium dryopteris), bunchberry (Cornus canadensis), dwarf raspberry (Rubus pubescens), fireweed (Chamerion angustifolium), twinflower (Linnaea borealis), wild sarsaparilla (Aralia nudicaulis), stiff clubmoss (Lycopodium annotinum), clasping-leaved twisted-stalk (Streptopus amplexifolius), arctic sweet coltsfoot (Petasites frigidus), bluejoint reedgrass (Calamagrostis canadensis), meadow horsetail (Equisetum sylvaticum), five-leaved dwarf bramble (R. pedatus), wild lily-of-the-valley (Maianthemum canadense) and three-leaved foamflower (Tiarella trifoliata). The forest floor cover is mainly broad-leaf litter, so the moss layer is sparse, with only minor cover of red-stemmed feathermoss (Pleurozium schreberi) and knight’s plume moss (Ptilium crista-castrensis). CNVC00124 occurs on moist, nutrient-rich sites in a region with a subhumid continental climate. These are among the most productive sites in the region. CNVC00124 typically establishes as the first cohort after fire.
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