Abstract for CNVC00351

Forest
Forêt

Picea mariana – Abies balsamea / Pleurozium schreberi (Hylocomium splendens)

Black Spruce – Balsam Fir / Red-stemmed Feathermoss (Stairstep Moss)
Épinette noire – Sapin baumier / Pleurozie dorée (Hylocomie brillante)

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CNVC00351 is a boreal coniferous forest Association that occurs in Quebec and insular Newfoundland. The canopy is moderately closed to closed, comprising roughly equal proportions of balsam fir (Abies balsamea) and black spruce (Picea mariana), sometimes with a minor component of paper birch (Betula papyrifera). The shrub layer is usually well developed with abundant regenerating balsam fir, black spruce and, to a lesser degree, paper birch. The herb layer is poorly developed but usually includes low cover of bunchberry (Cornus canadensis), creeping snowberry (Gaultheria hispidula), yellow clintonia (Clintonia borealis), twinflower (Linnaea borealis) and wild lily-of-the-valley (Maianthemum canadense). A continuous moss layer of predominantly red-stemmed feathermoss (Pleurozium schreberi), knight’s plume moss (Ptilium crista-castrensis) and stairstep moss (Hylocomium splendens) helps to characterize this Association. CNVC00351 generally occurs on mesic to moist, nutrient-poor to medium sites in a region with a very humid, maritime-influenced boreal climate. It is a late seral condition with dynamics that are mainly driven by fire, insect outbreaks and windthrow. Although black spruce and balsam fir are present in every stand, climate, disturbance type and history, and site conditions affect the relative dominance of each species. Five subassociations are distinguished: typic, Hylocomium splendens, Viburnum nudum, Cornus stolonifera and Sphagnum spp.

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