Abstract for CNVC00214

Forest
Forêt

Picea mariana – Betula papyrifera / Kalmia angustifolia / Pleurozium schreberi

Black Spruce – Paper Birch / Sheep Laurel / Red-stemmed Feathermoss
Épinette noire – Bouleau à papier / Kalmia à feuilles étroites / Pleurozie dorée

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CNVC00214 is a boreal mixedwood forest Association that occurs in Quebec. It has a moderately closed canopy comprising black spruce (Picea mariana) and paper birch (Betula papyrifera), sometimes with a smaller component of trembling aspen (Populus tremuloides), balsam fir (Abies balsamea) or jack pine (Pinus banksiana). Regenerating black spruce, paper birch and balsam fir are also common in the dense shrub layer, which is usually dominated by the ericaceous species sheep laurel (Kalmia angustifolia), early lowbush blueberry (Vaccinium angustifolium), velvet-leaved blueberry (V. myrtilloides) and common Labrador tea (Rhododendron groenlandicum). Serviceberries (Amelanchier spp.) and willows (Salix spp.) are often present but not abundant. The herb layer is poorly to moderately developed and typically includes low cover of bunchberry (Cornus canadensis), wild lily-of-the-valley (Maianthemum canadense), creeping snowberry (Gaultheria hispidula) and yellow clintonia (Clintonia borealis). The moss layer is moderately to well developed; usually it is better developed in stands with less broad-leaf litter. It is dominated by red-stemmed feathermoss (Pleurozium schreberi), with minor amounts of broom mosses (Dicranum spp.), grey reindeer lichen (Cladina rangiferina), knight’s plume moss (Ptilium crista-castrensis) and haircap mosses (Polytrichum spp.). CNVC00214 occurs in a region with a humid continental boreal climate on mesic, nutrient-poor to medium sites. It typically establishes as the first cohort after fire, but harvesting also plays a role in its dynamics. Three subassociations are recognized: typic, Alnus viridis and Ilex mucronata.

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