Abstract for F036
Boreal Flooded & Swamp Forest
Forêts boréales inondées et marécageuses
Boreal Flooded & Swamp Forest is a forested wetland and peatland. These swamps are defined as tree-dominated wetlands in a boreal climate that are influenced by minerotrophic groundwater, either on mineral or organic (peat) soils; less commonly, they occur in transitional floodplain habitats. The vegetation is generally dominated by over 10% cover by tall woody, mostly needle-leaved trees and the wood-rich (less commonly sphagnum-rich) peat that this vegetation lays down. The water table is below the major portion of the ground surface, and the dominant ground surface is at the hummock, that is, 20 cm or more above the average summer groundwater level. It is the aerated (or partly aerated) zone of substrates above the water that is available for root growth of trees and/or tall shrubs. The nutrient regime in swamps is highly variable, ranging from base rich conditions with pH above 7.0 (very rare), to base poor conditions where pH can be in the range of 4.5 or lower. Various swamp forms may be recognized, based on the base rich/pH gradient, i.e., calcareous-rich (eutrophic), intermediate (mesotrophic), and poor (oligotrophic to ombrotrophic).
Source: Faber-Langendoen, D., T. Keeler-Wolf, D. Meidinger, C. Josse, A. Weakley, D. Tart, G. Navarro, B. Hoagland, S. Ponomarenko, J.-P. Saucier, G. Fults, E. Helmer. 2014. Classification and description of world formation types. Part I (Introduction) and Part II (Description of world formations). Hierarchy Revisions Working Group, Federal Geographic Data Committee, FGDC Secretariat, U.S. Geological Survey. Reston, VA, and NatureServe, Arlington, VA.
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