Circumpolar Arctic Vegetation Map

Vegetation Units

Bunde Fjord, Axel Heiberg Island, Canada (Photo: D.A. Walker).
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P1. Prostrate dwarf-shrub, herb tundra

Dry tundra with patchy vegetation. Prostrate shrubs <5 cm tall (such as Dryas and Salix arctica) are dominant, with graminoids and forbs. Lichens are also common. Subzone B and Subzone C.

Detailed Description

Dry tundra of the Middle Arctic (sensu Polunin 1951; polar semideserts of Bliss 1997). This is the zonal vegetation of Subzone B and also covers large dry areas in Subzone C. The vegetation is open or patchy (20-80% cover), with plants 5-10 cm tall. Vascular plants cover about 5-25%, lichens and mosses cover 30-60%. On nonacidic substrates of Subzone B the dominant zonal vegetation is Dryas - Salix arctica communities; on acidic substrates it is Luzula - Salix arctica.

Representative syntaxa

Communities of the class Carici-Kobresietea, e.g., Carici-Dryadetum integrifoliae Dan. 1982 ( Greenland, North America), and Loiseleurio-Vaccinietea , e.g., Gymnomitrio-Loiseleurietum Dan. 1982 (Greenland).

Dominant plants

Prostrate dwarf-shrubs are dominant. Other common plants include sedges, rushes, grasses, forbs, and lichens. In Subzone C this vegetation is much richer in vascular species, particularly sedges, grasses, and forbs.

• Prostrate dwarf-shrubs
  • Dryasⁿ
  • Salix arctica
  • S. polaris
  • S. rotundifolia
  • S. phlebophylla
• Sedges
  • Eriophorum triste
  • Carex rupestrisⁿ
• Rushes
  • Luzula confusa^a
  • L. nivalis^a
  • Juncus biglumis
• Grasses
  • Alopecurus alpinus^a (Subzone B)
  • Deschampsia
• Forbs
  • Saxifraga hirculus
  • S. caespitosa^a
  • S. oppositifoliaⁿ
  • Novosieversia glacialisⁿ
  • Oxytropisⁿ
• Mosses
  • Ditrichum flexicauleⁿ
  • Distichiumⁿ
  • Sanionia uncinata
  • Encalypta
  • Pohlia
  • Polytrichum
  • Hylocomium splendens
  • Aulacomnium turgidum
  • Tomentypnum nitensⁿ
• Lichens
  • Thamnolia
  • Flavocetraria

^a=acidic, ⁿ=non-acidic