Alaska Arctic Tundra Vegetation Map

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Low-shrub tundra (willow, birch), Community No. 44, Ophir Creek near Council, Seward Peninsula, Alaska. (Photo: D.A. Walker.)

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Low-shrub tundra (birch-willow), Community No. 44, near Happy Valley, Arctic Foothills, Alaska. (Photo: D.A. Walker.)

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Low-shrub tundra (willow), Atigun River, Brooks Range, Alaska. (Photo: D.A. Walker.)

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Low-shrub tundra (willow), Community No. 44, near Quartz Creek (Kougarok), Seward Peninsula, Alaska. (Photo: D.A. Walker.)

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Low-shrub tundra (alder savannah), north of Kigluaik Mountains, Seward Peninsula, Alaska. (Photo: D.A. Walker.)

Low shrub tundra (alder savannah), (dominant below tussock tundra on ridge crest areas), north of Colville River, Arctic Foothills, Alaska

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Low shrub tundra (alder savannah), (dominant below tussock tundra on ridge crest areas), north of Colville River, Arctic Foothills, Alaska (Photo: D.A. Walker.)

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Low shrub tundra, (alder savannah), vicinity of Itkillik River north of Colville River, Arctic Foothills, Alaska (Photo: D.A. Walker.)

Vegetation Units

S2.1 Willow-birch tundra (entire map)

Low-shrub communities (comm. 44, 45) with open to closed canopies of willows or shrub birch, or open alder. Foothills of the Brooks Range, and valleys and foothills of the Seward Peninsula mountains and Kuskokwim Mountains, Subzone E.

Plant Communities:

Community 44

Northern Beringian Islands: Sphagno-Eriophoretum vaginati betuletosum nanae, shrub tundra in warmer mesoclimatic oases along water tracks and in basins (Walker et al. 1994) (Imnavait Creek).

Beringian Alaska: Vegetation Type low-medium shrub thicket (Racine and Anderson 1979); shrub hillside, Map Unit 35 (Swanson and Schuman 1985) Releves C3, C16, QC3, C-C (Raynolds et al. 2002) (Seward Peninsula).

Map unit 9 (Talbot et al. 1985) Map Unit M13 (Tande and Jennings 1986) (Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta).

Low shrub: Betula nana, Salix pulchra;
Erect dwarf-shrub: Ledum decumbens, Rubus chamaemorus;
Grass: Calamagrostis canadensis;
Moss: Aulacomnium turgidum, Hylocomium splendens

Community 45

Climacium dendroides-Alnus viridis comm., open alder shrub in warmer mesoclimatic oases of the foothills (Walker et al. 1997) (Happy Valley).

Low shrub: Alnus viridis ssp. fruticosa, Salix richardsonii, Spiraea stevenii;
Erect dwarf shrub: Vaccinium uliginosum, V. vitis-idaea, Pyrola grandiflora;
Grass: Calamagrostis canadensis;
Horsetail: Equisetum arvense;
Forb: Boschniakia rossica, Valeriana capitata;
Moss: Climacium dendroides, Hylocomium splendens, Thuidium philibertii, Timmia austriaca


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