Great Basin montane forests
| Great Basin montane forests | |
|---|---|
| 300px | |
| 300px | |
| Ecology | |
| Biome | Temperate coniferous forests |
| Bird species | 160[1] |
| Mammal species | 91[1] |
| Geography | |
| Country | United States |
| States/Provinces | Nevada and California |
| Conservation | |
| Habitat loss | 25-50%[2] |
| Protected | 97.53%[1] |
The Great Basin montane forests is an ecoregion of the Temperate coniferous forests biome, as designated by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF).[2]
Contents
Geography
The Great Basin montane forests ecoregion is located in the Great Basin region of Nevada, eastern California, and western Utah, in the Western United States.
The montane forests are often found on Madrean Sky Islands at elevations above the Great Basin Desert or xeric shrublands. The forests are within the Central or Northern Basin and Range ecoregions defined by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Species
White fir, Douglas fir, and ponderosa pines are found in the middle elevations of some mountain ranges, while limber pine, subalpine fir, Engelmann spruce, and bristlecone pines occupy the higher elevations, continuing to the upper tree line. Mountain mahogany often dominates drier, warmer south-facing slopes.[3] Pure stands of aspen are also common in this community.[4]
The bristlecone pine is an important species that is indicative of the Great Basin montane forest. Bristlecones live a long time, some for thousands of years. The harsh areas they occupy are often devoid of other plant life, so there is little competition and reduced risk of fire. The trees grow very slowly, producing very dense, disease-resistant wood. These factors contribute to the bristlecone’s long life.[3] Protected areas with them include the Snake Range peaks within Great Basin National Park of Nevada and the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest in the White Mountains within the Inyo National Forest of California.
See also
- Great Basin shrub steppe — Deserts and xeric shrublands biome ecoregion (WWF)
- Northern Basin and Range ecoregion — Level III ecoregion (EPA)
Ecology portal
References
<templatestyles src="Reflist/styles.css" />
Cite error: Invalid <references> tag; parameter "group" is allowed only.
<references />, or <references group="..." /><templatestyles src="Asbox/styles.css"></templatestyles>
 |
This ecoregion article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1
This article incorporates public domain material from the National Park Service document "Ecology of the Great Basin" (retrieved on 2015-07-13). - ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- Pages with reference errors
- Pages with broken file links
- Temperate coniferous forests of the United States
- Ecoregions of the United States
- Ecology of the Great Basin
- Flora of Nevada
- Plant communities of the Western United States
- Montane forests
- Madrean Region
- Nearctic ecoregions
- Ecoregion stubs
- Wikipedia articles incorporating text from the National Park Service
