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BEN # 213
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No. 213 January 19, 1999
aceska@victoria.tc.ca Victoria, B.C.
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Dr. A. Ceska, P.O.Box 8546, Victoria, B.C. Canada V8W 3S2
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ALASKA RARE PLANT FORUM - ANCHORAGE, APRIL 8 AND 9, 1999
From: Stensvold_Mary/r10_chatham@fs.fed.us
The Alaska Rare Plant Forum will hold its annual meeting on
April 8 and 9 in Anchorage at the office of the Chugach National
Forest in the Calais II Building at 3301 'C' Street, Suite 300.
Anyone interested in rare plants of northern regions is invited
to attend or to give a presentation.
We are also soliciting speakers and agenda items. Agenda items
could include the results of your 1998 field work, descriptions
of your field trips, proposals for 1999 field work and presenta-
tions describing your ongoing botanical work. If you would like
to give a presentation, please send your name, a brief descrip-
tion of your presentation and the presentation's approximate
length. We also would appreciate hearing about any topics that
you would like to see added to the agenda. Please send this
information to:
Mary Stensvold,
U.S.D.A. Forest Service, Alaska Region
204 Siginaka Way
Sitka, Alaska 99835
telephone: (907) 747-6671
e-mail: mstensvold/r10_chatham@fs.fed.us
or
John Delapp
U.S.D.A. Forest Service, Chugach National Forest
3301 'C' Street, Suite 300
Anchorage, Alaska 99503
telephone: (907) 271-2500
e-mail: jdelapp/r10_chugach@fs.fed.us
We will send out an agenda in mid-March. Please contact us if
you need any additional information, you wish to give a presen-
tation, or if you have ideas for agenda items. Exciting botani-
cal work is taking place in our part of the world, so we look
forward to a particularly interesting meeting of the Alaska Rare
Plant Forum.
POSITION OPEN: PLANT TAXONOMY - UNIVERSITY OF SASKATCHEWAN
The University of Saskatchewan invites applications for a
faculty position in plant taxonomy/biodiversity at the level of
Assistant Professor, commencing July 1, 1999.
This is a tenure-track position in the Department of Biology,
with a joint appointment in the Department of Plant Sciences.
Requirements include a Ph.D., preferably with teaching ex-
perience. The successful applicant will be responsible for
teaching courses such as introductory plant taxonomy and for
curatorship of the W.P. Fraser Herbarium.
In accordance with Canadian immigration requirements, priority
will be given to Canadian citizens and permanent residents. The
University of Saskatchewan is committed to the principles of
Employment Equity and welcomes applications from all qualified
candidates.
Send curriculum vitae and the names, addresses and telephone or
fax numbers of at least three referees to:
Chair, Selection Committee
Department of Biology
University of Saskatchewan
112 Science Place
Saskatoon, SK S7N 5E2
Canada
Telephone: 306-966-4400
Fax: 306-966-4461
The closing date for applications is February 15, 1999.
This position as advertised is subject to budgetary approval.
MOSS RHYTIDIADELPHUS TRIQUETRUS INTRODUCED TO NEW ZEALAND
From: Melanie Newfield <MNewfield@doc.govt.nz>
Recently a species of moss called Rhytidiadelphus triquetrus was
reported for the first time in New Zealand. It was found in the
township of St Arnaud, next to the Nelson Lakes National Park,
which is about 1 hours drive south of Nelson, at the northern
end of the Southern Alps. I am informed by Dr. Allan Fife of
Landcare Research that Rhytidiadelphus triquetrus occurs in
boreal forests in the northern hemisphere where it is "a
widespread and ecologically important component of the ground
cover."
Dr. Fife has expressed the concern that this species is a poten-
tially serious invader of undisturbed native forest such as
beech and manuka scrub. Although New Zealand material is prob-
ably exclusively male (it is a dioecious moss), he has pointed
out that the related R. squarrosus, also exclusively male in New
Zealand, has spread throughout Westland, Southland and parts of
Otago in the last 25 years. However, unlike R. triquetrus, this
species has not shown the ability to invade intact native
forest.
In the past the invasive potential of non-vascular plant species
has largely been overlooked. However there is an increasing
acknowledgement of the threat posed by marine algae, and concern
has been raised over invasive mosses overseas. For several
reasons I am particularly concerned about mosses when compared
to many other weeds:
1. The identification of mosses is a very specialised area, and
invasions are likely to go undetected unless by a lucky
chance they happen to occur where an experienced bryologist
happens to be (as in the present case).
2. Mosses and similar plants tend to have very effective dis-
persal, both vegetative and sexual.
3. Very little is known about moss control, (except in lawns).
I plan to look at this further to find out how far the moss has
spread and whether it will be controllable, or need to be con-
trolled. My feeling on this is that if it is eradicable then it
should be eradicated, as this has the appearance of a problem
that could become intractable very rapidly.
I would be interested to know if anybody has any experience at
all with invasive mosses, or has heard anything about management
of exotic moss species. I would be interested to know any con-
trol techniques which have been used for mosses (whether or not
they have worked).
Any ideas or comments would be much appreciated.
Melanie Newfield
Department of Conservation
Nelson/Marlborough Conservancy
BOREAL FOREST CLASSIFICATION BY PEINADO ET AL. (1998) - REVIEW
From: Toby Spribille <Spribille_Toby/r1_kootenai@fs.fed.us>
This work is the first comprehensive, syntaxonomic overview of
North American boreal forest vegetation, a massive undertaking
by any standard. The authors compiled a total of 2084 releves,
of which they themselves gathered 204, assembling the remainder
from published raw data from Alaska to Labrador. All of the new
releves are presented in releve tables, and the entire data set
is summarized in synoptic tables, to arrive at 37 associations,
10 alliances and 4 orders, an example of the utility of the
Braun-Blanquet approach in creating overviews of large areas.
The authors take this one step further by comparing their North
American releves with 3273 releves obtained from European,
Japanese and Korean literature, to form the most comprehensive
floristic overview of circumpolar boreal forest vegetation ever
undertaken. They conclude that the circumpolar boreal forests
have so much in common, they must be summarized in the same
class as described for the coniferous forests of the Alps,
Vaccinio-Piceetea Br.-Bl. 1939.
Central to the survey is the construction of a hierarchical
comparison of forest vegetation based on floristics. Those with
only distant familiarity with Braun-Blanquet methods, might
recall that construction of the hierarchies is a process of
systematic and iterative comparison of sample plots (releves) to
identify floristic patterns -- not unlike the methods used to
distill plant species from morphological patterns. The second
step is the construction of a hierarchy based on similarities of
the communities to each other. An association is delimited from
a series of closely similar vegetation samples; similar associa-
tions are grouped into alliances, and likewise they into orders
and classes. Since vegetation ecologists very early began evolv-
ing widely diverging views of what constitutes an association
and how hierarchies are constructed, a group of far-sighted
vegetation scientists from over a dozen countries formed a
commission to draft a rigid set of classificatory rules to avoid
chaos in the system, most recently revised by Barkman et al.
(1986).
Peinado and his colleagues are to be commended for adhering to
this code throughout their work. They have taken many of the
long, nomenclaturally invalid association names such as Ptilio
(crista-castrensis) - Gymnocarpio (dryopteridis) - Abieto
(lasiocarpae) - Piceetum glaucae and shortened them in accord-
ance with the code to more manageable binomials. They combine
closely related communities into consolidated association and
propose synonymies. They designate type releves for their as-
sociations and type associations for their alliances and orders,
so that if they should ever need to be split, the splitter will
know which half of the association maintains the original name
-- an important small step almost always overlooked in our
regional vegetation studies.
In their descriptions of the syntaxa (vegetation types of
various rank), Peinado and his colleagues do not leave out a
general overview of the causal environment, providing useful
tables of soils and climatic characteristics associated with he
individual associations. Notwithstanding, it is apparent that
the central objective of their work is the systematic comparison
of vegetation types -- syntaxonomy in the strict sense.
While there are certainly technicalities of the classification,
such as the inclusion of peripheral Pacific Northwest syntaxa in
a classification meant for the boreal forest, which could be
criticized, I think it is important to draw attention to this
work as a milestone in the development of phytosociology in
North America. My sharpest criticism of the authors is their
near-failure to engage the many vegetation ecologists who work
in the region of their study, who are the potential
beneficiaries of their classification, the users on the ground,
the link between the abstract and the concrete. Vegetation
classification is not an end in itself, but a tool to interpret
the landscape, to make responsible conservation and natural
resource management decisions. Peinado and his colleagues are
encouraged to bridge this gap, both through presenting their
classification in the light of forest management considerations,
and explaining how their classification differs from those
available to vegetation ecologists in the region today. If they
do not, their survey of boreal forest vegetation, as well as the
promised forthcoming surveys of western North American vegeta-
tion, may join the ranks of the numerous other phytosociological
classifications which failed to make themselves useful, which
sit today shelved in the company of other esoteric dissertations
on the dusty bookshelves of our university libraries.
References:
Barkman, J.J., J. Moravec & S. Rauschert 1986. Code of
phytosociological nomenclature. 2nd edition. Vegetatio 67:
145-195.
Peinado, M., J.L. Aguirre, & M. de la Cruz. 1998. A phyto-
sociological survey of the boreal forest (Vaccinio-Piceetea)
in North America. Plant Ecology 137: 151-202.
NORTH AMERICAN BOREAL CONIFEROUS FOREST - SYNOPSIS
From: Adolf Ceska <aceska@victoria.tc.ca>
This is a synopsis of the classification of boreal coniferous
forests published by Peinado et al. (1998) - see Toby
Spribille's review above. Peinado et al. recognized the follow-
ing orders (ending -etalia), alliances (-ion), and associations
(-etum) in boreal North America. These forests belong to the
class (-etea) Vaccinio-Piceetea described from Europe by Braun-
Blanquet et al.
Arctostaphylo rubrae-Piceetalia glaucae Peinado et al.
Shepherdio canadensis-Piceion glaucae Peinado et al.
Hypno procerrimi-Piceetum glaucae Hoefs et al.
Pulsatillo patentis-Pinetum latifoliae Peinado et al.
Betulo kenaicae-Piceetum glaucae Peinado et al.
Piceo glaucae-Betuletum neoalaskanae Peinado et al.
Roso sayi-Populetum tremuloidis Peinado et al.
Betulo nanae-Piceetum glaucae Peinado et al.
Rhododendro lapponici-Piceetum glaucae Peinado et al.
Loiseleurio procumbentis-Betuletum neoalaskanae Peinado et
al.
Ledo decumbentis-Piceion marianae Peinado et al.
Piceetum glauco-marianae Peinado et al.
Larici laricinae-Piceetum marianae Peinado et al.
Rubo chamaemori-Piceetum marianae Peinado et al.
Boschniakio rossicae-Alnetum crispae Peinado et al.
Alnetalia tenuifoliae Wali & Kraj.
Alnion tenuifoliae Wali & Kraj.
Salici arbusculoidis-Alnetum tenuifoliae Peinado et al.
Urtico gracilis-Alnetum tenuifoliae Wali & Kraj.
Gaultherio procumbentis-Piceetalia glaucae (Br.-Bl. et al.)
Peinado et al.
Gaultherio procumbentis-Piceion glaucae Peinado et al.
Abietetum balsameae Damman
Kalmio polifoliae-Abietetum balsameae Peinado et al.
Alno crispae-Piceetum glaucae Peinado et al.
Viburno cassinoidis-Piceion marianae Peinado et al.
Kalmio angustifoliaea-Piceetum marianae Damman
Kalmio polifoliae-Piceetum marianae Peinado et al.
Sphagno-Piceetum marianae Grandtner
Alnion rugosae Damman
Alno rugosae-Piceetum marianae Damman
Alnetum rugosae Damman
Kalmio polifoliae-Alnetum rugosae Peinado et al.
Vaccinio angustifoliae-Thujetum occidentalis Peinado
et al.
Pinion divaricatae Lavoie
Camptonio peregrinae-Pinetum divaricatae Lavoie
Ledo groenlandici-Pinetum divaricatae Lavoie
Carici pensylvanicae-Pinetum divaricatae Lavoie
Gaylussacio baccatae-Pinetum divaricataea Lavoie
Asteri acuminati-Piceion rubentis Peinado et al.
Piceo rubentis-Abietetum balsameae Jurdant
Thujo occidentalis-Abietetum balsameae Jurdant ex Blouin &
Grandtner
Piceetalia glauco-marianae Wali & Krajina
Gymnocarpio dryopteridis-Abietion lasiocarpae Wali & Krajina
emend. Peinado et al.
Gymnocarpio dryopteridis-Abietetum lasiocarpae Wali &
Krajina emend. Peinado et al.
Arctostaphylo uva-ursi-Pinetum latifoliae Wali & Krajina
Vaccinio membranacei-Piceetum glaucae x engelmannii Wali &
Krajina
Abieti bifoliae-Piceetum engelmannii Peinado et al.
Vaccinio vitis-idaeae-Abietetum balsameae x bifoliae
Peinado et al.
Trientalido latifoliae-Piceetum glaucae Peinado et al.
Piceion marianae Wali & Krajina
Corno canadensis-Piceetum marianae Wali & Krajina emend.
Peinado et al.
References:
Blouin, J.L. & M.M. Grandtner. 1971. Etude ecologique et car-
tographie de la vegetation du comte de Riviere-du-Loup. Ser.
Rech.: Dir. Gen. Planif. Min. ter. For. Quebec. 370 p.
Braun-Blanquet, J., J. Sissingh, & J. Vlieger. 1939. Prodromus
der Pflanzengesellschaften. 6. Klasse der Vaccinio-Piceetea.
Comm. SIGMA, Montpellier.
Damman, A.W.H. 1964. Some forest types of central Newfoundland
and their relation to environmental factors. Forest Sci.
Monograph 8: 1-62.
Grandtner, M.M. 1960. La foret de Beasusejour, comte de Levis,
Quebec. Contr. Fonds Rech. for. Univ. Laval No. 7: 1-62.
Hoefs, M., I. McTaggart-Cowan, & V.J. Krajina. 1976. Phyto-
sociological analysis and synthesis of Sheep Mountain, south-
west Yukon Territory, Canada. Syesis 8 (Suppl. 1): 125-228.
Jurdant, M. 1969. Ecological classification of forest lands, an
integrated vegetation-soil-landform approach. Ph.D. Thesis,
Cornell Univ. Ithaca, NY. 414 p.
Lavoie, V. 1968. La phytosociologie et l'amenagement des bleue-
tieres. Naturaliste can. 95: 397-412.
Peinado, M., J.L. Aguirre, & M. de la Cruz. 1998. A phyto-
sociological survey of the boreal forest (Vaccinio-Piceetea)
in North America. Plant Ecology 137: 151-202.
Wali, M.K. & V.J. Krajina. 1973. Vegetation-environment
relationships of some sub-boreal spruce zone ecosystems in
British Columbia. Vegetatio 26: 237-281.
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