Title

Environmental limits of an endemic spruce, Picea breweriana

Document Type

Article

Publication Title

Canadian Journal of Botany

Publication Date

1975

Volume

53

Issue

15

First Page

1599

Last Page

1613

Abstract

Brewer spruce (Picea breweriana Wats.) persists as a relict in protected physiographic situations in southwestern Oregon and northwestern California, where a cool, montane, temperate zone inland from the Pacific Ocean is moderated in summer by maritime air masses. We attempted to uncover the reasons for its survival. We surveyed the species distribution and geologic and floristic associations, then studied effects of environment on growth and survival of two widely distributed species, Fseudotsuga menziesii (Mirb.) Franco and Abies magnifica Murr. var. shastensis Lemm., for a common basis for comparison. The survey included 130 plots along a 250-km transect. Brewer spruce was encountered along 70 km of the transect. Brewer spruce ranked well with other conifers in tolerance to soil moisture stress, cold temperatures, low light, and heavy, deep snow. Although sensitive to high evaporative demand, it appears to compete well with sparse vegetation in infertile or unbalanced soils developed from ultrabasic materials.

DOI

http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/b75-189

Rights

© 1975 NRC Research Press

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