Magnesic Mountain Slopes

Description

The dynamics described below are general to the level that the site concept has been developed for provisional ecological site concept identification and further investigation purposes only. It is meant to give a general overview of the ecological dynamics of the system and should not be viewed as a model for a specific ecological site level management. It is supported by the current available literature that was reviewed for a general understanding of the system and basic understanding of the abiotic and biotic drivers. Further investigations and soil-site data collection and analysis should be conducted before specific land management can be applied at the ecological site specific scale. This STM only serves to explain the general ecology and dynamics. No alternative states were found during the literature review, however that does not mean they do not exist and more time should be spent determining whether or not this model captures all the dynamics of this system, especially once more is known about the soil-site characteristics of this LRU and ecological site concept.

Reference State (State 1) – The reference state for this provisional ecological site concept is dominated by Pinus jeffreyii (Jeffrey pine), with a minor overstory component of Calocedrus decurrens (incense cedar) and Ceanothus prostratus (prostrate ceanothus) in the understory with a significant component of perennial grasses and some forbs. The ecological dynamics that drive the reference state are primarily from periodic fires. At this very general scale, this reference state only really captures the generalities related to the provisional ecological site concept as a whole and does not capture the more specific dynamics of the various community phases and states possible, due to the limited information currently available. More data and refinement is needed to capture the information needed in order to make specific land management decisions at the ecological site-component scale.

Submodel