An old-growth definition for western juniper woodlands
Subtitle: Texas Ashe juniper dominated or codominated communities
By: David D. Diamond.
Contributors: United States. Forest Service. Southern Research Station.
Series: General technical report SRS -- 15.
Publisher: U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, Forest Service, Southern Research Station
Published: 1997
Place of publication: Asheville, NC
Language: eng
Number of pages: 10
Subjects: Old growth forests -- Texas.; Juniper -- Ecology -- Texas.; Old growth forest ecology -- Texas.
Description: "Prominent juniper species that dominate or codominate woodlands or shrub lands of the American Southwest include Rocky Mountain juniper (Juniperus scopulorum Sarg.), Pinchot juniper (J. pinchottii Sudw.), oneseed juniper [J. monosperma (Engelm.) Sarg.], alligator juniper ( J. deppeana Steud.), Utah juniper [J. osteosperma (Torr.) Little], and Ashe (mountain-cedar, Mexican) juniper (J. ashei Buchholz) (nomenclature follows Correll and Johnston 1970). Among these, Ashe juniper is nearly restricted in the United States to the Edwards Plateau and Lampasas Cut-Plain of Texas, with outlier populations over limestone in Oklahoma and Arkansas (see illustrations of natural regions in Diamond et al. 1987, Riskind and Diamond 1988). As classified by the Society of American Foresters (SAF), this is an eastern forest cover type 66, southern region, Ashe juniper-redberry juniper (J. Erythrocarpa Cory) (Eyre 1980). I will not consider the SAF western cover types, Rocky Mountain juniper or pinyon (Pinus edulis Engelm.)-juniper, here. Also, although Pinchot juniper does grow in mixed stands with Ashe juniper and oaks (Quercus sp.) on the western Edwards Plateau, it is not a significant component in woodlands discussed here; this species may grow with oaks and Ashe juniper to form open woodlands in the far western Edwards Plateau, but such communities have not been described in the literature.  Ashe juniper communities are most common in the southern and eastern Edwards Plateau (Balcones Canyonlands, Texas hill country) and the Lampasas Cut-Plain to the north. Both regions are underlain by Cretaceous limestones, but these are of various types that weather to form different soils and a wide variety of different abiotic site potentials for any given geomorphic position. Thus, site potentials are not only controlled by slope and exposure, but also may vary across flat uplands, across gentle slopes, etc., due to subtle differences in substrate. Climate also varies across the range of Ashe juniper community types, with annual precipitation ranging from 20 inches [50 centimeters (cm)] in the west to 34 inches (86 cm) in the east and average January low temperatures from 37 EF (2.8 EC) in the south to 30 EF (-l.l EC) in the north. Superimposed on these climatic, topographic, and edaphic variables are variations in land use; together these account for the communities on the contemporary landscape."--P. [1].
Notes: Cover title.

"A section of the old-growth definition series."

"September 1997"--P. [2] of cover.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 8-10).

Issued also electronically via World Wide Web in PDF format.