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Home , Juniperus deppeana, Pinal Mountains, Pinus engelmannii, Quercus emoryi, Quercus grisea, Quercus viminea

Madrean Evergreen

Item Type Article

Authors Brown, David E.

Publisher University of (Tucson, AZ)

Journal Desert

Rights Copyright © Arizona Board of Regents. The University of Arizona.

Download date 28/09/2021 17:43:01

Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10150/550951 Brown Madrean Evergreen Woodland 59

This mild winter-wet summer woodland is centered in the 123.3 Madrean Sierra Madre of where it reaches northward to the mountains of southeastern Arizona (north-westward to County" southwestern , and Trans­ Evergreen Pecos . At its lower elevations the woodland is typically open-sometimes very open. The are evergreen Woodland from 6 to 15 m or more in height, or oaks, Bark and One- and Mexican Pinyon in unequal proportion (=encinal)1 (Fig. 27). Higher on the mountain gradient, a Mexican - David E. Brown woodland characteristically occurs above the encinal and below montane forest (=pine forest) (Figs. 28, 29). Arizona Game and Fish Department Although this woodland has often been considered transi­ tional to pine forest, it is so only in the geographic and physiognomic sense, because it is floristically distinct (see e.g., the definitive work by Marshall, 1957). The encinal oaks are usually accompanied or replaced by oak species charac­ teristic of higher elevations as well as one or more Madrean , i.e., Pine (), Pine (P.leiophylla), Arizona Pine (P. ponderosa var. arizonica), Pino Triste (P. lumholtzii), Pine (P. durangensis), and P. coopeti. In the mountainous of sub-Mogollon Arizona as in the , Santa Rita, Baboquivari, Tumacacori, Huachuca, Catalina, Pinaleno and , the oaks most prevalent in the encinal are Emory Oak or Bellota (Quercus emoryi), Arizona White Oak (Q. arizonica), and south of the Gila River, Mexican Blue Oak (Q. oblongifolia) (Fig. 30). Emory Oak and Gray Oak (Q. grisea)-an oak closely "related to Arizona White Oak-are the two common Madrean oaks in encinals farther east in the Peloncillo, Animas, Burro, Organ, Davis, Chinati, Chisos, and other mountains in New Mexico and southwest Texas. Silverleaf Oak (Q. hypoleucoides) and Netleaf Oak (Q. rugosa) are the characteristic oaks of the higher encinals and the restricted oak-pine zone in south­ eastern Arizona and extreme southwestern New Mexico. In the foothills, bajadas, barrancas, and sierras of the and its outlying ranges in Mexico, a large variety of oaks participate in both the encinal and oak-pine that cover hundreds of square miles of western Chihuahua and eastern . In both states, Chihuahua Oak (0. cbihuahuensis) is commonly the first oak encountered at the woodland's lower edge; further north in northeastern Sonora and southern Arizona this role is taken by Mexican blue oak. Other commonly found oaks within encinals in Sonora and western Chihuahua are Quercus albocincta, Q. emoryi, Q. arizonica, and the Q. chuchiuchupensis and 0. santac1arensis. Eastward from the Pacific divide in central Chihuahua, Santa Clara Oak is an important woodland constituent as are Q. emoryi, Q. cbihuahuensis, Q. gtisea, and Q.

'The term encinal is from Shreve (1915, and elsewhere) and is a Spanish designation to describe evergreen woodlands composed wholly or partially of oaks (encino = live oaks + aI = place of). Darrow (1944) and Nichol (1952) termed these woodlands in Arizona oak woodland while Wauer (1973) used the designation of pinyon-jumper-oak woodland to describe these woodlands in the Chisos Mountains and elsewhere in Texas. Leopold (1950), Marshall (1957) and others have recognized and described pine-oak woodland, cypress-pine-oak woodland (Wauer, 1973) and Mexican oak-pine woodland (Lowe, 1964). Flores Mata et al. (1971) also refer to these communities in Mexico as bosques de encinos y bosques de pino-encino. 60 Warm-Temperate Forests and Woodlands

Table S. within Madrean Evergreen Forest and Woodland.

Elevation M_ea_D_M_oD_t_h_ly_P_r_ec_ip_i_ta_tl_·o_D_iD_m_m _ Starion [in m) F M A M A s o N D Total Cuauhtemoc, Chih. 2,210 4 6 9 8 10 36 138 153 62 33 10 18 487 28°22' 106°50' Mulatos, Son. 28 15 11 6 5 66 198 162 72 23 8 39 633 28°38' 108°53' Temosachic, Chih. 9 4 7 7 12 27 109 128 64 30 15 40 452 28°58' lOr50'

Pilares de 37 26 24 13 4 31 148 128 53 49 16 49 578 Nacozari, Son. 30°20' 109°38'

Madera, Chih. 2,079 17 17 5 7 5 15 80 96 43 22 16 40 363 29°17' 107°52'

Chisos Basin, TX 1,615 15 14 10 12 37 46 92 77 82 47 15 15 462 29°16' 103°18'

Mount Locke, TX 2,070 21 12 12 12 38 63 96 87 70 38 14 14 477 30°40' 104°00'

Bisbee, AZ 1,631 29 31 25 12 6 17 105 113 50 26 20 33 467 31 °27' 109°55' Ruby, AZ 1,212 44 32 24 12 4 16 112 118 45 18 25 32 482 31 °27' 109°55' Santa Rita Exp.Sta. 1,311 43 40 31 15 7 16 106 107 48 19 28 35 495 (Florida ) AZ 31°46' 110°51' Chiricahua N.M. AZ 1,615 40 30 30 15 9 28 119 104 30 21 20 28 474 32°00' 109°21' Oracle, AZ 53 47 41 20 8 11 71 82 41 24 39 55 492 32°36' 110°44' Pinal Ranch, AZ· 80 72 64 27 10 11 71 87 50 32 47 76 627 33°21' 110°59' Whiteriver, AZ·· 1,609 41 35 41 25 12 12 71 77 45 30 30 36 455 • Woodland within interior chaparral •• At extreme northern edge of Madrean evergreen woodland dUrifolia. Some of the important oaks at higher elevations somewhat lower-to ca. 1,200-1,350 m to within semidesert (1,650-2,200 m] within oak-pine woodland in these parts of the grassland (in central Arizona also to interior chaparral], Southwest are , Q. hypoleucoides, Q. pen­ Southwestward in central and southern Sonora, oak wood­ nivenia, Q. epileuca, Q. fulva, and Q. rugosa. The principal land drops downward to as low as 880-950 m where its pines are Apache Pine, Chihuahua Pine, Arizona Pine, Pino contact with either subtropical deciduous forestor thorn­ Triste, and Durango Pine. The latter two species are endemic scrub may be remarkably abrupt (Fig. 311. Here the transition to western Mexico. Another conifer, the relict Arizona from oak-pine woodland to montane conifer forest is also Cypress ( arizonical is largely confined to north­ lower, taking place at ca. 1,850 to 2,000 m; well-developed facing canyon slopes and . Madrofios (Arbutus montane pine forest does not usually occur above oak-pine arizonica, A. texanal are important and characteristic arboreal woodland elsewhere in the Southwest until 2,200-2,300 m. constituents within oak-pine woodland. Where air moisture At its northern limits in central Arizona, and in the Burro, is sufficient, the epiphytic bromeliad Tillandsia recurvata can Organ, and Guadalupe Mountains in New Mexico, the Big be found clinging to the branches of oaks and other trees. Bend of Texas, and in the mountains in extreme Mexican Pinyon and Alligator-bark may occur within northeastern Chihuahua and western , Madrean any of the fasciations in either oak-pine or encinal woodland. evergreen woodland occurs above or within the drier interior On the eastern slopes of the Sierra Madre Occidental and in chaparral, and below and along drainages within the drier and west Texas, New Mexico, and Cochise County, Arizona, the more cold tolerant conifer woodland. The major lower contact with Madrean evergreen woodland is with contact throughout is with grassland, however, and grasses grassland (=plains and semidesert grassland I or rarely provide the major woodland understory. Chihuahuan desertscrub. This contact is apparently deter­ The more prevalent grass species in this "savanna" zone mined to a large extent by depth and type, since the may be any of a number of bunchgrasses centered here [e.g., woodland occupies much the same elevational range as the muhlys (Muhlenbergia emersleyi, M. torreyi, M. potteti, grassland; the lower encinal communities here are at ca. etc.], Woolspike (Elyonurus barbicubnisl, and Cane Bluestem 1,500-1,800 m along drainages, on rocky slopes, and on other (Bothriochloa barbinodisl or, particularly at lower elevations, thin-soiled . To the northwest, in northern Sonora grassland species of wider distribution [e.g., Wolftail (Lycurus and south central Arizona, encinal woodland descends phleoidesl, Little Bluestem (SchizachyriUin scopariuml, Plains Brown Madrean Evergreen Woodland 61

Figure 27. Madrean evergreen woodland. Encinal woodland in luniper Canyon in the Chisos Mountains, , Texas, ca. 1,700 m elevation The larger overstory trees are Pinyon (Pinus cembroidesl, some A1ligatorbark [unipets (Juniperus deppeana) and Drooping Iuniper (J. flaccida] (individual in lower right foreground). Less conspicuous are numerous young oaks (Quercus grisea, Q. emoryi] which promise a return to a more representative encinal community as existed prior to the of the 1950's (Whitson, 1974). The grass in immediate foreground is Bullgrass (Muhlenbergia emersleyi],

Lovegrass (Eragrostis intermedia), Blue Grama (Bouteloua grassland extend well up into the Madrean evergreen wood­ gracilis), Sideoats Grama (B. curtipendula), Hairy Grama (B. land. These include the Rainbow Cactus (Echinocereus hirsuta), Tanglehead (Heteropogon contortus), and Green pectinatus var. rigidissimus), Barrel Cactus (Ferocactus wislizenil, Sprangletop (Leptochloa dubia)). Herbaceous weeds, Cane Cholla (Opuntia spinosior), Engelmann Prickly Pear (0. and forbs such as penstemons (Penstemon), lupines (Lupinusl, phaeacantha), Purple Prickly Pear (0. violacea var. santarital, bricklebushes (Brickellia), sages (Salvia), indigobushes (Daleal, Schott Yucca (Yucca schottii), Thornber Yucca (Yucca baccata buckwheats (Eriogonum), Louisiana Sagebrush (Artemesia var. thornberil, Palmer Agave (Agave palmeri), Parry Agave (A. ludoviciana), flatsedges (Cyperus), rose-mallows (Hibiscus), parryi), and Sacahuista (Nolina microcarpa). Several cacti such woodsorrels (Oxalis), beans (Phaseolus), and many others, as the Cream Cactus (Mammillaria gummifera l, the Pin­ while almost always present to some degree, may on occasion cushion (Mammillaria oresteia l, the hedgehogs (Echinocereus be so abundant on some of the steeper slopes as to present a triglochidiatus and E. ledingii) and the Hen and Chicks "soft chaparral" aspect. Although many herbaceous and Cactus (Coryphantha recurvata), are largely centered in this species, such as Larchleaf Goldenweed (Ericameria biotic community. laricifolia), increase with grazing, the usual aspect of over­ The presence of scrubland species varies from that of an grazed encinals is of a bareness of ground cover. occasional within the woodland to the attainment of Many of the cacti and succulents of the semidesert landscape . Any of a number of either Madrean or 62 Warm-Temperate Forests and Woodlands

Figure 28. Madrean evergreen woodland. Mexican oak-pine in the Sierra Madre Occidental off Durango­ Mazatlan Highway ca. 1,980 m elevation. March, 1971. Such level habitats, common in the Sierra Madres east of the , are somewhat atypical of the steep slopes so characteristic of most oak-pine woodlands in the Southwest. While heavily grazed, the ground cover burns at intervals to provide an open understory. Note the number of Apache Pine (Pinus engelmannii) seedlings in opening in right foreground.

interior chaparral species may be conspicuously present Bean (Erythrina flabelliformis), Kidneywood (Eysenhardtia including: orthocarpa), Senna (Cassia leptocarpa), Hopbush (Dodonaea Wait-a-bit and Arctostaphylos pungens Pointleaf Manzanita viscosa), (Mimosa biuncifera), Velvet-pod Ceanothus huichagorare Mimosa (Mimosa dysocarpa). Cetcocatpus montanus Alderleaf Mountain-mahogany Mean annual precipitation within Madrean evergreen Cowania mexicana Cliffrose woodlands usually exceeds 400 mm, with 200 mm or more Gartya wrightii Wright's Silktassel falling during the summer growing season of May through Oak Quercus toiuneyi Tourney August (Table 5). Annual extremes are 330-380 mm to as high Rhamnus betulaefolia Birchleaf Buckthorn as 890-1,020 mm. Freezing temperatures range from occasional Rhus choriophylla Mearns' Sumac in the south to an average of almost 150 days per year at the R. trilobata Skunkbush Sumac woodland's northern limits near Whiteriver on the Fort

[e.g. . Vauquelinia califomica Arizona Rosewood Apache Indian Reservation). These and other chaparral representative plants are especially Madrean evergreen woodland is the principal biotic com­ prevalent on thin eroded , on , and near the munity for the White-tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus) in northern end and eastern range of Madrean woodland. At the Southwest, and its oak-pine zone is a major -type lower elevations and on rocky south slopes, certain species for the Coati (Nasua nasua), This woodland was also the home affiliated with thornscrub may be important associates and of the Mexican Grizzly (Ursus horribilis). Once widespread, subdominants within the encinaL Some of the more common this bear may now be extinct, no recent documentation of its and widely distributed of these include Southwestern Coral existence having been received from its last strongholds in Brown Madrean Evergreen Woodland 63

Figure 29. Madrean evergreen woodland of pines and oaks (Mexican oak-pine woodland) on west slopes of Sierra Madre Occidental, west of Durango, Mexico. Note the differences in slope physiognomy in this barranca habitat as compared to Fig. 28. 64 Warm-Temperate Forests and Woodlands

Figure 30. Madrean evergreen woodland. Encinal woodland of mostly Mexican Blue Oak () and Emory Oak (Quercus emoryi); Potrero Canyon in the Paiarito Mountains on the Coronado National Forest near the Arizona-Sonora line, ca. 1,460 m elevation November, 1970. Most of the understory grasses in left foreground are Little Bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium) and Sideoats Grama {Bouteloua curtipendula}. the Sierra del Nido of Chihuahua (Leopold, 19591. Other States. A list of the most characteristic nesting species would well represented in or indicative of Madrean include the Montezuma Quail (Cyrtonyx montezumce], evergreen woodland include the Yellow-nosed Cotton Rat Whiskered Owl [Otus trichopsisl, Arizona Woodpecker (Sigmodon ochrognathusl, Southern Pocket Gopher (Picoides arizonael, Buff-breasted Flycatcher (Empidonax (Thomomys umbrinusl, Apache Squirrel (Sciurus nayaritensisl, fulvifronsl, ( uhramatituu, and Bailey's Pocket Mouse (Perognathus baileyil, and the Eastern Bridled Titmouse (Parus wollweberil. Other common and Cottontail (Sylvilagus floridanusl. characteristic species such as the Acorn Woodpecker It is the rich assortment of that make these woodlands (Melanerpes jormicivorus], Hutton's Vireo (Vireo huttonil, so attractive to naturalists. A number of colorful inhabitants Bush Tit (Psaltriparus minimus I, and Black-throated Gray are found here such as the Coppery-tailed Trogon (Trogon Warbler (Dendroica rngrescens]. The Western Bluebird (Sialia elegansl, Rivoli's Hummingbird (Eugenes fulgensl, Violet mexicana I is equally at home here and in Californian evergreen Crowned Hummingbird (Amazilia viohceps], White-eared woodland. At higher elevations in oak-pine woodland one Hummingbird (Hylocharis leucotisl, and Warbler also may expect to find (or hear] some of the more montane (Vermivora crissalis; all of which barely reach the United Madrean species such as the Gould's Turkey (Meleagris Brown Madrean Evergreen Woodland 65

Figure 31. Madrean evergreen woodland contact with Sinaloan deciduous forest near Santa Ana, Sonora, ca. 1,000 m elevation. It is springtime (April) and the brown, retained of the Chihuahua Oak () present a sharp contrast to the leafless Sinaloan deciduous forest One can literally step from one biome to the other.

gallopavo mexiccna], Band-tailed Pigeon (Columba fasciatal, Lampropeltis pyiomelaiia Sonora Mountain Kingsnake Mexican Chickadee (Parus sc1ateril, and Hepatic Tanager Pbrynosoma ditmarsi Ditmar's Horned (Piranga flaval.1 Salvadora giahamiae Mountain Patchnose Snake Sceloporus clarki Clark's Lizard These woodlands are also the Southwestern metropolis for Spiny S. iattovi Yarrow's Spiny Lizard many terrestrial Madrean reptiles, including: S. scalaris Bunchgrass Lizard Crotalus lepidus Rock S. vitgatus Striped Lizard C. pticei Twin-spotted Rattlesnake Tantilla wilcoxi wilcoxi Huachuca Blackhead Snake C. willardi Rattlesnake Ridgenose Thamnophis eques Mexican Garter Snake Elaphe triapsis Green Rat Snake Eumeces callicephalus Mountain Skink The Barking Frog (Hylactophryne augusn], while rarely seen or collected, is a characteristic terrestrial amphibian, extending 1 northward to the . The Tarahumara For an excellent discussion of the particular requirements of these and other evergreen woodland species, the reader is urged to consult Frog (Rana tarahumarael is found with Madrean evergreen Marshall (1957). woodlands along permanent springs, streams, and ponds.