Acadian-Appalachian Alpine Tundra

Macrogroup: Alpine your State Natural Heritage Ecologist for more information about this habitat. this about information more for Ecologist Heritage State Natural your Contact based inventory. field for substitute a not data is and current based on distribution a mapmodeled is This

Description: A sparsely vegetated system near or above treeline in the Northern Appalachian Mountains, dominated by lichens, dwarf-shrubland, and sedges. At the highest elevations, the dominant plants are dwarf heaths such as alpine bilberry and cushion-plants such as diapensia. Bigelow’s sedge is characteristic. Wetland depressions, such as small alpine bogs and rare sloping fens, may be found within the surrounding upland matrix. In the lower subalpine zone, deciduous shrubs such as nannyberry provide cover in somewhat protected areas; dwarf heaths including crowberry, Labrador tea, sheep laurel, and lowbush blueberry, are typical. Nearer treeline, spruce and fir that State Distribution: ME, NH, NY, VT have become progressively more stunted as exposure increases may form nearly impenetrable krummholz. Total Habitat Acreage: 8,185 Ecological Setting and Natural Processes: Percent Conserved: 98.1% High winds, snow and ice, cloud-cover fog, and intense State State GAP 1&2 GAP 3 Unsecured summer sun exposure are common and control ecosystem State Habitat % Acreage (acres) (acres) (acres) dynamics. Found mostly above 4000' in the northern part of NH 51% 4,160 4,126 0 34 our region, alpine tundra may also occur in small patches on ME 44% 3,624 2,510 1,082 33 lower ridgelines and summits and at lower elevations near the Atlantic coast. NY 3% 285 194 0 91 VT 1% 115 115 0 0

Similar Habitat Types: Acadian-Appalachian Montane Spruce-Fir-Hardwood Forests typically occur downslope. Similar to Southern Appalachian Shrub and Grass Balds, and less obviously to systems like Northern Atlantic Coastal Plain Heathland and Grassland and glade and barrens systems to the south, in that extreme environmental conditions make it very difficult for even small trees to develop. Crosswalk to State Wildlife Action Plans: Crosswalk to State Name Examples: Alpine (ME), Alpine (NH), Alpine (NY), Outcrops and Upland Spruce - Fir - Birch Krummholz (ME), Black Spruce - Balsam Fir Meadows - Alpine Meadows (VT), Open Peatlands - Alpine Krummholz (NH), Alpine Krummholz (NY), Spruce-Fir-Northern Peatland (VT), Spruce-Fir-Northern Hardwood Forest - Hardwood Forest - Subalpine Krummholz (VT) Subalpine Krummholz (VT)

35 Places to Visit this Habitat: Habitat Patch Distribution Baxter State Park | ME 6,000 Mahoosucs | ME 5,000 Tumbledown Mount Blue | ME 4,000 White Mountain National Forest | NH 3,000

Acres 2,000 High Peaks Wilderness Area | NY 1,000 0

Associated Species: Appendix lists scientific names 0 to 1 1 to 5 5 to 10 1000+ BIRDS: blackpoll warbler, common raven, dark-eyed junco, 10 to 100 golden eagle, red-breasted nuthatch, white-throated sparrow, 100 to 1000 yellow-rumped warbler Patch Size Classes The average patch size for this habitat is 38 acres and the largest single patch is MAMMALS: northern red-backed vole 3,949 acres. This chart shows the proportion of the habitat that is in each patch-size class. INSECTS: katahdin arctic butterfly, crowberry blue butterfly Age Class Distribution PLANTS: Alpine-azalea (Loiseleuria procumbens), alpine 80 blueberry (Vaccinium uliginosum), alpine bittercress (Cardamine 60 bellidifolia), alpine sweet grass (Hierochloe alpina), balsam willow (Salix pyrifolia), bearberry willow (Salix uva-ursi), black 40 crowberry (Empetrum nigrum), highland rush (Juncus trifidus), 20 lapland diapensia (Diapensia lapponica), lapland azalea 0 (Rhododendron lapponicum), mountain cranberry (Vaccinium of Percent Habitat vitis-idaea), mountain sandwort (Minuartia groenlandica), 1 to 20 20 to 40 40 to 60 60 to 80 mountain timothy (Phleum alpinum) 80 to 100100 to 140 Age (Years)

This chart shows the average age of trees associated with this habitat based on forest Inventory data. For non-forested systems or small habitats the average age is Species of Concern (G1-G4): Appendix lists scientific names influenced by the surroundings. BIRDS: Bicknell’s thrush, american pipit Predicted Habitat Loss to Development MAMMALS: northern bog lemming 10,000 INSECTS: Katahdin arctic butterfly, crowberry blue butterfly 8,000 6,000 PLANTS: alpine goldenrod (Solidago multiradiata), Appalachian 4,000 fir-clubmoss (Huperzia appalachiana), Bigelow's sedge (Carex Acreage 2,000 bigelowii), capitate Sedge (Carex capitata), Cutler's Goldenrod 0 (Solidago cutleri), dwarf White Birch (Betula minor), lapland 2010 2020 2030 2040 2050 2060 diapensia (Diapensia lapponica), mountain avens (Geum peckii), northern blueberry (Vaccinium boreale), Pickering's reed Decade bentgrass (Calamagrostis pickeringii), Robbins' cinquefoil (Potentilla robbinsiana), silverling (Paronychia argyrocoma) This chart shows the predicted loss of habitat over the next five decades ( acres) if loss continues at the same rate as 1990-2000. The average rate of loss is acres per year.

Habitat Connectedness Index

60 40 20 0 Percent of Percent Habitat 0 to 25 25 to 50 50 to 75 75 to 100 Degree of Fragmentation (0=Highly Fragmented & 100= Highly Connected)

This metric measures how connected or fragmented the land directly surrounding (18 © Josh Royte (The Nature Conservancy, Maine) square miles) the habitat is, this the chart shows the proportion of the habitat in each connectedness class.

Acadian-Appalachian Alpine Tundra http://nature.ly/HabitatGuide 36