Flora and vegetation of Wilcox Pass, Jasper National Park, Alberta

• Main Author: Crack, Susan Nell
• Other Authors: Ogilvie, Robert T.
• Format: Master Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: University of Calgary 1977
• Subjects: Alpine flora - Alberta; Parks; National - Canada - Jasper; Mountain ecology - Alberta; Canada; Wilcox; Cassiope tetragona; Dryas octopetala
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/1880/14488; https://doi.org/10.11575/PRISM/21270

Bibliography: p. 207-220. The study area is the alpine zone of Wilcox Pass, Jasper National Park. The vascular flora consists of 186 species. A hybrid analysis of Dryas octopetala and integrifolia populations shows that a large percentage of them have intermediate characteristics; most of them more closely resembling E. integrifolia. Twelve community-types were found to be the most common in the study are. The Salix glauca and the Arctostaphylos uva-ursi community-types are typical of the lower alpine subzone. The other plant associations occur commonly in the middle alpine subzone: the Kobresia myosuroides and the Dryas octopetala associations on dry, exposed, snow-free ridges and hilltops; the Cassiope tetragona., the Salix nivalis and the Fhyllcdoce glanduliflora. associations in intermediate habitats; the Anten.'1aria lanata, the Carex nigricans and the Salix arctica community-types on moist, snowbed sites; and the Salix barra.ttiana and the Carex aqua.tills community-types in areas which are very wet and covered with deep snow. The upper alpine subzone vegetation is composed of cushion, mat and rosette plants on rock outcrops and scree slopes. Few species were found exclusively in a single community-type. A growth-form analysis of Wilcox Pass and three other alpine areas studied previously showed that 11% of alpine species are hemicrypto:phytes, 17.5% are chamaephytes, 6.5% are geophytes, 4% are phanerophytes and o.6% are therophytes~ The high frequency of hemicryptophytes and chamaephytes indicates that these are successfully adapted alpine forms. Weighted spectra, based on coverage values, and unweighted spectra for each association differed, primarily, in the increased emphasis of the weighted spectra on the growth-form of the dominant species. Comparisons of the 12 community-types of the study area with previously described associations of other Alberta alpine areas show a large degree of similarity of habitats, as well as both similarities and differences in species composition.