Alpine scrub gravelly alkaline slopes
Circle-spoke model
Scenario model
Current ecosystem state
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Management practices/drivers
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No transition or restoration pathway between the selected states has been described
Target ecosystem state
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Description
The reference plant community is dryas dwarf scrub (Viereck et al. 1992). There are two plant communities in the reference state related to fire. Solifluction is a process associated with this state but does not happen to a degree resulting in a mosaic of vegetation. Solifluction is the slow, viscous downslope flow of water-saturated soil (Schoeneberger and Wysocki 2017). This process is most active for this ecological site during spring thaw where the upper band of soil material slips on a seasonally frozen layer. Solifluction is a common process associated with several ecological sites in this area and this ecological site can at times have small solifluction lobes. Since these small solifluction lobes are uncommon and do not typically result in a vegetation mosaic, no alternative solifluction state was developed for this site.
Cryoturbation is process associated with this state that results in the formation of non-sorted circles. Cryoturbation is a collective term used to describe all soil movements due to frost action, characterized by folded, broken and dislocated beds and lenses of unconsolidated deposits (Schoeneberger and Wysocki 2017). Since non-sorted circles are uncommon for this site and data did not typically support these features having a vegetation mosaic, no alternative state was developed for this site.
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The Ecosystem Dynamics Interpretive Tool is an information system framework developed by the USDA-ARS Jornada Experimental Range, USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, and New Mexico State University.