A Floristic Inventory of the White River National Forest and Vicinity South of the Colorado River, Colorado, U.S.A.

Download or read book A Floristic Inventory of the White River National Forest and Vicinity South of the Colorado River, Colorado, U.S.A. written by Michael K. Kirkpatrick and published by . This book was released on 2014 with total page 125 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This study reports the first voucher-based floristic inventory of the White River National Forest and adjacent lands south of the Colorado River. The area lies within the Southern Rocky Mountains floristic province and the easternmost Colorado Plateau province. It consists of 4,500 sq mi (11,655 sq km) on the West Slope of the Rocky Mountains in northwest Colorado, containing all or part of Eagle, Garfield, Grand, Gunnison, Mesa, Pitkin, and Summit counties. Included are portions of four mountain ranges (Elk, Gore, Sawatch, and Williams Fork) drained by four major watersheds (Blue, Eagle, Roaring Fork, and Colorado rivers). Elevations range from 4,800 ft (1,463 m) to 14,278 ft (4,352 m). A total of 11,325 vascular plant specimens were collected from 476 sites during 2010 and 2011. These vouchers comprise 86 families, 392 genera, 1,012 species, and 1,068 unique taxa. 114 exotic species were documented, including 22 state-listed noxious weeds. 76 taxa of conservation concern were documented at 281 sites. Among the additions are a state record of an introduced species ( Ribes rubrum ) and 15 new taxa for the area. The annotated species checklist includes an additional 261 unconfirmed taxa known from regional herbaria. Descriptions of the physical and biotic environments, survey history, and analyses of sampling adequacy are provided