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Native-induced secondary plant succession in the Mackenzie River delta, Northwest Territories, Canada
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 27 October 2009
Extract
Plants introduced by man play a very minor role in the flora of the Mackenzie River, delta and are primarily restricted to centres of habitation such as Inuvik, Aklavik, and Reindeer Station (Map 1) (Cody, 1965; Gill, 1971). Within the delta itself, however, a number of introduced species are recurringly present on one geomorphic position, the point bar, which forms the convex section of a meander bend in flood plains and deltas (Fig 1). The Mackenzie delta supports a northerly extension of the boreal forest, and most of the higher levees are occupied by trees, particularly White Spruce Picea glauca. Point bars are constructed of coarser alluvium than other delta landforms, thus they have a drier and warmer soil environment than other locations (Gill, 1972a); vegetation response to this locally ameliorated environment has been such that virtually every point bar in the Mackenzie delta is occupied by a discrete plant community dominated by Balsam Poplar Populus balsamifera (Gill, 1972b). The poplar stands are surprisingly well developed for such a northerly latitude, 68°45′N (Fig 2).
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References
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