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Major stands of southern Appalachian spruce–fir forest. The southern Appalachian spruce–fir forest consists of several stands covering a combined area of between 60,000 and 70,000 acres (24,000 and 28,000 ha), [2] [6] although less conservative estimates have placed the forest's coverage at around 90,000 acres (36,000 ha). [7]
Spruce–fir forests can be found in cold regions at high latitudes or high altitudes throughout the Northern Hemisphere. [1] This includes both areas throughout the high latitude boreal forest of Canada and Russia, [2] [3] as well as mountain ranges at lower latitudes, such as the Rocky Mountains in North America, the Tian Shan in Asia, and the Carpathian Mountains in Europe.
The mountain's summit is coated in a dense stand of Southern Appalachian spruce-fir forest, which consists primarily of two evergreen species—the red spruce and the Fraser fir. Most of the mature Fraser firs, however, were killed off by the non-native Balsam woolly adelgid in the latter half of the 20th century.
The southern Appalachian spruce-fir forest, though sometimes referred to as "boreal" or "Canadian," is a unique plant community endemic to a few high peaks of the Southern Appalachians. In fact, it is more akin to a high elevation cloud forest. [8] It is dominated by red spruce and Fraser fir, and coats the elevations above 5,500 feet (1,700 m).
Forests of the glacial period were dominated by various spruces (Picea spp.) and jack pine; fir (Abies spp.) was abundant in some locations. With the exception of the absence of certain prairie elements, the understories of these forests were generally typical of modern spruce-fir forests within and near Canada.
[12] [13] [42] Below the spruce-fir forest, at around 1,200 meters (3,900 ft), forest composition shifts in favor of deciduous trees such as American beech, maple, birch, and oak. [13] American rhododendron is the dominant understory shrub throughout the deciduous layer but is only occasionally present in spruce-fir forests.
Roan Mountain is a 6,277 ft (1,913 m) [1] mountain straddling the North Carolina/Tennessee border in the Unaka Range of the Southern Appalachian Mountains in the Southeastern United States. The range's highpoint, Roan is clad in a dense stand of Southern Appalachian spruce–fir forest and includes the world's largest natural rhododendron ...
Spruce fir stand near the summit of Kuwohi. The Southern Appalachian spruce–fir forest—also called the "boreal" or "Canadian" forest—is a relict of the ice ages, when mean annual temperatures in the Smokies were too cold to support a hardwood forest. While the rise in temperatures between 12,500 and 6,000 years ago allowed the hardwoods ...