C. LIFE ZONES 



By V. E. Shelford and G. T. Jones 



In this book an attempt has been made 

 to use natural features: climate, land- 

 scape aspects, and the characteristic 

 plants in designating and describing 

 areas. Various authors of local ac- 

 counts use ">ife zones" to designate 

 areas. Without a glossary the names 

 do not suggest the landscape aspect 



types. It is necessary in such a work 

 that natural features be used in order 

 that the traveler may identify his loca- 

 tion. The characteristic plants were 

 substituted by the compilers for "life 

 zones" wherever mentioned by contrib- 

 utors in temperate America. This was 

 done in accord with the table below. 



Approximate correspondence of Vegetation and Merriam's Life Zones 



(Prepared by George T. Jones) 



Vegetation type 



I. Tundra and Alpine Sum- 

 mits 



A. Arctic Tundra 



B. Paramos or Alpine 



Meadow 

 II. Coniferous Forest 



A. Northern Coniferous 



Forest 



B. Mountain Coniferous 



Forest 



1. Rocky Mountain 



Forest 



2. Sierran Sub-al- 



pine Forest 



3. Rocky Mountain 



Montane For- 

 est 



4. Sierran Montane 



Forest 



5. Larch-Pine For- 

 est of North- 

 west 



C. Northwest Moist 



Coniferous Forest 



III. Eastern Forests 



A. Mixed Coniferous and 



Deciduous 



B. Temperate Deciduous 



C. Southeast Coniferous 

 Forest 



D. Gulf Coast Forest 



Composition 



Lichens and herbs 



Sedges, grasses and 

 herbs, dwarf willows 



Red, black and white 

 spruces, balsam fir 



Engelmann spruce and 

 alpine fir 



Mountain hemlock, firs, 

 white-bark pine 



Western yellow pine, 

 Douglas fir, white fir, 

 lodgepole pine 



Sugar pine, western 

 yellow pine, incense 

 cedar, white fir, Doug- 

 las fir 



Western white pine, 

 western larch, western 

 hemlock, Engelmann 

 spruce, giant cedar 



Redwood, douglas fir, 

 western hemlock, giant 

 cedar, Sitka spruce 



Beech, birch, maple, 

 hemlock, white pine 



Beech, maple, oaks, 

 hickories, tulip tree, 

 sassafras 



Longlcaf pine, loblolly 

 pine, slash pine, mag- 

 nolia, live oak, bald 

 cvpress 



Southeast Coniferous 

 Forest with under- 

 growth of Palmetto 



75 



Merriam's Life 

 Zone 



Arctic-Alpine 



Zone 

 Arctic-Alpine 



Zone 



Hudsonian and 

 Canadian 



Hudsonian and 

 upper Canatlian 



Hudsonian and 

 ui)per Canadian 



Canadian and 



upper Transition 



Canadian 

 Transition 



and 



Canadian and 



Transition 



Canadian and 



Humid Transi- 

 tion 



Alleghanian 



Carolinian 



Austroriparian 



Sabalian or Gulf 

 Strip 



