DISTRIBUTION AND OCCURRENCE
SPECIES: Tortula ruralis | Twisted Moss 



GENERAL DISTRIBUTION : 
Tortula ruralis is a cosmopolitan species found in arctic, boreal,
temperate, and desert regions.  It is distributed throughout Canada,
much of the United States, Mexico, and the Pacific islands
[16,24,29,40].  It apparently is more common in western North America
than in the eastern provinces and states [18,24].  The author has been
unable to determine if T. ruralis occurs in the southeastern United
States.

Tortula ruralis is widespread in Europe, Asia, the Middle East, North
and South Africa, South America, and Australia [10,16,24].


ECOSYSTEMS : 
   FRES10  White - red - jack pine
   FRES11  Spruce - fir
   FRES20  Douglas-fir
   FRES21  Ponderosa pine
   FRES22  Western white pine
   FRES23  Fir - spruce
   FRES24  Hemlock - Sitka spruce
   FRES25  Larch
   FRES26  Lodgepole pine
   FRES27  Redwood
   FRES29  Sagebrush
   FRES30  Desert shrub
   FRES31  Shinnery
   FRES32  Texas savanna
   FRES33  Southwestern shrubsteppe
   FRES34  Chaparral - mountain shrub
   FRES35  Pinyon - juniper
   FRES36  Mountain grasslands
   FRES37  Mountain meadows
   FRES38  Plains grasslands
   FRES39  Prairie
   FRES40  Desert grasslands
   FRES41  Wet grasslands
   FRES42  Annual grasslands
   FRES44  Alpine


STATES : 
     AK  AZ  CA  CO  CT  DE  HI  ID  IL  IN
     IA  KS  KY  ME  MD  MA  MI  MN  MO  MT
     NE  NV  NH  NJ  NM  NY  ND  OH  OK  OR
     PA  RI  SD  TX  UT  VT  VA  WA  WV  WI
     WY  AB  BC  MB  NB  NF  NT  NS  ON  PE
     PQ  SK  YT  MEXICO


ADMINISTRATIVE UNITS : 
     CANY  NAVA


BLM PHYSIOGRAPHIC REGIONS : 
    1  Northern Pacific Border
    2  Cascade Mountains
    3  Southern Pacific Border
    4  Sierra Mountains
    5  Columbia Plateau
    6  Upper Basin and Range
    7  Lower Basin and Range
    8  Northern Rocky Mountains
    9  Middle Rocky Mountains
   10  Wyoming Basin
   11  Southern Rocky Mountains
   12  Colorado Plateau
   13  Rocky Mountain Piedmont
   14  Great Plains
   15  Black Hills Uplift
   16  Upper Missouri Basin and Broken Lands


KUCHLER PLANT ASSOCIATIONS : 
   widely distributed, occurs in most Kuchler Plant Associations within its range


SAF COVER TYPES : 
   widely distributed, occurs in most SAF Cover Types within its range


SRM (RANGELAND) COVER TYPES : 
NO-ENTRY


HABITAT TYPES AND PLANT COMMUNITIES : 
Tortula ruralis occurs in a wide variety of habitats, including
arctic-alpine tundra, wet and dry coniferous forests, grasslands,
sagebrush, and deserts [12,22,32,36].  The author has been unable to
determine if T. ruralis occurs in southeastern ecosystems or in
broadleaf forests.

Although T. ruralis can be an important ground cover component, it
generally is not a dominant species.  However, the following publication
classifies T. ruralis as a dominant ground cover species in purple
pinegrass (Calamagrostis purpurascens) vegetation types in the Yukon
Territory:

Vegetation types and environmental factors associated with Foothills Gas
  Pipeline Route, Yukon Territory [38]

Species commonly associated with T. ruralis in sagebrush-grassland
habitats include basin big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata ssp.
tridentata), Wyoming big sagebrush (A. t. ssp. wyomingensis), gray low
sagebrush (A. arbuscula ssp. arbuscula), bluebunch wheatgrass
(Pseudoroegneria spicata), Idaho fescue (Festuca idahoensis), cheatgrass
(Bromus tectorum), Thurber needlegrass (Stipa thurberiana), bottlebrush
squirreltail (Elymus elymoides), Sandberg bluegrass (Poa secunda), phlox
(Phlox spp.), broom snakeweed (Gutierrezia sarothrae), hawksbeard
(Crepis spp.), buckwheat (Eriogonum spp.), and lichens [4,12,14,19,41].

Related categories for Species: Tortula ruralis | Twisted Moss