DISTRIBUTION AND OCCURRENCE
SPECIES: Wyethia amplexicaulis | Mules Ears 



GENERAL DISTRIBUTION : 
Mules ears is distributed from Washington to Montana and south to
Colorado and Nevada [12,16,32].


ECOSYSTEMS : 
   FRES20  Douglas-fir
   FRES21  Ponderosa pine
   FRES23  Fir - spruce
   FRES28  Western hardwoods
   FRES29  Sagebrush
   FRES34  Chaparral - mountain shrub
   FRES35  Pinyon - juniper
   FRES36  Mountain grasslands
   FRES37  Mountain meadows


STATES : 
     CO  ID  MT  NV  OR  UT  WA  WY


ADMINISTRATIVE UNITS : 
     DINO  FOBU  GRTE  NOCA  TICA  YELL


BLM PHYSIOGRAPHIC REGIONS : 
    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


KUCHLER PLANT ASSOCIATIONS : 
   K010  Ponderosa shrub forest
   K011  Western ponderosa forest
   K012  Douglas-fir forest
   K015  Western spruce - fir forest
   K018  Pine - Douglas-fir forest
   K020  Spruce - fir - Douglas-fir forest
   K021  Southwestern spruce - fir forest
   K023  Juniper - pinyon woodland
   K024  Juniper steppe woodland
   K037  Mountain-mahogany - oak scrub
   K038  Great Basin sagebrush
   K050  Fescue - wheatgrass
   K051  Wheatgrass - bluegrass
   K055  Sagebrush steppe
   K056  Wheatgrass - needlegrass shrubsteppe
   K063  Foothills prairie


SAF COVER TYPES : 
   206  Engelmann spruce - subalpine fir
   210  Interior Douglas-fir
   217  Aspen
   220  Rocky Mountain juniper
   237  Interior ponderosa pine
   238  Western juniper
   239  Pinyon - juniper


SRM (RANGELAND) COVER TYPES : 
NO-ENTRY


HABITAT TYPES AND PLANT COMMUNITIES : 
Mules ears has a wide ecological amplitude, occurring in many plant
communities.  It is most abundant in mesic sagebrush (Artemisia
spp.)-grassland habitats.  It is also common in woodlands and seral
coniferous forests above the elevational limits of sagebrush [28,35].

Trembling aspen (Populus tremuloides)/mules ears community types in the
Intermountain region are minor and mostly confined to the north [17].
In the Bridger-Teton, Caribou, and Targhee National Forests, these types
usually result from severe overgrazing.  These communities generally
have an open canopy of trembling aspen with the herbaceous layer
completely dominated by mules ears [18,37].  Other species sometimes
cooccurring include mountain snowberry (Symphoricarpos oreophilus),
Saskatoon serviceberry (Amelanchier alnifolia), western stickseed
(Hackelia floribunda), common dandelion (Taraxacum officinale), western
coneflower (Rudbeckia occidentalis), cinquefoil (Potentilla spp.),
lupine (Lupinus spp.), butterweed groundsel (Senecio serra), California
brome (Bromus carinatus), slender wheatgrass (Elymus trachycaulus), blue
wildrye (E.  glaucus), and Kentucky bluegrass (Poa pratense) [17,18,37].
Trembling aspen/mules ears community types in the Intermountain region
are fairly stable [17,18,36].  Mueggler and Campbell [18] suggested that
they should be recognized as distinct habitat types on the Caribou and
Targhee National Forests.

Other species commonly associated with mules ears include ninebark
(Physocarpus malvaceus), Oregon-grape (Mahonia repens), Gambel oak
(Quercus gambelii), Wood's rose (Rosa woodsii), antelope bitterbrush
(Purshia tridentata), rubber rabbitbrush (Chrysothamnus nauseosus), low
rabbitbrush (C. viscidiflorus), curlleaf mountain-mahogany (Cercocarpus
ledifolius), Rocky Mountain maple (Acer glabrum), arrowleaf balsamroot,
western yarrow (Achillea millefolium), slenderleaf collomia (Collomia
linearis), duncecap larkspur (Delphinium occidentale), buckwheat
(Eriogonum spp.), sticky geranium (Geranium viscosissimum), bluebunch
wheatgrass (Pseudoroegneria spicata), Idaho fescue (Festuca idahoensis),
cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum), prairie junegrass (Koeleria cristata), and
bluegrass (Poa spp.) [2,3,11,14].

Publications listing mules ears as a dominant herbaceous-layer species
are as follows:

Subalpine forb community types of the Bridger-Teton National Forest,
  Wyoming [11]
Aspen community types on the Caribou and Targhee National Forests in
  southeastern Idaho [18]
Aspen community types of the Intermountain Region [17]
The vegetation of the Wasatch Mountains, Utah and Idaho [22]
Aspen community type classifications in the Intermountain West [36]
Aspen community types on the Bridger-Teton National Forest in western
  Wyoming [37].

Related categories for Species: Wyethia amplexicaulis | Mules Ears