DISTRIBUTION AND OCCURRENCE
SPECIES: Populus tremuloides | Quaking Aspen 



GENERAL DISTRIBUTION : 
Quaking aspen is the most widely distributed tree in North America.  It
occurs from Newfoundland west to Alaska and south to Virginia, Missouri,
Nebraska, and northern Mexico.  A few scattered populations occur
further south in Mexico to Guanajuato [99].  Quaking aspen is
distributed fairly continuously in the East.  Distribution is patchy in
the West, with trees confined to suitable sites.  Density is greatest in
Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Colorado, and Alaska; each of those
states contains at least 2 million acres of commercial quaking aspen
forest.  Maine, Utah, and central Canada also have large acreages of
quaking aspen [89,125].


ECOSYSTEMS : 
   FRES10  White-red-jack pine
   FRES11  Spruce-fir
   FRES15  Oak-hickory
   FRES17  Elm-ash-cottonwood
   FRES18  Maple-beech-birch
   FRES19  Aspen-birch
   FRES20  Douglas-fir
   FRES21  Ponderosa pine
   FRES22  Western white pine
   FRES23  Fir-spruce
   FRES24  Hemlock-Sitka spruce
   FRES25  Larch
   FRES26  Lodgepole pine
   FRES28  Western hardwoods
   FRES29  Sagebrush
   FRES34  Chaparral-mountain shrub
   FRES35  Pinyon-juniper
   FRES36  Mountain grasslands
   FRES37  Mountain meadows
   FRES38  Plains grasslands
   FRES39  Prairie


STATES : 
     AK  AZ  CA  CO  CT  ID  IL  IN  IA  KY
     MA  ME  MD  MI  MN  MO  MT  NE  NV  NH
     NJ  NM  NY  ND  OH  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 : 
     ACAD  ALPO  APIS  BAND  BIBE  BICA
     BLCA  BRCA  CANY  CACO  CACA  CEBR
     COLO  CRLA  CRMO  CURE  CUVA  DENA
     DEPO  DETO  DINO  EFMO  ELMA  FIIS
     GATE  GETT  GLAC  GLBA  GRBA  GRCA
     GRPO  GRTE  GUMO  HAFE  INDU  ISRO
     JOFL  KOVA  LABE  MANA  MORR  MORA
     MEVE  NAVA  NACA  NOCA  OLYM  PIRO
     ROMO  ROVA  SAGA  SAJU  SARA  SEKI
     SHEN  SLBE  SUCR  THRO  VOYA  WACA
     WRST  YELL  YOSE  ZION


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 : 
   K003  Silver fir-Douglas-fir forest
   K005  Mixed conifer forest
   K007  Red fir forest
   K008  Lodgepole pine-subalpine forest
   K011  Western ponderosa forest
   K012  Douglas-fir forest
   K013  Cedar-hemlock-pine forest
   K014  Grand fir-Douglas-fir forest
   K015  Western spruce-fir forest
   K016  Eastern ponderosa forest
   K017  Black Hills pine forest
   K018  Pine-Douglas-fir forest
   K019  Arizona pine forest 
   K020  Spruce-fir-Douglas-fir forest
   K021  Southwestern spruce-fir forest
   K022  Great Basin pine forest
   K023  Juniper-pinyon woodland
   K024  Juniper steppe woodland
   K029  California mixed evergreen forest
   K037  Mountain-mahogany-oak scrub
   K038  Great Basin sagebrush
   K055  Sagebrush steppe
   K095  Great Lakes pine forest
   K096  Northeastern spruce-fir forest
   K098  Northern floodplain forest
   K100  Oak-hickory forest
   K101  Elm-ash forest
   K106  Northern hardwoods
   K107  Northern hardwoods-fir forest
   K108  Northern hardwoods-spruce forest


SAF COVER TYPES : 
     1  Jack pine
     5  Balsam fir
    12  Black spruce
    13  Black spruce-tamarack
    15  Red pine
    16  Aspen
    18  Paper birch
    19  Gray birch-red maple
    20  White pine-northern red oak-red maple
    21  Eastern white pine
    25  Sugar maple-beech-yellow birch
    26  Sugar maple-basswood
    27  Sugar maple
    28  Black cherry-maple
    30  Red spruce-yellow birch
    31  Red spruce-sugar maple-beech
    32  Red spruce
    33  Red spruce-balsam fir
    35  Paper birch-red spruce-balsam fir
    37  Northern white-cedar
    38  Tamarack
    39  Black ash-American elm-red maple
    42  Bur oak
    51  White pine-chestnut oak
    55  Northern red oak
    60  Beech-sugar maple
    63  Cottonwood
   107  White spruce
   108  Red maple
   201  White spruce
   202  White spruce-paper birch
   203  Balsam poplar
   204  Black spruce
   205  Mountain hemlock
   206  Engelmann spruce-subalpine fir
   207  Red fir
   208  Whitebark pine
   209  Bristlecone pine
   210  Interior Douglas-fir
   211  White fir
   212  Western larch
   213  Grand fir
   215  Western white pine
   216  Blue spruce
   217  Aspen
   218  Lodgepole pine
   219  Limber pine
   220  Rocky Mountain juniper
   238  Western juniper
   239  Pinyon-juniper
   252  Paper birch
   256  California mixed subalpine


SRM (RANGELAND) COVER TYPES : 
   105  Antelope bitterbrush-Idaho fescue
   107  Western juniper/big sagebrush/bluebunch wheatgrass
   318  Bitterbrush-Idaho fescue
   401  Basin big sagebrush
   402  Mountain big sagebrush
   403  Wyoming big sagebrush
   411  Aspen woodland
   412  Juniper-pinyon woodland
   413  Gambel oak
   420  Snowbush
   421  Chokecherry-serviceberry-rose
   422  Riparian
   509  Transition between oak-juniper woodland and mahogany-oak association
   920  White spruce-paper birch


HABITAT TYPES AND PLANT COMMUNITIES : 
Quaking aspen is a major cover type in North America.  In Minnesota,
Wisconsin, and Utah, quaking aspen occupies more land than any other
forest type.  Quaking aspen also occurs in a large number of other
forest cover types over its extensive range.  It is common in spruce-fir
(Picea-Abies spp.) types of the Great Lakes States and central Canada
and in mixed northern hardwoods.  Mixed jack pine (Pinus banksiana) and
quaking aspen occur on the Precambrain shield in Canada and Minnesota.
In the Rocky Mountains, quaking aspen groves are scattered throughout
Engelmann spruce-subalpine fir (Picea engelmannii-A. lasiocarpa)
forests.  Quaking aspen is common in mixed conifer forests of New
Mexico, Arizona, and California.  At its lower altitudinal limit in the
western United States, quaking aspen is associated with scrub oaks
(Quercus spp.) or sagebrush (Artemisia spp.).  Prostrate quaking aspen
occur above timberline [125].  Throughout its range, quaking aspen
occurs in mid- to upper riparian zones [56,123].

Quaking aspen is listed as a dominant species in over 100 habitat, plant
community, and vegetation typings.  A comprehensive list of these
publications can be obtained by using the Citation Retrieval System
(CRS).  In CRS, a combination search using the keywords POPTRE and HTS
(Populus tremuloides and habitat types), and a second search using the
keywords POPTRE and COMM TYPES (P. tremuloides and community types),
will produce a list of habitat, plant community, and vegetation typings
describing quaking aspen as a dominant species.  The search can be
narrowed by including the keyword for the state or administrative unit
of interest (e.g., search:  POPTRE and HTS and CO).

Associated shrub species:  East - Shrub species commonly associated with
quaking aspen in the East include beaked hazel (Corylus cornuta),
American hazel (C. americana), mountain maple (Acer spicatum), speckled
alder (Alnus rugosa), American green alder (A. viridis spp. crispa),
dwarf bush-honeysuckle (Diervilla lonicera), raspberries and
blackberries (Rubus spp.), willows (Salix spp.), and gooseberries (Ribes
spp.).

Great Plains - Additional species occurring with quaking aspen in the
prairie provinces inclued snowberry (Symphoriocarpos spp.), highbush
cranberry (Viburnum edule), limber honeysuckle (Lonicera dioica),
red-osier dogwood (Cornus sericea), western serviceberry (Amelanchier
alnifolia), chokecherry (Prunus virginiana), Bebb willow (Salix
bebbiana), and roses (Rosa spp.).

Alaska - Bebb willow and roses are also associated with quaking aspen in
Alaska.  Other common shrub associates are Scouler willow (S.
scouleriana), bearberry (Arctstaphylos uva-ursi), mountain cranberry
(Vaccinium vitis-idaea), and highbush cranberry.

Rocky Mountains - Mountain snowberry (Symphoriocarpos oreophilus),
western serviceberry, chokecherry, common juniper (Juniperus communis),
Oregon-grape (Berberis repens), Wood's rose (R. woodsii), myrtle
pachistima (Pachistima myrsinites), redberry elder (Sambucus pubens),
and a number of Ribes species are associated with quaking aspen in the
Rocky Mountains [123].

Pacific Northwest - In valleys west of the Cascades in Oregon and
Washington, quaking aspen alternates dominance with Douglas hawthorn
(Crataegus douglasii).  Quaking aspen grows through the Douglas hawthorn
overstory, resulting in reduced vigor of Douglas hawthorn.  Quaking
aspen eventually dies back, releasing Douglas hawthorn in the understory
[56].

Associated herbaceous species:  East - Herbs commonly found in the
understory of quaking aspen in the East include largeleaf aster (Aster
macrophyllus), wild sarsaparilla (Aralia nudicaulis), Canada beadruby
(Maianthemum canadense), bunchberry (Cornus canadensis), yellow beadlily
(Clintonia borealis), roughleaf ricegrass (Oryzopsis asperifolia),
sweet-scented bedstraw (Galium triflorum), sweetfern (Comptonia
perigrina), lady fern (Athyrium filix-femina), bracken fern (Pteridium
aquilinum), sedges (Carex spp.), and goldenrods (Solidago spp.).

West - The herbaceous component of quaking aspen communities in the West
is too diverse to list.  Forbs dominate most sites [123].

Related categories for Species: Populus tremuloides | Quaking Aspen