Shrub Habitat

Shrublands flourish in ecosystems as diverse as deserts and temperate rainforest.

Shrub refers not to a taxonomic grouping of plants but rather a structural form. Indeed, many trees grow in the stature of shrubs depending on their environment. Shrubs are major constituents of a number of ecological landscapes.

Riparian Zones

Alders often grow in shrub and small-tree form along rivers and streams.

Shrubs often mark watercourses, favoring the moist, sometimes waterlogged zone along streams. Common riparian shrubs in North America include willows and alders.

Montane Shrublands

In semi-arid country, hardy shrubs may form in transition landscapes between lower grasslands or desert and higher montane forests. In highlands of the Columbia Plateau, shrubs like black hawthorn and mountain mahogany prosper in rocky foothills.

Steppe and Desert

Shrub-steppe covers much of the Intermountain West of North America.

Many kinds of shrubs are well adapted to water-stressed plains and deserts. Sagebrush flourishes on the steppes of the Intermountain West, while creosote bush is one of the most widely distributed shrubs of the Sonoran Desert.

Forest Understory

Shrubs able to contend with more limited light also are common in forests and woodlands. In many parts of North America, various kinds of berry shrubs, such as blackberry, huckleberry and thimbleberry, are major parts of the understory layer.

Successional Landscapes

Shrubs are often opportunistic species, colonizing habitat newly disturbed by fire, storm or human activity. Oldfields in North America frequently convert to shrublands before young forest develops.

References

• "Western Forests"; S. Whitney; 1998
• Northwest Habitat Institute: Wildlife-Habitat Types
• Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum: Sonoran Desert Region
• "Grasslands"; L. Brown; 1998

Resources

• Mojave Desert: Alpine Dwarf-Shrub Habitat
• NASA Earth Observatory: Shrubland