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The Rocky Mountains subalpine zone is the biotic zone
Life zone

The Life Zone concept was developed by Clinton Hart Merriam in 1889 as a means of describing areas with similar plant and animal communities. Merriam observed that the changes in these communities with an increase in latitude at a constant elevation are similar to the changes seen with an increase in elevation at a constant latitude....
 immediately below tree line in the Rocky Mountains
Rocky Mountains

The Rocky Mountains, often called the Rockies, are a mountain range in western North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch more than 4,800 kilometre from the northernmost part of British Columbia, in Canada, to New Mexico, in the United States....
 of North America
North America

North America is the northern continent of the Americas, situated in the Earth's northern hemisphere and almost totally in the western hemisphere....
. In Colorado
Colorado

The State of Colorado is a U.S. state located in the Mountain States of the United States of America. Colorado may also be considered to be a part of the Western United States and Southwestern United States regions of the United States....
, the subalpine zone occupies elevations approximately from ; while in northern Alberta
Alberta

Alberta is one of Canada Canadian Prairies Provinces and territories of Canada. It became a province on September 1, 1905.Alberta is located in western Canada, bounded by the provinces of British Columbia to the west and Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Territories to the north, and the U.S....
, the subalpine zone extends from .

he North American Rocky Mountains
Rocky Mountains

The Rocky Mountains, often called the Rockies, are a mountain range in western North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch more than 4,800 kilometre from the northernmost part of British Columbia, in Canada, to New Mexico, in the United States....
, the region is characterized by a concentration of Subalpine Fir
Subalpine Fir

The Subalpine Fir or Rocky Mountain Fir is a western North American fir, native to the mountains of Yukon, British Columbia and western Alberta in Canada; southeastern Alaska, Washington, Oregon, Idaho, western Montana, Wyoming, Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, northeastern Nevada, and the Trinity Alps in northwestern California in...
 and Engelmann Spruce
Engelmann Spruce

Picea engelmannii is a species of spruce native to western North America, from central British Columbia and southwest Alberta, southwest to northern California and southeast to Arizona and New Mexico; there are also two isolated populations in northern Mexico....
 and generally the exclusion of trees found more commonly at lower elevations such as Aspen
Aspen

Aspens are trees of the Salicaceae family and comprise a section of the poplar genus, Populus sect. Populus. There are six species in the section, one of them atypical, and one hybrid:...
, Ponderosa pine
Ponderosa Pine

Ponderosa Pine , sometimes called Bull Pine or Western Yellow Pine, is a widespread and variable pine native to western North America....
 and Lodgepole Pine
Lodgepole Pine

Lodgepole Pine is a common tree in western North America. Like all pines, it is evergreen.There are three subspecies, one of them with two Variety ....
.






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Subalpine Rockies
The Rocky Mountains subalpine zone is the biotic zone
Life zone

The Life Zone concept was developed by Clinton Hart Merriam in 1889 as a means of describing areas with similar plant and animal communities. Merriam observed that the changes in these communities with an increase in latitude at a constant elevation are similar to the changes seen with an increase in elevation at a constant latitude....
 immediately below tree line in the Rocky Mountains
Rocky Mountains

The Rocky Mountains, often called the Rockies, are a mountain range in western North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch more than 4,800 kilometre from the northernmost part of British Columbia, in Canada, to New Mexico, in the United States....
 of North America
North America

North America is the northern continent of the Americas, situated in the Earth's northern hemisphere and almost totally in the western hemisphere....
. In Colorado
Colorado

The State of Colorado is a U.S. state located in the Mountain States of the United States of America. Colorado may also be considered to be a part of the Western United States and Southwestern United States regions of the United States....
, the subalpine zone occupies elevations approximately from ; while in northern Alberta
Alberta

Alberta is one of Canada Canadian Prairies Provinces and territories of Canada. It became a province on September 1, 1905.Alberta is located in western Canada, bounded by the provinces of British Columbia to the west and Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Territories to the north, and the U.S....
, the subalpine zone extends from .

Flora and fauna

In the North American Rocky Mountains
Rocky Mountains

The Rocky Mountains, often called the Rockies, are a mountain range in western North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch more than 4,800 kilometre from the northernmost part of British Columbia, in Canada, to New Mexico, in the United States....
, the region is characterized by a concentration of Subalpine Fir
Subalpine Fir

The Subalpine Fir or Rocky Mountain Fir is a western North American fir, native to the mountains of Yukon, British Columbia and western Alberta in Canada; southeastern Alaska, Washington, Oregon, Idaho, western Montana, Wyoming, Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, northeastern Nevada, and the Trinity Alps in northwestern California in...
 and Engelmann Spruce
Engelmann Spruce

Picea engelmannii is a species of spruce native to western North America, from central British Columbia and southwest Alberta, southwest to northern California and southeast to Arizona and New Mexico; there are also two isolated populations in northern Mexico....
 and generally the exclusion of trees found more commonly at lower elevations such as Aspen
Aspen

Aspens are trees of the Salicaceae family and comprise a section of the poplar genus, Populus sect. Populus. There are six species in the section, one of them atypical, and one hybrid:...
, Ponderosa pine
Ponderosa Pine

Ponderosa Pine , sometimes called Bull Pine or Western Yellow Pine, is a widespread and variable pine native to western North America....
 and Lodgepole Pine
Lodgepole Pine

Lodgepole Pine is a common tree in western North America. Like all pines, it is evergreen.There are three subspecies, one of them with two Variety ....
. In other areas, Engelmann Spruce and Subalpine Fir mix with or give way to various pines, such as Whitebark Pine
Whitebark Pine

The Whitebark Pine occurs in the mountains of the Western United States and Canada, specifically the subalpine areas of the Sierra Nevada , the Cascade Range, the Pacific Coast Ranges, and the northern Rocky Mountains ....
 and Bristlecone Pine
Bristlecone pine

The bristlecone pines are a small group of pine trees that are thought to reach an age far greater than that of any other single living organism known, up to nearly 5,000 years....
, other firs such as Douglas-fir
Douglas-fir

Douglas-fir is the English name applied in common to evergreen Pinophyta trees of the genus Pseudotsuga in the family Pinaceae. There are five species, two in western North America, one in Mexico, and two in eastern Asia....
 and Silver Fir
Silver Fir

Silver Fir or European Silver Fir is a fir native to the mountains of Europe, from the Pyrenees north to Normandy, east to the Alps and the Carpathian Mountains, and south to southern Italy and northern Serbia, where it intergrades with the closely related Bulgarian Fir....
, and various juniper
Juniper

Junipers are coniferous plants in the genus Juniperus of the cypress family Cupressaceae. Depending on taxonomic viewpoint, there are between 50-67 species of juniper, widely distributed throughout the northern hemisphere, from the Arctic, south to tropical Africa in the Old World, and to the mountains of Central America....
s and other hardy species.

Previously-burned areas may contain varying amounts, or even almost pure stands, of lodgepole pine
Lodgepole Pine

Lodgepole Pine is a common tree in western North America. Like all pines, it is evergreen.There are three subspecies, one of them with two Variety ....
. Ground cover in a previously-burned forest area often includes two species of huckleberry
Huckleberry

Huckleberry may refer to:*Huckleberry plants from the family Ericaceae*Red Huckleberry *Garden huckleberry ...
. Limber pine
Limber Pine

The Limber Pine is a species of pine tree that occurs in the mountains of the Western United States and Canada, specifically the subalpine areas of the Rocky Mountains from southwest Alberta south to the Mexico border; the Great Basin mountains of Nevada and Utah; and the White Mountains , the east slope of the Sierra Nevada and the San...
, with flexible twigs and needles in groups of five, may also be a part of subalpine forests. In high, windblown areas, limber pines often grow into grotesque shapes.

Due to harsh winters and a relative dearth of food sources, the subalpine harbors limited native animal species. While bear
Bear

Bears are mammals of the family Ursidae. Bears are classified as caniforms, or doglike carnivorans, with the pinnipeds being their closest living relatives....
s and the Cougar visit the subalpine, lynx
Lynx

A lynx is any of four medium-sized wild Felidae. All are members of the genus Lynx, but there is considerable confusion about the best way to classify felids at present, and some authorities classify them as part of the genus Felis....
, the Snowshoe Hare
Snowshoe Hare

The Snowshoe Hare , also called the Varying Hare, is a species of hare found in North America. It has the name "snowshoe" because of the large size of its hind feet and the marks its tail leaves....
, the American Marten
American Marten

The American marten is a North American member of the Mustelidae family, sometimes referred to as the Pine Marten. The term Pine Marten is also used to refer to a separate Martes species from Europe....
 and various squirrel
Squirrel

File:Eichh?rnchen D?sseldorf Hofgarten edit.jpgA squirrel is one of many small or medium-sized rodents in the family Sciuridae. In the English language-speaking world, squirrel commonly refers to members of this family's genus Sciurus and Tamiasciurus, which are tree squirrels with large bushy tails, indigenous to Asia, the America...
s are among the few important native furred mammals. A few birds, such as the Mountain Chickadee
Mountain Chickadee

The Mountain Chickadee is a small songbird, a passerine bird in the titmouse family Paridae. Often, it is still placed in the genus Parus with most other tits, but mtDNA cytochrome b DNA sequence data and morphology suggest that separating Poecile more adequately expresses these birds' relationships ....
 and Steller's Jay
Steller's Jay

The Steller's Jay is a jay native to western North America, closely related to the Blue Jay found in the rest of the continent, but with a black head and upper body....
 are commonly seen and heard in Rocky Mountain subalpine regions, with others such as owl
Owl

The Strigiformes are an order of bird of prey, comprising 200 species. Most are solitary, and Nocturnal animal, with some exceptions . Owls mostly hunt small mammals, insects, and other birds, though a few species specialize in hunting fish....
s, nuthatch
Nuthatch

The nuthatches are a genus, Sitta, of small passerine birds belonging to the family Sittidae. Characterised by large heads, short tails, and powerful bills and feet, nuthatches advertise their territory using loud, simple songs....
es and certain finch
Finch

Finches are passerine birds, often seed-eating, found mainly in the northern hemisphere and Africa. One subfamily is endemic to the Neotropics. The family scientific name Fringillidae comes from the Latin word "fringilla", meaning chaffinch, a member of this family that is common in Europe....
es less obvious.

Climate

The climate of the Rocky Mountains subalpine zone is never warm, with summer highs reaching on only the warmest days near the montane zone, and commonly failing to reach near tree line; Frost
Frost

Frost is the solid deposition of water vapor from Saturation air. It is formed when solid surfaces are cooled to below the dew point of the adjacent air....
 may occur any day of the year. Although winter low temperatures may be warmer than those in nearby lower valleys, typically staying above , prodigious snows blanket the region well into spring. Some drifts may linger into summer. Convectional precipitation, typically thunderstorm
Thunderstorm

File:FoggDam-NT.jpgA thunderstorm, also known as an electrical storm or a lightning storm, is a form of weather characterized by the presence of lightning and its effect: thunder....
s, often form rapidly and frequently drop graupel or hail
Hail

Hail is a form of Precipitation which consists of balls or irregular lumps of ice . Hailstones on Earth usually consist mostly of ice and measure between 5 and 150 millimeters in diameter, with the larger stones coming from severe thunderstorms....
. Although uncommon, hurricane-force winds may develop and cause massive destruction such as the .

See also

  • Ecoregion
    Ecoregion

    An ecoregion , sometimes called a bioregion, is an ecology and geographically defined area smaller than a "realm" or "ecozone". Ecoregions cover relatively large areas of land or water, and contain characteristic, geographically distinct assemblages of natural community and species....
  • Life zone
    Life zone

    The Life Zone concept was developed by Clinton Hart Merriam in 1889 as a means of describing areas with similar plant and animal communities. Merriam observed that the changes in these communities with an increase in latitude at a constant elevation are similar to the changes seen with an increase in elevation at a constant latitude....
  • Rocky Mountains
    Rocky Mountains

    The Rocky Mountains, often called the Rockies, are a mountain range in western North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch more than 4,800 kilometre from the northernmost part of British Columbia, in Canada, to New Mexico, in the United States....
  • Sierra Nevada subalpine zone
    Sierra Nevada subalpine zone

    The Sierra Nevada subalpine zone refers to a life zone subalpine in the Sierra Nevada mountain range of California, United States. This zoneis positioned between the upper montane zone at its lower limit, and tree line at its upper limit....