A comparison of microhabitats in coniferous swamps of Carex disperma and Carex leptalea: Who takes the high road?

Abstract

In this paper I am concerned with the relative locations and types of micro-habitats in which I found Carex disperma and C. leptalea growing. I will describe places that I have seen them growing and discuss possible reasons why they grow in these juxtapositions. I observed C. disperma and C. leptalea growing primarily in coniferous swamps of which the most abundant species of conifer was Thuja occidentalis; they were mucky areas with wet soil and pockets of standing water. The canopy of most sites was dense, with some sunny ""holes."" In total, I recorded observations made at 6 sites. The following are brief descriptions of the 6 sites I observed with C. disperma and C. leptalea. ...To summarize, I found that C. disperma grew on higher, larger, flat hummocks, nearer to tree bases, and was never seen growing in standing water, yet C. leptalea grew on uneven, small, low hummocks closer to standing water, with the only exception to this at site IV, near White River. I saw that C. disperma grew in shady areas most of the time, often the only species there, and when I saw it in full sun it was never the dominant species. I observed that C. disperma was associated with tree bases, but usually grew alone, while C. leptalea was more often associated with C. trisperma and sphagnum.