Vegetation Database of Québec (MRNF)

Abstract

An ecological forest inventory was conducted from 1986 to 2000 in the portion of the Quebec province south of the 52nd parallel. The resulting database contains data from 28,425 ecological releves located throughout the different bioclimatic domains of Quebec. For each releve, information was gathered on both the vegetation composition and physical environment. Vegetation composition is described by several variables including tree species composition, floristic composition and species cover of different height strata for woody vascular plants as well as cover of herbaceous vascular plants, bryophytes and lichens. Variables describing the physical environment include altitude, slope inclination and aspect, microrelief, bedrock geology and surficial deposit, drainage, humus type, stoniness and soil texture. Data from these releves form the basic structure underlying the hierarchal ecological classification system of the Ministere des Ressources naturelles et de la Faune (MRNF). The data was also used to develop ecological classification field guides specific to each of the province’s ecological regions, providing detailed ecological knowledge to forest managers throughout the province. Finally, data from ecological releves were used to develop Canadian National Vegetation Classifications (CNVC) vegetation associations. This report describes the available content in the Vegetation Database of Quebec (MRNF) (GIVD ID NA-CA-002).