The barren habitat is a rocky heathland with dwarf shrub and lichen vegetation that occurs in Nova Scotia along the Atlantic Coast as well as inland. Barrens are essentially impoverished habitats with low nutrient availability and low floral diversity, offering a comparatively small number of niches.

The extensive barrens of southwest Nova Scotia show evidence of repeated burning; fire strips humus from the soil and favours the development of lichen dominated barrens. Harsh climatic conditions are the greatest influence on some of the Cape Breton high altitude barrens and coastal barrens on exposed headlands. The barrens around Peggy's Cove are dominated by huge granite boulders, erratics left by the glaciers.

This Document Includes:

Formation
Physical Aspects
Ecosystem
Successional Sequence
Plants
Animals
Special Features
Distribution in Nova Scotia

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Additional Keywords:
hardpan, ortstein, Black Spruce, Reindeer Moss, Cladonia spp., Crowberry, Sheep-Laurel, Rhododendron, Blueberry, Labrador Tea, Huckleberry, Bearberry, Larch, pines, Balsam Fir, pyralid moths, American Toad, Northern Redbelly Snake, Maritime Garter Snake, Nashville Warbler, Common Yellowthroat, Leach's Petrel, Cinerous Shrew, Meadow Vole, Moose, Black Bear, hummock development, krummholz, polygonal patterns, lichens

Associated Topics:

T10.2 Successional Trends in Vegetation
T10.4 Plant Communities in Nova Scotia
T10.5 Seed-bearing Plants
T10.11 Lichens
T11.9 Carnivores

Associated Habitats:

H4.1 Bog