Name:
Sarcocornia perennis - (Distichlis spicata, Spartina alterniflora) Tidal Dwarf-shrubland Alliance
Reference:
Eastern Ecology Working Group of...
Description:
Tidally flooded hypersaline flats or very shallow depressions, dominated by halophytic herbs, including Sarcocornia perennis, Salicornia bigelovii, Salicornia virginica, Distichlis spicata, and stunted Spartina alterniflora. Total vegetative cover is quite variable in pannes, from near total absence of vascular plants to a dense cover of Salicornia bigelovii, Salicornia virginica, Sarcocornia perennis, or Spartina alterniflora. Limonium carolinianum is another common associate. In the southern portions of its distribution, Monanthochloe littoralis and Batis maritima can be major components. Algal mats are characteristically present, visible even in densely vegetated pannes. Blue-green algae are an important component of this community, in some cases contributing significantly more biomass than do vascular species. The following algae were noted to occur in association with Spartina alterniflora in the littoral zone of a Massachusetts salt marsh: Oscillitoria subuliforms, Oscillitoria amphibia, Lyngbea spp., Microcoleus chthonoplastes, Nodularia harveyana, Hydrocoleum lyngbyaceum, Symploca spp. (Webber 1967). Diagnostic species are Salicornia bigelovii, Salicornia virginica, and Sarcocornia perennis. Vegetation of this alliance tends to develop in shallow depressions within high salt marshes where drainage is poor. The depressions are flooded by high tides but as the water evaporates during low tide the salinity concentration increases forming 'salt pannes.' Formation of the pannes may result from ice scouring, rafting flotsam, peat compaction, or by mosquito ditch levees which create small impoundments. This community is regularly to irregularly flooded by nearby brackish water. Bare peat and/or mucky soils are prevalent (up to 85% bare soils), and standing water covers this community at high tide.
Accession Code:
VB.CC.28259.SARCOCORNIAPERE
Plot-observations of this Community Concept:
0
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