Name:
Schoenoplectus robustus - Zizaniopsis miliacea - Typha spp. - Spartina bakeri Herbaceous Vegetation
Reference:
Southeastern Ecology Working Gro...
Description:
This community consists of marshes in former rice field impoundments, now managed (with manipulation of hydrology and burning) for wildlife, especially waterfowl. <i>Schoenoplectus robustus (= Scirpus robustus), Zizaniopsis miliacea, Typha angustifolia, Typha latifolia, Typha domingensis, Spartina bakeri, Spartina cynosuroides, Juncus effusus, Cladium mariscus ssp. jamaicense, Spartina patens, Setaria magna, Carex hyalinolepis, Nuphar advena (= Nuphar lutea ssp. advena)</i>, and <i>Polygonum</i> spp. (section Persicaria) are typical species and can occur in admixtures, or dominate in monospecific stands or zones. In particular, <i>Zizaniopsis miliacea, Schoenoplectus robustus, Typha</i> spp., <i>Spartina cynosuroides</i>, and <i>Spartina bakeri</i> can dominate large areas, and it may prove useful to recognize these different dominance patterns as subassociations, phases, or variants. Water is 'taken off' these areas on an annual or biennial basis to allow burning or mowing, and then 'put back on' to allow feeding by waterfowl. Some of the areas in this association were formerly freshwater tidal marshes, while most areas were probably non-tidal and tidal swamp forests, cleared by slave labor in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Areas placed in this association are not affected by tidal inundation and in some cases never had tidal hydrology. This association includes many thousands of acres in the Low Country of South Carolina; however, the diking and water-control structures of most former rice fields have now become decrepit, and their condition does not allow the hydrologic manipulation and management required to maintain this community.
Accession Code:
VB.CC.35057.CEGL007852
Plot-observations of this Community Concept:
0
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