Name:
Arundinaria tecta Wet Shrubland Alliance
Reference:
NatureServe Biotics 2019
Description:
This alliance includes dense stands of <i>Arundinaria tecta</i>, either without an overstory, or with scattered <i>Pinus serotina, Nyssa biflora</i>, or <i>Liriodendron tulipifera</i>. Physiognomy and structure vary with fire-return interval. In areas that burn every 3-5 years, the vegetation will be very dominated by <i>Arundinaria tecta</i>, perhaps with scattered <i>Pinus serotina</i>. Cover of pocosin shrubs, such as <i>Cyrilla racemiflora, Ilex coriacea, Ilex glabra, Lyonia ligustrina var. foliosiflora, Lyonia lucida, Magnolia virginiana, Aronia arbutifolia, Zenobia pulverulenta</i>, and the tree <i>Acer rubrum var. trilobum</i> increases with lack of fire. Without fire for greater than 15 years, these species will overtake the <i>Arundinaria tecta</i>. Vegetation of this alliance is found in peat wetlands, including pocosins, coastal plain peat domes, along stream flats, or on saturated slopes of the Southeastern Coastal Plain. This alliance occurs on shallow organic soils (10-100 cm deep), in areas which burn every 3-12 or more years. Typically it is found around the periphery of deep peat deposits where peat feathers out onto mineral soil, in peat-filled depressions and sloughs in pine barrens, or on upland flats where drainage is poor enough to permit accumulation of an organic layer deep enough to support the <i>Arundinaria tecta</i> rhizome mat. It is likely that the soil is saturated throughout most of the winter and spring, and probably dries out in the summer and fall. Organic matter depth, fire frequency, and nutrient availability are the primary factors controlling vegetation structure and composition in this vegetation. This alliance is thought to have been common in presettlement times, existing as large, open tracts. Most of the presettlement acreage has succeeded to pocosin vegetation because of fire exclusion or has been drained and cleared for agriculture.
Accession Code:
urn:lsid:vegbank.org:commConcept:38106-{33F759A3-0141-49BF-BDCF-1352389BF428}
Plot-observations of this Community Concept:
0
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