Name:
Schizachyrium scoparium - Panicum virgatum - Andropogon glomeratus Patch Prairie Group
Reference:
NatureServe Biotics 2019
Description:
This vegetation group encompasses the medium-scale grassland, "barrens" and prairie-like vegetation of the inner coastal plains of the southeastern United States, including the Atlantic and Gulf coastal plains from Georgia to Texas, and a specific portion of the Mississippi River Alluvial Plain of Arkansas. These communities are dominated by perennial grasses, with some scattered trees and shrubs, particularly in examples which have not experienced recent disturbance. The most extensive and noteworthy examples are known from specific areas where particular substrates or edaphic conditions favor the development and maintenance of this grassland vegetation. This includes the chalky Cretaceous "Black Belt" of Alabama and Mississippi (and related areas in Georgia), calcareous or saline clay-influenced areas of the Gulf coastal plains of Louisiana and Texas, and silty or loess-influenced plains of western Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Mississippi. These are all Cretaceous and younger substrates, in contrast to prairie-like vegetation on soils developed from older (e.g., Mississippian) limestones in the Interior Low Plateau. In the presettlement landscape and throughout the nineteenth century, the combination of grazing (first by native ungulates and then by free-ranging cattle into the mid-twentieth century) and fire (from lightning and/or Native Americans), combined with the unusual edaphic conditions, kept these areas relatively free of woody vegetation. High-quality examples would support a dense herbaceous layer dominated by tall grasses such as <i>Schizachyrium scoparium</i> and <i>Sorghastrum nutans</i>, but many stands currently suffer from a lack of disturbance which inhibits woody plant succession. With range enclosure and an increasing lack of fire during the twentieth century, the dynamics of the landscape have changed, and the coverage of fire-intolerant woody species has increased. The grassland vegetation is now reduced to patches, or its flora persists in pastures which are under more continuous grazing pressure than would have occurred under the former processes and disturbance regime. Other frequent graminoid taxa include <i>Andropogon glomeratus, Andropogon virginicus, Bouteloua curtipendula, Carex cherokeensis</i>, and <i>Paspalum floridanum</i>. In depressions and drainages, <i>Andropogon gerardii</i> and/or <i>Panicum virgatum</i> will have greater importance and <i>Tripsacum dactyloides</i> may be present. At this more mesic end of the continuum, invasion by woody plants is an even more serious threat.
Accession Code:
urn:lsid:vegbank.org:commConcept:39978-{C7817A7D-DB7D-4012-94EA-3FC5C971447D}
Plot-observations of this Community Concept:
0
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