Meadows and Related Marshes
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Marshes are those wetlands dominated by herbaceous vegetation—primarily grasses, sedges, rushes, cat-tails, etc.—growing in soils more or less permanently waterlogged or at state of saturation (ie. soils with water above field capacity most of the time). Vegetation growing on land covered with water permanently not periodically. Vegetation is climax at climatic time-scale; it is the potential natural wetland vegetation that is in dynamic equilibrium with the determinative factor(s) of habitat be it climate, soils, fire, flood, etc. Marshes have traditionally been divided into two or three categories based on salinity of water:
These categories or general kinds of marshes include several distinctive wetlands with such freshwater marshes as everglades, tule marshes, and borders of oxbow lakes and such saltwater marshes as smooth cordgrass all along the Gulf and Atlantic Coasts or tidal marshes in bays. Meadows shown as range cover types are those that conform with definition (2) of the Society for Range Management (Kothmann, 1974; Jacoby, 1989):
These are of two major or fundamental types:
Meadows are defined as more or less natural (comprised of native species) kinds of vegetation (or biotic communities if animals included) or ecosystems irrespective of the use made of them. In other words, as used herein meadows are like grasslands, deserts, forests, tundra, etc. They are biomes (of admittedly small spatial scale) delimited by the predominant growth or life form of vegetation. Meadows, grasslands, savannas, etc. are not —as is range by contrast— a kind of land based on it’s use (eg. any vegetation is by definition range only when it is subject to grazing or browsing). Meadows are meadows whether or not they are grazed or mowed for hay. Meadows become range (rangeland cover types) when used for grazing (or mowing). SRM definition (1) of meadow specified a primary use “for hay production” (ie. hay meadows). Many meadows represented by the vegetation displayed herein do qualify under both definitions, but it is only definition (2) that is applicable as basis of natural vegetation. Otherwise tallgrass prairies used for production of prairie hay— which are hay meadows only — would be meadows. This would be misleading because hay meadows are meadows only by criteria of definition (1) (eg. bluestem prairies can only be hay meadows and they should not be confused with meadows based on soil water criteria). Marshes are some of the most valuable of all wetlands. They are also some of the productive (both ecologically as in Net Primary Productivity and agriculturally as in biomass production for hay, natural pasture, and wildlife habitat). This is especially so for waterfowl (ducks, geese, cranes, herons, plovers, swans, etc.). They are also important breeding grounds for fisheries, including as oyster beds. Marshes include wet meadows (there is not always a clear distinction between wet and dry meadows as some are intermittent or ephemeral wet meadows, especially subalpine mountain meadows). Inland wet meadows on floodplains are one extremely important sources of hay for beef cattle in the Intermountain Region. With careful and conscientious management such native meadow or tule (= bulrush) hay can be produced on flood meadows serving as prime waterfowl habitat. |
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Note on arrangement: Coastal marshes such as those in the Gulf of Mexico and along the Pacific Coast were included and dealt with in chapters deveoted to grasslands and related herbaceous vegetation associated with those marshes rather than being included in this chapter. For example, the Coastal Prairies and Marshes vegetational zone of Texas and Louisiana form an integral and inseperable unit (at both ecosystem- and landscape-scale) in which fresh, saline, brackish marshes and various types of tallgrass prairie exist as mosaics of range plant communites. These wetland range cover types were not included in the present chapter. In the same vein, playa lakes are some of the most valuable wetlands in North America. Some of these (at least some aquatic zones of them) could be regarded as marshes. These natural wetlands are, however, integral parts of the surrounding mixed (mid-grass) prairie or shortgrass plains, often at levels or degrees of integration that do not exist, say, between mountain meadows and surrounding forests. For that reason playa vegetation was included in chapters devoted to those grasslands and not in the current chapter. |
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| 1. Narrowleaf cattail (Typha angustifolia) and American bulrush (Scirpus americanus) marsh surrounded by squirrel bottlebrush and inland saltgrass, which in turn is surrounded by a zone comprised of sideoats grama and little bluestem. Historic Bents Fort to far right, Otero County, Colorado. July.FRES No. 41 (Wet Grasslands Ecosystem). K-42 (Tule Marsh) in middle of K-62 (Bluestem-Gramagrass Prairie). No SRM listing for this cover type (or for any prairie marsh type). A composite of Rush Series and Sedge Series in Plains Interior Marshland biotic community of Brown et al. (1998). Southwestern Tablelands- Piedmont Plains and Tablelands Ecoregion, 26e (Chapman et al., 2006). |
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| 2. The cat and her tail- Narrowleaf cattail in peak bloom
showing the pistillate infloresceence, "cat" (below) and staminate
inflorescence, "cat tail" (above).
Otero County, Colorado. Late June; anthesis. |
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3. "Nervous as a cat in a room full of rocking chairs"- Close-up view of the inflorescence of the narrowleaf cattail presented in the immediately preceding slide. Emphasis was on the "cat tail" portion, the male inflorescence (or male portion of the inflorescence) shown in its full length above a small part of the upper portion of the "cat", the female part of the flower cluster or the pistillate inflorescence (depending on interpretation). Typha species are interpreted as monoecious so that there are separate male and female inflorescences even though they adjoin each other on the same stalk. Smith (1977, p. 239) described this arrangement as "a tightly compacted terminal spadix". Now ain't that the cat's whiskers (or something else)? Otero County, Colorado. Late June; anthesis. |
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4. Common or broad-leaf cattail (Typha latifolia)- This is one of three Typha species (as commonly interpreted by most authors) found on wetlands of the central grasslands of North America. Along with members of the rush and sedge family (and some minor ones like the burr-reed family) cattails constitute the groups of range plants commonly known as grass-like plants. This group or category of range plants carries no official taxonomic recognition in the lexicon of Plant Systematics, but is used primarily by rangemen and foresters to designate those species of monocots which do not produce flowers with showy or conspicuous petals and yet which are not grasses. These include several orders of monocotyledons. Vascular spore-bearing plants such as the horsetails or scouring rushes (Equisetum spp.) and monocots with obvious petals (eg. the orchids) are classified as forbs by natural resource practitioners like rangemen and wildlifers. foresters. The grasses and grass-like plants are, in turn, known collectively as graminoids. Cattails are some of the most common and conspicuous species of grass-like plants on both marshes and wet microsites on grasslands across North America. Cattails grow not only in natural depressions like potholes and wet draws but also around man-made structures that impond water such as ditches, lakes, sewage lagoons, and farm and ranch ponds such as the one shown here on Kelly or Lone Oak Prairie, Craig County, Oklahoma. June. |
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5. Inflorescence of common cattail- Cattail gets its common name from its prominent flower cluster composed of distinctly separate groups of staminate and pistillate flowers. The upper structure (seen here as the gray, curved portion) of the inflorescence consist of male flowers and is called the "cattail"; the lower structure (the brown, cylindrical part) of the inflorescence is composed of female flowers known as the "cat". |
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6. Showy wetland forb- Showy milkweed (Asclepias speciosa) is a common botanical member of meadows throughout much of the Great Plains. It is one of the most widely distributed milkweeds in North America with a species range extending from the Great Plains (Texas panhandle to southern Saskewan ) and westward to the Pacific Ocean (Burrows and Tyrl, 2001, p. 129). The pretty specimen was captured in early morning light growing with narrowleaf cattail in a wetland in southwestern Colorado. Asclepias species have traditionally been divided into two groups based on width of leaf: 1) broad-leaved and 2) narrow-leaved. Showy milkweed is one of the broad-leafed species. A. speciosa is one of the many Asclepias species that can be a stock-poisoning plant under the right (or wrong) conditions. Readers were referred to Kingsbury (1964, ps. 267-271) and Burrows and Tyrl (2001, ps. 125-135). Research showed that the toxicity of milkweeds is due (at least mostly) to compounds characterized as asclepiad cardiotoxins and generically called cardenolides. Toxicity of among specific milkweed species varies considerably with potential for animal poisoning assumed to be strongly related to cardenolide content (Burrows and Tyrl, 2001, ps. 131-133). A. speciosa is intermediate in concentration of cardenolide (Table 12.1 in Burrows and Tyrl, 2001, p. 133). Otero County, Colorado. Late June; peak bloom stage. |
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7. Portion of a stand- Portion of a large population (a colony) of three square, American bulrush, or chairmaker's rush living in the shallow, channel of Rush Creek, an emphemeral stream in the High Plains. Lincoln County, Colorado.Early July, fruit-ripening stages. |
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8. Three square group- Group or cluster of floral units with ripening fruit of three square, chairmaker's rush, or American bulrush. In species in the Cyperaceae individual flowers are grouped into units of organization called spikelets. Four spikelets of Scirpus americanus were visible on the triangular-shaped shoot.of this specimen. Each flower has only one glume and can produce only one fruit, the fruit type of which is an achene. Rush Creek, Lincoln County, Colorado.Early July, fruit-ripening stages. |
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Continuum of Wet Prairie to
Marsh
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A mosaic of wetlands ranging from wet prairie to river floodplain to marsh exist in the immediate vicinity of the Salt Fork of the Arkansas River in northern Oklahoma and southern Kansas. This natural "patchwork" of various grasslands and marshes provided a good example herbaceous wetlands within the tallgrass prairie region. Marshes are not grasslands strictly speaking or in precise usage, but in the example provided here (and it was a typical situation over formerly large areas in the once-vast grassland domain of central North America) marshes and wet prairie formed an intricate, inter-related herbaceous vegetation at both landscape and ecosystem levels. These two biomes were interconnected by processes at landscape-scale (an example worthy of an undergraduate textbook in Landscape Ecology). For this reason these two general plant communities (grassland and marsh biomes) were treated simultaneously and included in this location in Range Types of North America. The tule marshes were also included under the Meadows chapter of the Grassland biome to facilitate use by students. In the Arkansas River lowland example employed below differences in salinity and moisture conditions of soil at small (local) spatial scale resulted in a small-scale mosaic of wet (and somewhat saline) tallgrass prairie, mixed prairie, and bulrush or tule marsh in amazingly close proximity to each other. Wet saline prairie and tule marsh had developed side-by-side. They constitute grassland and marsh and so were essentially of two different biomes. These two range plant communities were interconnected by processes at landscape-scale (ie. a textbook example of Landscape Ecology). The tallgrass prairie was treated under the Tallgrass (Interior-II) chapter of the Grasslands biome. |
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9. Wet Saline Prairie- Tallgrass prairie comprised of switchgrass, the dominant, and big blusestem, the associate species, surrounded and, in turn, was surrounded by more saline areas dominated by inland saltgrass (Distichlis stricta= D. spicata var. stricta) with associated species ranging from the forb, frogfruit (Lipppia lanceolata) which was the broadleaf species in foreground of this slide, to plains lovegrass (Eragrostis intermedia) to Japanese brome (Bromus japonicus) and, with much less cover, cheatgrass (B. tectorum). Both of these Bromus species are naturalized Eurasian cool-season annuals. The stand (a consociation) of switchgrass (the bottomland form; a lowland eoctype) seen in background background was shown at local scale in the next photograph. The local stand of tallgrasses (mostly switchgrass) in left foreground was on a more saline microhabitat so that grass growth and development was less and behind that of the same species on less saline soil. Clarification: It was explained in several captions below that grassland vegetation on the Arkansas River lowland that was described in this section was labeled as wet prairie or wet saline prairie and not marsh. Designation of marsh was applied only to wetlands having their land surface covered with water during most--at least during critical parts--of the plant-growing season, and typically supporting grasslike plants rather than grasses. The tule or bulrush marsh presented later provided an example of marsh vegetation. Such marshes are not tallgrass prairie (they are not grassland at all), but the example referred to was included (below) in this portion of the Tallgrass Prairie chapter because these herbaceous wetlands occur in restricted areas within the tallgrass prairie region. General floodplain (lowland) of the Salt Fork of Arkansas River. Great Salt Plains National Wildlife Refuge, Grant County, Oklahoma. June; late vernal aspect. Range plant communities of tallgrass species (mostly big bluestem and switchgrass) was FRES No. 39 (Prairie Grassland Ecosystem). K-66 (Bluestem Prairie). SRM rangeland cover type 710 (Bluestem Prairie), but situated within this range community were communities of short- and/or midgrass species, especially inland saltgrass. These latter grassland communities often covered greater area than surrounding tallgrass vegetation. There was not an SRM inland saltgrass rangeland cover type. Bluestem "Tall-Grass" Series 142.11 of Plains Grassland biotic community, 142.1 (Brown et al., 1998, p. 40). Saline Subirrigated range site. Central Great Plains- Prairie Tableland Ecoregion, 27d (Woods et al., 2005). |
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10. Standing together- Stand of tallgrass prairie, of which a bottomland ecotype of switchgrass was dominant and big bluestem was associate to local co-dominant, on higher ground of a wet prairie (floodplain of Arkansas River). This was a "photo-quadrant" of the range vegetation shown in the background of the immediately preceding photograph. Tallgrass stands like this one had developed on the higher level (elevation) land whereas lower ying local relief commonly supported consociations of inland saltgrass. Certain plant species such as plains lovegrass, Illinois bundleflower, and both japanese chess and cheatgrass (two naturalized Eurasian annual grasses) were more common in local ecotones (edges) between with these two distinct range plant communities. This extensive vegetational mosaic existed around freshwater tule (bulrush) marshes that had stands of eastern cottonwood (Populus deltoides) around their perimeters. This spatial arrangement of freshwater marshes and a "patchwork" of tallgrass wet prairie interspersed with midgrasses on the greater floodplain of the Arkansas River rproduced a landscape-scale grassland-marsh complex with interacting ecosystems. General floodplain (lowland) of the Salt Fork of Arkansas River.Great Salt Plains National Wildlife Refuge, Grant County, Oklahoma. June; late vernal aspect. Range plant communities of tallgrass species (mostly big bluestem and switchgrass) was FRES No. 39 (Prairie Grassland Ecosystem). K-66 (Bluestem Prairie). SRM rangeland cover type 710 (Bluestem Prairie). Bluestem "Tall-Grass" Series 142.11 of Plains Grassland biotic community, 142.1 (Brown et al., 1998, p. 40). Saline Subirrigated range site. Central Great Plains- Prairie Tableland Ecoregion, 27d (Woods et al., 2005). |
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11. Tallgrass and midgrass; mound and swale- Two views of local stands of tallgrass wet prairie (switchgrass and big bluestem, with the former more commonly dominant) on slighted elevated ground (including mima mounds as shown here) interspersed with local, primarily single-species stands (consociations) of inland saltgrass on lower elevation land. Differences in elevation of land (soil surface) was usually just a matter of inches to a few feet even from depth of swales or "micro-valleys" to top of mima mounds, but it was sufficient to account for the profound differences in these local range plant communities. Salt content was undoubtedly a major factor in determining which of these two drastically distinct range plant communities grew on the two forms of local relief (micro-topography). Other edaphic factors were almost assuredly involved also, including greater soil depth on mjma mounds. The first photograph presented a view of this range at a camera distance that showed the overall vegetational mosaic and "lay of the land" with both mima mound and low-lying intemound spaces. The second photograph was taken at shorter camera distance and showed specifics of the local relief and corresponding range vegetation (eg. switchgrass and big bluestem on the same mima mound and inland saltgrass all around base of teh mima mound). Relatively large areas of bare soil surface were widespread and characteristic of this wet prairie range. Illinois bundleflower and plains lovegrass were locally abundant at outer edges of the stands of midgrass (mostly inland saltgrass) such as shown growing conspicuously in center and right foreground in the second slide. Western ragweeed (Ambrosia psilostachya) was an associate species on such perimeters (lower right corner of second slide). Question as to proper designation of wetland: It was not known whether this natural wetland vegetation was more precisely described as wet prairie or as salt marsh. Perhaps the tallgrass (switchgrass and big bluestem) range vegetation was wet prairie and the slightly lower elevation and more saline soil (usually a consociation of inland saltgrass) was salt marsh. This author was reluctant to label any grassland plant community as a marsh instead restricting the designation of marsh only to land inundulated with water (standing water on the land surface) for a good part of the plant-growing season (eg. the tule or bulrush marsh covered below). General floodplain (lowland) of the Salt Fork of Arkansas River. Great Salt Plains National Wildlife Refuge, Grant County, Oklahoma. June; late vernal aspect. Range plant communities of tallgrass species (mostly big bluestem and switchgrass) was FRES No. 39 (Prairie Grassland Ecosystem). K-66 (Bluestem Prairie). SRM rangeland cover type 710 (Bluestem Prairie), but situated within this range community were communities of short- and/or midgrass species, especially inland saltgrass. These latter grassland communities often covered greater area than surrounding tallgrass vegetation. There was not an SRM inland saltgrass rangeland cover type. Bluestem "Tall-Grass" Series 142.11 of Plains Grassland biotic community, 142.1 (Brown et al., 1998, p. 40). Saline Subirrigated range site. Central Great Plains- Prairie Tableland Ecoregion, 27d (Woods et al., 2005). |
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12. Salty stand- Wet saline prairie in part of the Salt Fork Arkansas River Valley that was a consociation of inland saltgrass that extended over a large area as part of a vegetational mosaic with tallgrass (switchgrass and big bluestem) prairie that developed on slightly land. A large expanse of this tallgrass plant community was in the far background of this photograph. About the only other plant species in this expansive stand of inland saltgrass was Japanese brome or Japanese chess, and it was present only as scattered individuals. Successional state of the inland saltgrass community was not known, but this worker suspected that it was climax, or at least the potential natural vegetation for which a climax might not exist if the soil in the swale (the fairly level land situated within or among mima mounds) was not a mature soil. The description of this range site in the soil survey (Soil Conservtion Service, 1985, p. 55) stated that "continued overgrazing and extreme climatic conditions" ultimately results in range deterioration to a degraded community including inland saltgrass, ragweed, and annual grasses. The pattern o f retrogression on this range site (includinga brief description of intermediate successional stages) may well be an accurate visualization of the path of range depletion, but that range site description did not--indeed, by itself, could not--explain simultaneous presence of extensive populations (single-species stands) of inland saltgrass immediately adjacent to the obvious tallgrass climaax of switchgrass and big bluestem. It appeared to this rangeman that both the tallgrass and the inland saltgrass communities were climax . Any overgrazing (it would have been in the somewhat distant past as this grassland was not being overgrazed and had not been overgrazed in recent years) would have resulted in replacement of the obvious tallgrass climax on mima mounds the same as on intermound spaces. Thus, it seemed highly unlikely that inland saltgrass was other than climax range vegetation (ie. a consociation). The key words in the range site description by agency range conservationists (Soil Conservtion Service, 1985, p. 55) were most likely "extreme climatic conditions". In more precise ecological terms these three words would be read as something like "harsh microclimate" (ie. "climatic conditions" would refer to microhabitat, microsite, or microenvironment) where much of the "extreme" nature of conditions would edaphic and/or topographic (perhaps reflecting drainage, salt accumulation, and related factors). Presence of climax (decreaser) Illinois bundleflower along with "weedy" seral forbs like western wheatgrass in stands of inland saltgrass was further evidence of the climax nature of range plant communities dominated by inland saltgrass. It was illogical to conclude that overgrazing had depleted tallgrasses and resulted in their replacement by inland saltgrass on land of level or flat microtopography while right next to this microland form tallgrass (switchgrass and big bluesetm-dominated) vegetation on mima mounds had not been impacted by grazing, or had recovered from past grazing abuse so much faster. Some other factor(s) had to be more responsible than grazing management. General floodplain (lowland) of the Salt Fork of Arkansas River. Great Salt Plains National Wildlife Refuge, Grant County, Oklahoma. June; late vernal aspect. FRES No. 41 (Wet Grasslands Ecosystem). No Kuchler or SRM designation for inland saltgrass. In Brown et al. (1998, p. 45) this would be Saltgrass Series 242.34 (if one was shown which it was not) of Plains Interior Marshland 242.3. Saline Subirrigated range site. Central Great Plains- Prairie Tableland Ecoregion, 27d (Woods et al., 2005). |
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13. Fresh water bulrush or tule marsh- General or overall views of a freshwater marsh at edge of the Arkansas River Valley (Salt Fork) existing as a consociation of tule or bulrush known variously as Americn bulrush, saltmarsh bulrush, Olney threesquare, and chairmaker's club-rush, (Scirpus olneyi= S. americanus= Schoenoplectus americanus) and with the twining forb, fogrfruit (Lipppia lanceolata), as associate species. Minor (other than locally) plant species included American water plantain (Alisma subcordatum), southern annual saltmarsh aster (Aster divaricatus= A. subulatus var. ligulatus), and Engelman's spikerush (Eleocharis engelmannii). For all practical purposes there were essentially no other plant species present in this freshwater marsh. The first of these two slides presented a wider view of the entire range plant community of the tule marsh and associated range vegetation around the perimeter from adjoining plant communities. Range communities around the margins of the marsh wer shown in the second slide. This second photograph showed a local forest of eastern cottonwood that had developed around edges of the marsh. This local forest had been invaded by the naturalized and dreadfully invasive shrub, Russian olive (Elaeagnus angustifolia), that was readily distinguished by its silvery gray-colored leaves. Edge species: in this immediate locality there were places where sedges (Carex and Cyperus spp.) and rushes (Juncus spp.) grew along perimeters of freshwater tule marshes where this range vegetation contacted wet--often saline--prairie. An example of such contacts and the resulting local-scale ecotonal (transitional) vegetation, including sedges and rushes, was shown at end of this section. Great Salt Plains National Wildlife Refuge, Grant County, Oklahoma. June; late vernal aspect. FRES No. 41 (Wet Grasslands Ecosystem). K-42-Tule Mrashes. No SRM designation of a rangeland cover type for tule marshes. In Brown et al. (1998, p. 45) this would be Bulrush Series 242.33 (if one was shown which it was not) of Plains Interior Marshland 242.3. Central Great Plains- Prairie Tableland Ecoregion, 27d (Woods et al., 2005). |
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14. Stand of chair-makers' rush ( Scirpus americanus)- The local freshwater marsh introduced in the preceding two photographs was a consociation of a major species of bulrush that has a "pasal" of both common and scientific names including Olney threesquare, chairmaker's club-rush, saltmarsh bulrush or Americn bulrush (Scirpus olneyi= S. americanus= Schoenoplectus americanus). Frogfruit was the associate--and about the only other--plant species of this marsh other than incidental (found only sporatically) species which were listed in the immediately preceding caption. It was possible that there were some infrequent plants of hardstem bulrush (Scirpus acutus= Schoenoplectus acutus), but this species could not be positively identified. Note on taxonomy of Cyperaceae including the bulrushes or tules: Radical changes in nomenclature and general taxonomic organization have been in the Cyperaceae that have created confusion, if not chaos, among all users of scientific names except for the elites who change the names and systematics. To ease the pain and facilitate study of range vegetation both the traditional and revised (ie. revolutionary) binomials were shown for this species. Detailed views of this wetland range vegetation were presented in the next two slides and caption. Grant County, Oklahoma. June; late vernal aspect. FRES No. 41 (Wet Grasslands Ecosystem). K-42-Tule Mrashes. No SRM designation of a rangeland cover type for tule marshes. In Brown et al. (1998, p. 45) this would be Bulrush Series 242.33 (if one was shown which it was not) of Plains Interior Marshland 242.3. Central Great Plains- Prairie Tableland Ecoregion, 27d (Woods et al., 2005). |
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15. Those of a freshwater marsh- Two progressively closer views of range vegetation in a freshwater marsh almost exclusively dominated by chairmakers' club-rush, chair-makers' rush, Olney threesquare, or Americn bulrush. The associate species was frogfruit (mostly visible in the second slide). Other--though only incidental--species included American water plantain, southern annual saltmarsh aster, and Engelman's spikerush. The chairmakers' or American bulrush was in early bloom stage. (An example of inflorescence and stem of this bulrush species was presented below.) Great Salt Plains National Wildlife Refuge, Grant County, Oklahoma. June; late vernal aspect. FRES No. 41 (Wet Grasslands Ecosystem). K-42-Tule Mrashes. No SRM designation of a rangeland cover type for tule marshes. In Brown et al. (1998, p. 45) this would be Bulrush Series 242.33 (if one was shown which it was not) of Plains Interior Marshland 242.3. Central Great Plains- Prairie Tableland Ecoregion, 27d (Woods et al., 2005). |
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16. Tule marsh and pond (and cows in it)- A vegetational mosaic of tallgrass (switchgrass and big bluestem-dominated) wet prairie, inland saltgrass saline prairie, and freshwater marsh dominated by (a consociation of) American bulrush or chairmakers' rush vegetation on floodplain (lowland) of the Salt Fork of Arkansas River. These three distinct range plant communities were shown and described above (in this section, entitled Continuum of Wet Prairie to Marsh). The tallgrass (switchgrass-big bluestem) wet prairie and the inland saltgrass low (saline) prairie existed in such intiricate and intimate association that they could be viewed as one general grassland (a biome) community that was distinct from the marsh (another, even if small-scale, biome). That these two (if viewed at biome-scale and distinction) or three (if viewed on basis of dominant plant species) range plant communities sometimes developed "cheek by jowl" was shown cleaerly in this photograph. In fact, a natural (not manmade) freshwater pond (with two cows) in the tule marsh was thrown in for good measure. Range vegetation in foreground was transitional (ecotonal) between tallgrass wet prairie and tule (bulrush) marsh. Major range species in this local ecotone included switchgrass (a bottomland ecotype), Torrey rush (Juncus torreyi), Ehgelmann's spike-rush, caric sedges (Carex spp.), and umbrella sedges (Cyperus spp.). Species of the latter two genera could not be identified in their current vegetative (pre-bloom) phenological stages. Grant County, Oklahoma. June; late vernal aspect. FRES No. 41 (Wet Grasslands Ecosystem). K-42-Tule Mrashes. No SRM designation of a rangeland cover type for tule marshes. In Brown et al. (1998, p. 45) this would be Bulrush Series 242.33 (if one was shown which it was not) of Plains Interior Marshland 242.3. Central Great Plains- Prairie Tableland Ecoregion, 27d (Woods et al., 2005). |
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17. Taxonomy and nomenclature: Recent (beginning primarily in 1990s) names and interpretations of phylogenetic relations in the bulrushes or tules is a bloody mess. According to the unpublished Great Salt Plains Refuge plant species list (and referencing back to published species synonyms) these species of Scirpus were on this range:. 1) chairmakers' rush, American bulrush, or three square (S. americanus), 2) salt marsh or alkali bulrush (S. paludosus= S. maritimus),and 3) soft-stem or great bulrush (S. validus). S validus was shown on the refuge list as synonyous with S. tabernaemontani which has usually been shown as synonymous with S. acutus which was generally known as a separate species with common names of hard-stem or, also, great bulrush. Thus there might be as many as four species of bulrush or tule on the range of this refuge. Finally, it was noted that all of these tule or bulrush species which were previously shown as Scirpus had been changed to Schoenoplectus. These examples of chairmakers' rush, American bulrush, or three square were from Cherry County, Nebraska. Late June (near peak biomass, some shoots at full-boom). |
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18. "Froggie Went A-Courtin'"- Frog (sometimes, fog)-fruit (Phyla lanceolata) is a member of the vervain family (Verbenaceae) that grows on a remarkably diverse array of habitats. These range environments generally seem to be locally disturbed and/or wet microsites. One seemingly inconsistent habitat was as an associate species on a tule marsh in northcentral Oklahoma at the western edge of the the tallgrass prairie region. Specimens of frog-fruit there were not as advanced as others previously photographed by the author so the latter were "transplanted" here. Either way and on both ranges, frog-fruit fared better than Froggie (or was it "Froggy"?) and Miss Mouse in the timeless ballad. Ottawa County, Oklahoma. June; full-bloom stage. |
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Marshes of the Nebraska Sandhills
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| The following section provided a representative sample of wetlands (with herbaceous and/or woody plants) that developed in the semiarid Nebraska Sandhills. |
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19. All-in-one composite view- Landscape-scale view of the Nebraska Sandhills showing the grandure of this landform with its various range types and range sites. Range in the foreground and distant background was primarily that of a Sands range site with an amazing species diversity with such major grasses as little and sand bluestems, prairie sandreed, needle-and-thread, sand lovegrass, sandhills muhly, sand dropseed, blue and sideoats gramas, and Junegrass. On this sixth full day of spring (time of photograph) and after a wet, cold late winter and spring needle-and-thread was more conspicuous--a seasonal aspect dominance--than would be the case later when the warm-season grasses (almost all other grass species on this range) reach maturity (peak herbage yield). Typically, Junegrass was present but not particularly common (frequent). The wetland in mid- to near background was a freshwater marsh of tule or bulrush species, spikerush, and common reed. Nebraska Sandhlls marsh vegetation was treated immediately below. Cherry County, Nebraska. Late June; early estival aspect. Tallgrass prairie was FRES No. 39 (Prairie Ecosystem). K-67 (Nebraska Sand Hills Prairie). SRM 602 (Bluestem- Prairie Sandreed). Bluestem "Tall-Grass" Series, 142.11 of Plains Grassland biotic community, 142.1 (Brown et al., 1998, p. 40). Freshwater marsh was FRES No. 41 (Wet Grasslands Ecosystem). K-42 (Tule Marshes). No SRM in Northern Great Plains chapter (Shiflet, 1994) for marsh. Upland tallgrass prairie was Sands range site; marsh was Wet Subirrigated to Wetland range sites (Natural Resources Conservation Service, 2005). Nebraska Sand Hills- Sand Hills Ecoregion, 44a (Chapman et al., 2001). |
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20. Lake's edge and "rings" of marsh vegetation - Wetland range vegetation at perimeter of a freshwater lake in Nebraska Sandhills. There were two major range plant communities in this marsh range both of which were local zonal communities arranged spatially as more-or-less concentric "rings" around and along the lake. The outermost concentric-patterned community was dominated by narrowleaf (= narrow-leafed or narrow-leaved) cattail (Typha angustifolia), sometimes exclusively as a consocies (seral equivalent of a consociation) and at other times growing with giant or late goldenrod (Solidago gigantea) with this latter species varying from associate to co-dominant. Inward from this was a "ring" (the innermost concentric zone) dominated (usually solely populated) by three-square (sometimes unhyphenated as threesquare) or chairmakers' rush or bulrush (Scirpus americanus= S. pungens= Schoenoplectus pungens) which was also a consocies (Clements, 1936, p. 264). These two photographs presented the focal perspective (angle of view) across the two plant communities (ie. looking into and/or directly over top of the zones of wetland vegetation). Said another way, it was a tall view across (= at roughly a right angle to) the concentric zones ("rings") of narrowleaf cattail and chairmakers' or three-square bulrush (roremost, most of foreground, and hindmost, most of background, respectively; especially so in first photograph). The perspective or view "in line" (straight) with the zones ("rings") was presented in the photograph immediately theser two slides. The"bed" (stand) of cattail and bulrush or tule could be regarded as a population (ie. a colony) or, alternatively, as a consocies. Traditionally (historically) herbaceous wetland vegetation (marshes) comprised of tule or bulrush, cattail, and/or common rees (Phragmites communis) marshes were included as part of the "reed swamp" and interpreted as seral stages along hydroseres or alternatively as subclimaxes or disturbance (by flooding) climaxes (disclimaxes) in monoclimax theory (Weaver and Clements, 1938, p. 63, 100, 454) or as an edaphic climax in polyclimax theory (Tansley, 1923, ps. 31, 33, 34, 59) though Tansley sometimes interpreted these as Clementsians consociations which implied climax (climatic climax) status. Clements (1936, p. 264) specified that the "reed-swamp" was "the univrsal example" of a special form of subclimax, the serclimax, "a seral community usually one or two stages before the subclimax". This was how "red-swamp" was described in Weaver and Clements (1938, p. 63), but without using this term of famed (or infamous) Clementsian terminology (doctrine). Cherry County, Nebraska. Late June; early estival aspect. FRES No. 41 (Wet Grasslands Ecosystem). K-42 (Tule Marshes). No SRM in Northern Great Plains chapter (Shiflet, 1994) for marsh. In Brown et al. (1998, p. 45) would be Bulrush Series 242.33 ( none was shown, but the vegetation obviously does exist) of Plains Interior Marshland 242.3. Wet Subirrigated to Wetland range sites (NRCS, 2005). Nebraska Sand Hills- Lakes Area Ecoregion, 44d (Chapman et al., 2001). |
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21. "Rings" around a marsh- Zonation of wetland vegetation around margins of a freshwater lake in the Nebraska Sandhills. Concentric zones at local scale of narrowleaf (= narrow-leafed or narrow-leaved) cattail (the outer or exterior "ring" of plant life) and three-square bulrush or chairmakers' rush (the inner or interior "ring" of plant life) that developed at different linear distances from the outer zone of a freshwater lake. This was another view of the same lake and the two prominent plant commuities of marsh vegetation introduced in the immediately preceding two photographs. There was some naturalized smooth brome as well as some plants of giant or late goldenrod in the cattail-dominated community. This photograph presented this wetland range vegetation from an "in-line" perspective, the focal view looking from the end of the zones rather than from the middle of (looking across) the "rings" of the two prominent plant communities. In other words, this photograph gave a more-or-less "end on" look or view in contrast to the "through the middle" perspective provided by the two immediately preceding photographs. Or, In farm boy parlance, this slide gave a "gander down or between the rows" whereas the two preceding photographs were "look-sees through or into the rows". Both the cattail and three or chair-makers' bulrush zones or concentric stands where the potential natural vegetation, but in the Clementsian monoclimax model they were long-persisting seral stages on a hydrosere and thus consocies rather than consociations of a climax. In the Tansian polyclimax model these two stands were edaphic (or, perhaps more precisely, hydric) climaxes. Most specifically from the interrpretation of monoclimax theory these two local, zonal, wetland plant communities were each a serclimax, "a seral community usually one or two stages before the subclimax" (Clements, 1936, p. 264). Cherry County, Nebraska. Late June; early estival aspect. FRES No. 41 (Wet Grasslands Ecosystem). K-42 (Tule Marshes). No SRM in Northern Great Plains chapter (Shiflet, 1994) for marsh. In Brown et al. (1998, p. 45) would be Bulrush Series 242.33 ( none was shown, but the vegetation obviously does exist) of Plains Interior Marshland 242.3. Wet Subirrigated to Wetland range sites (NRCS, 2005). Nebraska Sand Hills- Lakes Area Ecoregion, 44d (Chapman et al., 2001). |
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22. Stand of narrowleaf cattail- Outer edge of a zonal community, a consocies or edaphic (or hydric) climax in monoclimax or polyclimax theory, respectively, dominated by Typha angustifolia growing around a freshwater lake in theNebraska Sandhills. Late or giant goldenrod was a local associate or, sometimes, co-dominant with narrowleaf cattail. The inner zonal plant community (interior "ring" of vegetation or plant life) of this sandhills marsh was a stand (consocies or edaphic-hydric climax) of chair makers' (sometimes shown hyphenated or as one word) or three-square bulrush (=tule). Part of the stand of chair-maker's tule was visible in midground. This photograph furnished a "straight through" and/or "right across the top" view of this sandhills marsh vegetation. Cherry County, Nebraska. Late June; early estival aspect. FRES No. 41 (Wet Grasslands Ecosystem). K-42 (Tule Marshes). No SRM in Northern Great Plains chapter (Shiflet, 1994) for marsh. In Brown et al. (1998, p. 45) would be Bulrush Series 242.33 ( none was shown, but the vegetation obviously does exist) of Plains Interior Marshland 242.3. Wet Subirrigated to Wetland range sites (NRCS, 2005). Nebraska Sand Hills- Lakes Area Ecoregion, 44d (Chapman et al., 2001). |
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23. Stand of threesquare (sometimes hyphenated) or chairmakers' rush or bulrush (Scirpus americanus= S. pungens= Schoenoplectus pungens)- Stand of three-square bulrush at edge of freshwater marsh in Nebraska Sandhills. In many parts of the west another name for bulrush is tule. Three-square tule is one of the more widely distributed Scirpus species, none of which typically receive much grazing. In this stand there were many dead shoots from previous years. Some of the live shoots around this Sandhills lake had inflorescences (see next slide), but most did not. Note on "musical chairs" nomenclature: For generations the various species of bulrush or tules where designted as being in the genus, Scirpus. Recent taxaonomic treatments have split the traditional Scirpus into several genera (including Schoenoplectus). The author of Range Types has pointed out repeatedly that the older and more thorough descriptions of native vegetation used the then current binominals so that readers must confer both the older and the recent taxonomic literature in order to be scientifically "bilingual" ("tri-", "quadra-", etc.) in order to interpret the seminal (and classic) descriptive works. Cherry County, Nebraska. Late June (near peak biomass, some shoots at full-boom). |
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24. Flower cluster of threesquare or chairmakers' bulrush- An inflorescence cut from a shoot of Scirpus pungens (= S. americanus) in the stand at edge of the freshwater lake (a freshwater marsh) presented above. Wind speeds up to 60 miles per hour on this day necessitated photographing this flower cluster in a sheltered area off of the bulrush shoot. Cherry County, Nebraska. Late June (spikelets were just past anthesis). |
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25. Freshwater marsh seen from higher ground- The narrowleaf cattail-chair makers' bulrush marsh introduced and described above was shown here at a slightly higher elevation and farther distance from shore of a freshwater lake in the Nebraska Sandhills. At this upper- and outermost margin of the lake wetland there was a partial, circular zone (an irregular "ring") of marsh vegetation dominated by late or giant goldenrod. This large, herbaceous composite was an associate or, rarely, a co-dominant with narrowleaf cattail in a zone of wetland vegetation adjacent to and outward (farther from the lake shore) from an inner "circle" of three-square or chair makers' rush. Unlike the "pretty much" continuous, circular-shaped stands (consocies or edaphic-hydric climaxes) of the grasslike range plants, the wetland plant community dominated by late or giant goldenrod was disocntinuous with the cattail-dominated zone which was wider at some locations so as to either 1) force out (out-compete or "overpower") goldenrod or 2) limit this large forb to co-dominant or, more commonly, associate species status. The clumps of grass (obvious as last year's dry, weathered shoots) in the giant goldenrod-dominated zonal community was bottomland switchgrass. The zonal range vegetation along the shore of this freshwater lake (visible in midground as a dark or gray-green "fiinge" or "border" aound the lake) was chair makers' or three-square rush (bulrush). Cherry County, Nebraska. Late June; early estival aspect. FRES No. 41 (Wet Grasslands Ecosystem). K-42 (Tule Marshes). No SRM in Northern Great Plains chapter (Shiflet, 1994) for marsh. In Brown et al. (1998, p. 45) would be Bulrush Series 242.33 ( none was shown, but the vegetation obviously does exist) of Plains Interior Marshland 242.3. Wet Subirrigated to Wetland range sites (NRCS, 2005). Nebraska Sand Hills- Lakes Area Ecoregion, 44d (Chapman et al., 2001). |
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26. * "Reed-swamp" in Nebraska Sandhills- Freshwater to brackish marsh on a mosaic of range sites (Wetland through Wet Subirrigated and even some isolated spots of Subirrigated) present as a patchwork of several range plant communities. The outermost (least hydric) zone or range vegetation was dominated by common reed (Phragmites communis= P. australis). Common reed was accompanied by two species of large, rank-growing forbs. One of these forabs was giant or late goldenrod. The other big "weed" or "wild flower" could not be identified by this photographer in its vegetative stage. There were also trace quantites of naturalized smooth brome in this outermost stand of marsh vegetation. The zonal or "ring" (circle-shaped spatial pattern) or wetland vegetation interior to that of common reed was narrowleaf cattail while that which was interior to the circular stand of cattail was threesquare or chair-makers' bulrush (tule). These two zonal range plant communities were presented above where they were described and interpreted as to successional status. The interior of this marsh was somewhat to semi-saline with this brackish habitat comprised almost (essentially) of inland saltgrass. This chloridoid grass was shown in greater detail and described at various other "stops along the way" in Range Types, including above in this chapter (the section that covered wet prairie on floodplains of the Salt Fork of Arkansas River (Great Salt Plains National Wildlife Refuge). * "Reed-swamp" is a historic designation for a marsh dominated by such wetland plants as common reed (an arundinoid grass), cattail (a grasslike plant in its own family, Typhaceae), and various members of the sedge family (Cyperaceae) including bulrushes, caric sedges, umbrella sedges, and spikerushes. In modern and now standardized (more or less) classifictions of plant communities the term swamp is restricted to wetland vegetation dominated by woody plants, especially trees, whereas wetland vegetation dominated by herbaceous species, such as grasses and grasslike plants, is now precisely designated as marsh. This speificity in use of these particular terms was not a convention and nearly universal standard at time of the first (founding) generation of Anglo-American plant ecologists. F.E. Clements and his students--for all of their otherwise precise usage of ecological terms and ultra-specific, term-rich lexicon--used "swamp" as a generic term for wetland. Hence, "reed-swamp" was applied to some of the exact kinds of wetland vegetation (Clements, 1916, ps. 188, 198, 244; Clements, 1936, p. 264; Weaver and Clements, 1938, ps. 62-63, 77, 100, 404, 454) that were presented in this section on the Nebraska Sandhills.Clements' close friend and British colleague, Sir Arthur Tansley, also relied on the designation of "reed-swamp" for the same herbaceous wetland vegetation (Tansley, 1926, ps. 31, 33, 34, 59-60) as did the more recent (less dated) British plant geographer (Polunin, 1960, ps. 314, 319, 325, 326, 372, 373, 405, 461, 463, 505). Some of the genera and even species of the "reed-swamp" are nearly global in their distributions although these are typically discontinuous ranges, especially of the diffuse pattern or type (Polunin, 1960, 188). For example, common reed (various subspecies, ecotypes, or whatever of Phragmites communis)has traditionally been cited as "the most widely distribueedd vascular plant species in the world" (Polunin, 1960, p. 98). Cherry County, Nebraska. Late June; early estival aspect. FRES No. 41 (Wet Grasslands Ecosystem). K-42 (Tule Marshes). No SRM in Northern Great Plains chapter (Shiflet, 1994) for marsh. In Brown et al. (1998, p. 45) would be Bulrush Series 242.33 ( none was shown, but the vegetation obviously does exist) of Plains Interior Marshland 242.3. Wet Subirrigated to Wetland range sites (NRCS, 2005). Nebraska Sand Hills- Lakes Area Ecoregion, 44d (Chapman et al., 2001). |
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27. Another subtype, variant, or form of Nebraska Sandhills marsh- Introduced in these two slides and further shown and described in more detail in the next two-slide sets was another caattail-tule marsh that had developed in the far western extremities of the Nebraska Sandhills. This herbaceous, wetland vegetation was almost exclusively monocotyledonous in species composition, structure, and physiogonomy. General appearance of sandhills marsh range with emphasis on physiogonomy and structure of vegetation along with distinct zonation and the mosaic of wetland plant communities. The two major range plant communities of this marsh were upright communities. The tallest, linear-leaved stand of vegetation (midground in both slides) was a combination of broadleaf (alternatively, broadleaved or broadleafed; with or without hyphens) cattail (Typha latifolia), hardstem bulrush (Scirpus acutus= Schoenoplectus acutus), and softstem bulrush (Scirpus validus= S. tabernaemontani= Schoenoplectus validus= S. tabernaemontani). Some dead stalks of this cattail-bulsrush vegetation was in foreground of first photograph. The second upright plant community of this marsh was the lower-growing (with lighter-, brighter-green coloration) range vegetation in foreground of both photographs. This lower, upright community was co-dominated by broadleaf arrowhead (Sagittaria latifolia) and an of unidentified species of spikerush (Eleocharis sp.) Not visible in these photographs and present as widely scattered, small patches floating on surface of still water was common or little duckweed (Lemna minor). Species of algae were associated with duckweed. These species comprised a floating plant community that was undeveloped at this early summer season. Both of the major (the upright) wetland plant communities grew as zonal vegetation occurring as linear or beltlike stands arranged according to depth of water. The arrowhead-spikerush community was limited to environments of moist to wet mud and shallow water (one to three inch depths). The cattail-bulrush community grew in deeper water (ie. as emergents). In some local areas these upright, range plant communities occurred as continuous zones whereas in other locations they were present in an interrupted linear spatial araangement. Cherry County, Nebraska. Late June; early estival aspect. FRES No. 41 (Wet Grasslands Ecosystem). K-42 (Tule Marshes). No SRM in Northern Great Plains chapter (Shiflet, 1994) for marsh. In Brown et al. (1998, p. 45) would be Bulrush Series 242.33 ( none was shown, but the vegetation obviously does exist) of Plains Interior Marshland 242.3. Wet Subirrigated to Wetland range sites (NRCS, 2005). Nebraska Sand Hills- Sand Hills Ecoregion, 44a (Chapman et al., 2001). |
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28. Nebraska Sandhills wetland- Progressively closer views of the tall, upright marsh community (cattail-bulrush zone) in backgrounds and short, upright marsh community (arrowhead-spikerush zone) in foregrounds that were introduced in the preceding two-slide set. Little or small duckweed and algae were present to form a floating wetland community that was still relatively undevelopd and very restricted at this early summer portion of the warm-growing season. This floating plant community was not visible in these photographs. None of these plant species were flowering at time of photographs. A drought of five to six years duration had preceded this year's growth of plants. Cherry County, Nebraska. Late June; early estival aspect. FRES No. 41 (Wet Grasslands Ecosystem). K-42 (Tule Marshes). No SRM in Northern Great Plains chapter (Shiflet, 1994) for marsh. In Brown et al. (1998, p. 45) would be Bulrush Series 242.33 ( none was shown, but the vegetation obviously does exist) of Plains Interior Marshland 242.3. Wet Subirrigated to Wetland range sites (NRCS, 2005). Nebraska Sand Hills- Sand Hills Ecoregion, 44a (Chapman et al., 2001). |
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29. Marsh smack dab in Nebraska Sandhills- A general view (first photograph) followed by a close-in, detailed look (second photograph) of a broadleaf cattail-hardstem bulrush-softstem bulrush wetland plant community in a marsh at the western margin of the Nebraska Sandhills. This tall, upright, emergent zone of marsh vegetation grew in and at outer edge of deeper water whereas a zone of arrowhead-spikerush comprised a lower, upright vegetational zone limited to wet mud or land covered only with shallow water (depths of roughly one to three inches). This latter range plant community was not shown in either of these two photographs (instead refer back to immediately preceding slides). Widely scattered and small patches of little duckweed and algae that were still in early stages of seasonal development made up a floating wetland plant community in this marsh. This third--and minor at this stage of the warm-growing season--marsh community was barely discernable in the second photograph. The gently rolling dunes of a Sands range site were shown in the background of the first slide as evidence that this marsh, this range wetland, was indeed in the Nebraska Sandhills. Cherry County, Nebraska. Late June; early estival aspect. FRES No. 41 (Wet Grasslands Ecosystem). K-42 (Tule Marshes). No SRM in Northern Great Plains chapter (Shiflet, 1994) for marsh. In Brown et al. (1998, p. 45) would be Bulrush Series 242.33 ( none was shown, but the vegetation obviously does exist) of Plains Interior Marshland 242.3. Wet Subirrigated to Wetland range sites (NRCS, 2005). Nebraska Sand Hills- Sand Hills Ecoregion, 44a (Chapman et al., 2001). |
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30. Wetland in the western Nebraska Sandhills- A freshwater marsh had formed near the westernmost boundary of the Nebraska Sandhills. This was in the area where mixed prairie gives way to the postclimax tallgrass prairie. Some of the herbaceous species, including the major grasss were naturalized agronomic species including redtop (Agrostis alba) and reed canarygrass (Phalaris arundinacea). The dominant herbaceous species of this marsh was broadleaf cattail (Typha latifolia). The first photograph presented the agronomic forage grasses while the second photograph showed an example of a cattail colony (right margin foreground to left background). Other herbaceous species included a spikerush (Eleocharis sp.) and marsh muhly (Muhlenbergia racemosa). Marsy muhly was still in rather early growth, but was prominent in central foreground to midground (largely as dead, weathered shoots) in the second slide. Trees of peachleaf willow (Salix amygdaloides) and plains cottonwood (Populis deltoides var. occidentalis) were growing in an interrupted spatial pattern or dispersion along margins of the wetland. . Cherry County, Nebraska. Late June; early estival aspect. FRES No. 41 (Wet Grasslands Ecosystem). K-42 (Tule Marshes). No SRM in Northern Great Plains chapter (Shiflet, 1994) for marsh. In Brown et al. (1998, p. 45) would be Bulrush Series 242.33 ( none was shown, but the vegetation obviously does exist) of Plains Interior Marshland 242.3. Wet Subirrigated to Wetland range sites (NRCS, 2005). Nebraska Sand Hills- Sand Hills Ecoregion, 44a (Chapman et al., 2001). |
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31. Cattail colony with lesser associates- Stand of broadleaf cattail in a freshwater marsh in the western Nebraska Sandhills. In contact with cattails on outer edges of the marsh were miscellaneous forbs including unidentified Solidago sp(p). plus naturalized reed canarygrass and redtop. Trees on perimeter of this wetland were plains cottonwood and peachleaf willow. Cherry County, Nebraska. Late June; early estival aspect. FRES No. 41 (Wet Grasslands Ecosystem). K-42 (Tule Marshes). No SRM in Northern Great Plains chapter (Shiflet, 1994) for marsh. In Brown et al. (1998, p. 45) would be Bulrush Series 242.33 ( none was shown, but the vegetation obviously does exist) of Plains Interior Marshland 242.3. Wet Subirrigated to Wetland range sites (NRCS, 2005). Nebraska Sand Hills- Sand Hills Ecoregion, 44a (Chapman et al., 2001). |
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32. Woody wetland on the prairie- No, this is clearly not tallgrass prairie or, for that matter, grassland of any range type. This is an example of a variant of the cottonwood-willow forest cover type (SAF 235; Eyre, 1980, p. 113) which was covered separately under Rocky Mountain Riparian and Related Wetland Range section of the Willow & Riparian chapter of (under) Shrublands. This woody plant-dominated wetland was included here under the postclimax tallgrass prairie of the Nebraska Sandhills because it 1) is part of the range vegetation of the Nebraska Sandhills, 2) was conterminous with the herbaceous wetland vegetation (mostly freshwater marrsh) presented immediately above, 3) was consistent with eastern cottonwood and willow plant communities in other tallgrass regions such as those in the Flint Hills, tand 4) was needed to show the continuum of range vegetation found within major grassland regions. The wetland scrub in foreground was a combination primarily of sandbar or coyote willow (Salix exigua) and some peachleaf willow (S. amygdaloides) which was contiguous (in contact) with the freshwater marsh vegetation (the Typha-Scirpus-Sagittaria wetland community) presented immediately above. Trees in background were peachleaf willow and, the larger trees, plains eastern cottonwood (western variety; .Populis deltoides var. occidentalis). Leaves, twigs, and bark are (at least, can be) valuable browse for livestock (including cattle and hroses) and especially for wildlife species varying from cervids like deer to beaver (bark in particluar). Cherry County, Nebraska. Late June; early estival aspect. FRES No. 17 (Elm-Ash-Cottonwood Forest and Woodland Ecosystem). K-89 (Northern Flood-plain Forest) was closest though certainly not a "perfect match". SAF 235 (Cottonwood-Willow). Plains and Great Basin Riparian Scrub biotic community, 232.2- Willow Series, 232.21 (Brown et al., 1998, p. 44). Part of Wet Subirrigated to Wetland range sites (NRCS, 2005). Nebraska Sand Hills- Sand Hills Ecoregion, 44a (Chapman et al., 2001). |
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Savanna Wetlands (Wetland Savannas,
if preferred)
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33. Savanna wetland in the subhumid zone- Synopsis views of a combination eastern cottonwood-peachleaf willow wet woodland and a tule (bulrush)-cattail-umbrella or flat sedge marsh in the Smokey Hills which are part of the border of High Plains and Central Lowlands physiographic provinces known as the Plains Border physiographic section (Frye and Swineford, 1949). This was the western variety of eastern cottonwood (Populus deltoides var. occidentalis) as mapped by McGregor et al. (1977), a conspicuous individual of which was the tallest woody plant in both of these slides. Weber (1990) described the western taxon of plains or eastern cottonwood as Populus deltoides subsp. monilifera). The tule was soft-stem or great bulrush, (Scirpus validus), the flat sedge was tapertip flat (umbrella) sedge (Cyperus accumulatus), and the sole member of Typhaceae was narrowleaf cattail (Typha domingensis). Range vegetation in the immediate foreground was not part of the wetland (or at least only on the margins of it), but was typical tallgrass prairie comprised mostly of a bottomland ecotype of switchgrass (Panicum virgatum) and tall dropseed (Sporobolus asper subsp. asper). The prominent forb on this margin was Illinois bundleflower (Desmanthus illionensis). Ellsworth County, Kansas. Mid-July, early estival aspect. Salicaceae form of savanna with marsh with closest range ecosystem and type being FRES No. 417 (Wet Grasslands Ecosystem). K-42 (Tule Marshes). No SRM for the wetland (601 or 710 for tallgrass paririe). Woodland element was variant of SAF 63 (cottonwood). Combination of Plains and Great Basin Riparian Scrub biotic community, 222.2, Cottonwood-Willow Series, 222.21 and Plains Interior Marshland biotic community 242.3, Sedge Series, 242.31 of (Brown et al., 1998, p. 44). Central Great Plains- Smoky Hills Ecoregion, 27a (Chapman et al., 2001). |
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34. Into the "swamp" in the Smoky Hills- Series of sequential photo-points of a savanna wetland moving consistetly closer to the woody element of eastern cottonwood and peachleaf willow. Although there was some naturalized smooth brome (Bromus inermis) close to the shaded habitat of trees, the herbaceous component of this patch of savanna in a matrix of tallgrass prairie (description in terms of Landscape Ecology) was a locally varying community of great or soft-stem bulrush, tapertip flat sedge, and narrowleaf cattail. These three native species of grasslike plants intermingled in differing proportions as well as growing in local colonies or populations of their singular species. The conspicuous forb with its dormant shoot of ripe, shedding fruits was pale or dock (Rumex altissimus). The other forb (not visible in these photographs) was shown below. A characteristic trunk of peachleaf willow was presented in the third photograph. This and black willow are the only large willows in Kansas (Stephens , 1969, ps. 22-23, 26-27). Both Salix species typically have leaning trunks with very similar bark, but peachleaf willow can be distinguished by the pale or whitish undersides of its leaves (Stephens, 1969, ps. 23, 27). Ellsworth County, Kansas. Mid-July, early estival aspect. Salicaceae form of savanna with marsh with closest range ecosystem and type being FRES No. 41 (Wet Grasslands Ecosystem). K-42 (Tule Marshes). No SRM for the wetland (601 or 710 for tallgrass paririe). No FRES unit seemed appropriate for the woody component of this vegetation. Woodland element was variant of SAF 63 (Cottonwood). Combination of Plains and Great Basin Riparian Deciduous Forest biotic community, 222.2, Cottonwood-Willow Series, 222.21 and Plains Interior Marshland biotic community 242.3, Sedge Series, 242.31 of Brown et al., (1998, ps. 43, 45). Central Great Plains- Smoky Hills Ecoregion, 27a (Chapman et al., 2001). |
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35. Grasslike plants on a savanna wetland- Herbaceous component of a cottonwood-willow-marsh savanna in the Smoky Hills tallgrass-true prairie region dominated locally by tapertip flat (umbrella) sedge with great or soft-stem bulrush and narrowleaf cattail as associate species. The Cyperaceae and Typhaceae were both represented while Poaceae (Gramineae) was excluded from this community and relegated to the margins of the marsh (shown and explained in the immediately preceding slides and captions). Details of a local stand of tapertip flat sedge with scattered shoots of soft-stem bulrush were presented in the second photograph. On other local spots (microsites or microhabitats) of the marsh vegetation soft-stem or great bulrush was dominant (see very next slide below). This wetland range ecosystem was in the Plains Border physiographic section (Frye and Swineford, 1949), a sort of "no man's land" between the High Plains and Central Lowlands physiographic provinces, of the continental interior of North America. Ellsworth County, Kansas. Mid-July, early estival aspect. Salicaceae form of savanna with marsh with closest range ecosystem and type being FRES No. 41 (Wet Grasslands Ecosystem). K-42 (Tule Marshes). No SRM for the wetland (601 or 710 for tallgrass paririe). No FRES unit seemed appropriate for the woody component of this vegetation. Woodland element was variant of SAF 63 (Cottonwood). Combination of Plains and Great Basin Riparian Deciduous Forest biotic community, 222.2, Cottonwood-Willow Series, 222.21 and Plains Interior Marshland biotic community 242.3, Sedge Series, 242.31 of Brown et al., (1998, ps. 43, 45). Central Great Plains- Smoky Hills Ecoregion, 27a (Chapman et al., 2001). |
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36. Our turn- Sward of the marsh component of a savanna wetland in the Smoky Hills within the tallgrass-true prairie types region of the Plains Border physiographic section (Frye and Swineford, 1949). Great tule or soft-stem bulrush was the dominant with annual marsh elder or sumpweed (Iva annua), the only forb of consequence and consistency on most of this marsh, the associate species. Tapertip flat sedge, overall dominant of the marsh portion, was present as a lower-herbaceous level species in this local assemblage. Ellsworth County, Kansas. Mid-July, early estival aspect. Herbaceous element of a savanna wetland that was described by FRES No. 41 (Wet Grasslands Ecosystem). K-42 (Tule Marshes). No SRM. Plains Interior Marshland biotic community 242.3, Sedge Series, 242.31 of Brown et al. (1998, p. 45). Central Great Plains- Smoky Hills Ecoregion, 27a (Chapman et al., 2001). |
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37. My turn- "Center stage" in this slide went to narrowleaf cattail which on this savanna wetland in the Kansas Smoky Hills was typically an associate to the overall dominant, tapertip flat sedge. On this particular wetland range narrowleaf cattail grew as a population (single species stand) only rarely. More commonly either narrowleaf cattail or great bulrush was the associate species to the dominant tapertip flat sedge. Ellsworth County, Kansas. Mid-July, early estival aspect. Herbaceous element of a savanna wetland that was described by FRES No. 41 (Wet Grasslands Ecosystem). K-42 (Tule Marshes). No SRM. Plains Interior Marshland biotic community 242.3, Sedge Series, 242.31 of Brown et al. (1998, p. 45). Central Great Plains- Smoky Hills Ecoregion, 27a (Chapman et al., 2001). |
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38. Bulrushes by willows- Local stand of great or soft-stem bulrush (Scirpus validus) by peachleaf willow on a savanna wetland in the Smoky Hills. This bulrush colony largely excluded the other major species (narrowleaf cattail, tapertip flat sedge, sumpweed) of this wetland range. These shoots were at the ripening fruit stage. Ellsworth County, Kansas. Mid-July. |
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39. Purty green at the base- Shoot bases of great or soft-stem bulrush in a local colony of savanna wetland in the subhumid Smoky Hills of central Kansas. These basal shoots were some of the ones in the colony shown in the immediately preceding slide. The descriptive "soft-stem" as one of the common names of this bulrush is an apt one and an important diagnostic feature of this species when it is not in fruit. In contrast to the comparatively "harder" (more rigid, smaller diameter, less compressable to the touch) shoot of most other Scirpus species (eg. S. americanus featured below) the shoots of soft-stem are more pliable or flexible even though they are of considerably circumference. These shoots are also a lighter, yet brighter, green coloration. Ellsworth County, Kansas. Mid-July. |
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40. Bunches on the bulrushes- Sexual shoots of soft-stem or great bulrush with clusters of ripening fruits. Like members of the Gramineae, species of Cyperaceae have highly specialized (and confusing) floral units. Inflorescences of Cyperaceae vary in general morphology and have has traditionally been described as paniculate, umbellate or spicate. Individual flowers consists of reproductive organs of one or both sexes (perfect or unisexual) and one glume. These flowers in turn are arranged in groups called spikes (equivalent to spikelets in Gramineae) with spikes grouped together in clusters designated as spikelets and, finally, spikelets arranged as main units of the inflorescence (Smith, 1977, p. 139). Hence spike and spikelet in Cyperaceae are reversed in order of floral organization from that of Gramineae. (As if it was not already confusing enough for third year college students!) The fruit type of Scirpus is an achene (the seed being unattached to the fruit wall) of two or three sides and with a prominent point called a beak. These achenes of the various Scirpus species are of varied sizes, shapes, and attached perianths. Achenes are often essential for positive identifiction of the various Scirpus species. Ellsworth County, Kansas. Mid-July. |
| Reminder: It was explained above (this chapter) that recent taxonomic treatment split the traditional Scirpus "nine ways to Sunday" so that many Scirpus species (including both S. validus and S. americanus) were transferred to Schoenoplectus. Furthermore, Scirpus validus is--of this writing--now regarded as synonymous with the former Scirpus tabernaemontani which is currently viewed as synonymous with Schoenoplectus tabernaemontani. |
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41. Standing with tapered tips- Stand of tapertip flat or umbrella sedge (Cyperus accumulatus) in a marsh on which soft-stem bulrush or giant tule and narrowleaf cattail were the other dominants. This marsh was part of a savanna wetland formed by intermingling of groves of eastern cottonwood and peachleaf willow. Ellsworth County, Kansas. Mid-July. |
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42. Tips of tapertip- Inflorescence of tapertip umbrella or flat sedge produced on a savanna wetland in Smoky Hills tallgrass-true prairie region of central Kansas. The individual round-shaped clusters that comprise this umbellate inflorescence are spikelets which consist of smaller units called spikes in which individual flowers are arranged (Smith, 1977, p. 139). These individual flowers can each produce only one fruit, an achene. Ellsworth County, Kansas. Mid-July. |
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43. Wet prairie savanna in an ecotone of Grand Prairie and Cross Timbers- A wet (seasonally subirrigated) prairie savanna that developed immediately above (contiguous to) an ephemeral tributary into a river (Dry Branch draining into Bosque River) in the subhumid zone. Overall dominant plant species was a bottomland ecotype of switchgrass with Maximillian sunflower (Helianthus maximilliani) being the overall associate and, locally, the dominant species. Other important herbaceous species included giant ragweed (Ambrosia trifida) which was the associate forb species;narrowleaf cattail; heath aster (Aster ericoides); an unidentifiable (no inflorescence or fruit) spikerush (Eleocharis sp.), and Johnsongrass. Pennsylvania smartweed or Pennsylvania knowtweed (Polygonum pensylvanicum) and slim aster or wireweed (A. subulatus var. ligulatus= A. eulae= A. praealtus, a difficult complex) were restricted to more mesic microhabitats as was pink boneset, pink Joe Pye weed, or pink thoroughwort (Eupatorium incarnatum). The latter was a diagnostic species (an indicator plant), but it was not abundant. Obviously, composites were about "the only game in town" with regard to forbs. Several angiosperm woody species were of such abundance (density and dispersion pattern) as to handily qualify this natural wetland vegetation as a tallgrass-hardwood savanna. The major woody species was black willow (Salix nigra) with American or white elm (Ulmus americana), honey locust (Gleditsia triacanthos), and bois d'arc or Osage orange (Maclura pomifera). These three photographs were all taken from the same general vantage point (spanning-and-zooming camera location). The first two slides were simply vertical and horizontal views from the same spot while the third of these "phototransects" was taken from the background (more interior of the wetland vegetation) of the first two slides. The two-trunked black willow in the third slide was visible as the distant tree in center far background of the first two photographs. Switchgrass and Maximillian sunflower were co-dominant in the first two slides whereas swithcgrass was the sole dominant in the third of these views. Erath County, Texas. Mid-October; peak standing crop and full bloom stage of composites. General or overall grassland community of tallgrass prairie (the grass was almost exclusively bottomland ecotype of switchgrass; Maximillian sunflower being a co-dominant to associate species) was FRES No. 39 (Prairie Grassland Ecosystem). K-66 (Bluestem Prairie). SRM rangeland cover type 710 (Bluestem Prairie). Bluestem "Tall-Grass" Series 142.11 of Plains Grassland biotic community, 142.1 (Brown et al., 1998, p. 40). The trees were outliers ("sententels, "refugees", "point riders", "advance guard" or something thereabouts) of a mixed hardwood forest that developed on the river floodplain below which was interpreted as having the following vegetation designations. FRES No. 17 (Elm-Ash-Cottonwood Forest and Woodland Ecosystem). K-92 (Elm-Ash Forest). SAF 93 (Sugarberry-American Elm-Green Ash) and/or SAF 94 (Sycamore-Sweetgum-American Elm). Absence of sycamore and sweetgum and presence of sugarberry suggested that SAF 93 was more appropraite; however, the former cover type designation for SAF 94 included pecan so choice was unclear. Southeastern Swamp and Riparian Forest 223.1, Mixed Hardwood Series, 223.13 (Brown et al., 1998, p. 43). The black willow was so predominant that there was a strong "flavor" of the units of the black willow range type for which the following units applied. FRES No. 17 (Elm-Ash-Cottonwood Ecosystem). SAF 95 (Black Willow). Southeastern Swamp and Riparian Forest 223.1, Cottonwood-Willow Series, 223.14 (Brown et al., 1998, p. 43).Cross Timbers-Western Cross Timbers Ecoregion, 29c (Griffith et al., 2004). |
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44. Maximillian monopoly- Colony of Maximillian sunflower dominated this local habitat of a wet prairie savanna that formed immediately above an ephemeral drainage (Dry Branch) of Bsque River. This range vegetation was a tallgrass-hardwood wetland savanna in an ecotone between the Grand Prairie and Western Cross Timbers vegetational units. The overall dominant species was a bottomland ecotype of switchgrass. Maximillian sunflower was the overall associate species. Other herbaceous plants growing at various parts of this wetland savanna included giant ragweed, the associate forb species; narrowleaf cattail, heath aster, spikerush, Johnsongrass, slim aster or wireweed, Pennsylvania smartweed, and pink boneset or pink Joe Pye weed. Tree species included black willow, the dominant woody species; American elm, honey locust, and bois d'arc. These same species were minor components of a mixed hardwood bottomland forest that was the climax plant community of the Blsque River floodplain. Erath County, Texas. Mid-October; peak standing crop and full bloom stage of composites. General or overall grassland community of tallgrass prairie (the grass was almost exclusively bottomland ecotype of switchgrass; Maximillian sunflower being a co-dominant to associate species) was FRES No. 39 (Prairie Grassland Ecosystem). K-66 (Bluestem Prairie). SRM rangeland cover type 710 (Bluestem Prairie). Bluestem "Tall-Grass" Series 142.11 of Plains Grassland biotic community, 142.1 (Brown et al., 1998, p. 40). The trees were outliers ("sententels, "refugees", "point riders", "advance guard" or something thereabouts) of a mixed hardwood forest that developed on the river floodplain below which was interpreted as having the following vegetation designations. FRES No. 17 (Elm-Ash-Cottonwood Forest and Woodland Ecosystem). K-92 (Elm-Ash Forest). SAF 93 (Sugarberry-American Elm-Green Ash) and/or SAF 94 (Sycamore-Sweetgum-American Elm). Absence of sycamore and sweetgum and presence of sugarberry suggested that SAF 93 was more appropraite; however, the former cover type designation for SAF 94 included pecan so choice was unclear. Southeastern Swamp and Riparian Forest 223.1, Mixed Hardwood Series, 223.13 (Brown et al., 1998, p. 43). The black willow was so predominant that there was a strong "flavor" of the units of the black willow range type for which the following units applied. FRES No. 17 (Elm-Ash-Cottonwood Ecosystem). SAF 95 (Black Willow). Southeastern Swamp and Riparian Forest 223.1, Cottonwood-Willow Series, 223.14 (Brown et al., 1998, p. 43).Cross Timbers-Western Cross Timbers Ecoregion, 29c (Griffith et al., 2004). |
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45. In the wet center- "Photoplot" of herbaceous range vegetation of the wettest microenvironment of a wet prairie that formed immediately above an ephemeral drainage into a small river (Dry Branch of Bosque River). The central and water-accumulating microhabitat of the wet prairie-hardwood savanna shown in the two preceding slide-caption sets was dominated by narrowleaf cattail, switchgrass, and a species of spikerush. Forbs included heath aster, slim aster or wireweed, Pennsylvania smartweed, giant ragweed, and pink boneset or pink thoroughwort. This localized wetland vegetation (due to microclimate and microedaphic features) was a small part of the overall natural plant community given in detail in the two immediately preceding captions. Erath County, Texas. Mid-October; peak standing crop and full bloom stage of composites. |
| How-to-find-it directions: the mixed hardwood (sugarberry-cedar elm-pecan) bottomland forest that was the climax range plant community below this wet upland savnna was presented in detail in the Woodlands and Forests chapters (heading of Miscellaneous Forests and as the portion therein entitled, Bosque River- A Texas Example of a Subhumid Zone River. |
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46. A cute one on a wetland- Pink boneset or pink thoroughwort (Eupatorium incarnatum) grew on a wet prairie that developed on a drainage above Dry Branch of Bosque River. Wide leaves, pink inflorescences, and short stature made for a unique suite of features and a quite distinctive species. Erath County, Texas. Mid-October; early bloom stage (immediately preceding opening of flower buds). |
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47. Mine water makes wetland- Savanna that developed from strips of bottomland eastern cottonwood-black willow wooded communities intermixed with tule-rose mallow-switchgrass marsh on the Cherokee Prairie of the Central Lowlands physiographic province. Linear-shaped forest stands dominated by these two salicaceous species with American or white elm (Ulmus americana) and white ash (Fraxinus americana) as associate species and catalpa (Catalpa bignonioides) as an incidental tree species occurred as narrow streatches across marsh and wet prairie of American bulrush, chairmaiker's rush, or Olney's three square (Scirpus americanus= S. olneyi), hairy (hairy seed) rose mallow (Hibiscus lasiocarpos), broadleaf cattail, and switchgrass. American elm was prominent in the far right and right margin of the first slide. Rank shoots of switchgrass (obvious in both slides) readily distinguished this species from other graminoids. The woody vine or liana, trumpet creeper (Campsis radicans), was also relatively common in this wetland range vegetation (eg. lower far left in first photograph) so that along with catalpa the bignonia family (Bignoniaceae) was well-represented. Catalpa (large leaves of this species made for a prominent specimen in the second of these two slides) was introduced into this area decades ago and naturalized to the extent that it is frequently locally common in wet, especially riparian, habitats. From the perspective of Landscape Ecology this composite (woodland and grassland mix) wetland developed as patches within the matrix of tallgrass prairie that was the zonal or climatic climax of this region. It seemed highly probably that the eastern cottonwood-black willow community was seral (SAF 63 or 95, Eyre, 1980, ps. 62, 66) to the ultimate stage of an elm-ash climax (SAF 93, Eyre, l980, p. 65). The marsh and adjoining wet prairie would be interpreted as an edaphic, topographic, or hydric climax viewed from perspective of polyclimax or climax pattern theories. This wetland vegetation developed over mined (underground mines and shafts) land in the famous Tri-State (Oklahoma, Missouri, Kansas) Lead and Zinc Mining District along the border of the Central Lowlands and Ozark (Springfield) Plateau provinces. Although lead and zinc extraction took place for several decades in the three states the most sustained and high-yielding ore was in Ottawa County, Oklahoma which for several decades was the world's number one producer of lead and zinc before these fields played out and became uncompetitive due to necessary water pumping, depressed prices in the emerging global markets (Oklahoma Historical Society, 2007; Oklahoma Department of Mines, 2010). The range vegetation presented in these and subsequent slides was on the immediate watershed of Tar Creek which drains into Spring River. Acid mine drainage along with high levels of lead, zinc, and cadmium created one of the most hazardous mine sites in the USA. The Tar Creek Superfund Project, under auspices of the Environmental Protection Agency, was belatedly created to try to deal with this pollution problem which could threaten the precious Roubidoux aquifer. Books will be written about the unfolding Tar Creek tale. It was not known if the land shown in this section was natural wetland or if past mining activity had created or at least contributed to surface inundation and this savanna wetland. Ottawa County, Oklahoma. Late July (estival aspect). Salicaceae form of savanna with marsh with closest range ecosystem and type being FRES No. 41 (Wet Grasslands Ecosystem) for herbaceous component and FRES No. 17 (Elm-Ash-Cottonwood Forest and Woodland Ecosystems) for woody component.. K-42 (Tule Marshes) and K-92 (Elm-Ash Forest), both of which are potential natural (climax) vegetation. No SRM for the wetland (601 or 710 for tallgrass paririe). SAF 63 (Cottonwood) and/or SAF 95 (Black Willow) for woody component, both of which can be seral. Combination of Plains and Great Basin Riparian Deciduous Forest biotic community, 222.2, Cottonwood-Willow Series, 222.21 and Plains Interior Marshland biotic community 242.3, Sedge Series, 242.31 of Brown et al., (1998, ps. 43, 45). Central Irregular Plains- Cherokee Plains Ecoregion, 40d (Woods et al., 2005). |
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48. Woodland and grassland meet as a wetland- Marshland dominated by various combinations of hairy rose mallow, American bulrush or chairmaker's rush, broadleaf cattail, and bottomland switchgrass intermingled with narros strips of eastern cottonwood-black willow (american elm and white ash, associates) forest that developed along small drainages of Tar Creek in the Cherokee Prairie (Four Horsemen tallgrass prairie). Large, rank shoots of switchgrass made this the most obvious herbaceous species at this point of time in the warm-growing season, but American bulrush or three square, hairy rose mallow, and/or broadleaf cattail were generally overall dominant herbaceous species.with dominance often being local (at microhabitat-scale) as these species typically formed colonies, frequently ones that excluded most plants of other species). Ottawa County, Oklahoma. Late July (estival aspect). Salicaceae form of savanna with marsh with closest range ecosystem and type being FRES No. 41 (Wet Grasslands Ecosystem) for herbaceous component and FRES No. 17 (Elm-Ash-Cottonwood Forest and Woodland Ecosystems) for woody component.. K-42 (Tule Marshes) and K-92 (Elm-Ash Forest), both of which are potential natural (climax) vegetation. No SRM for the wetland (601 or 710 for tallgrass paririe). SAF 63 (Cottonwood) and/or SAF 95 (Black Willow) for woody component, both of which can be seral. Combination of Plains and Great Basin Riparian Deciduous Forest biotic community, 222.2, Cottonwood-Willow Series, 222.21 and Plains Interior Marshland biotic community 242.3, Sedge Series, 242.31 of Brown et al., (1998, ps. 43, 45). Central Irregular Plains- Cherokee Plains Ecoregion, 40d (Woods et al., 2005). |
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49. Water-rich range over ore- A diverse and high-yielding (especially at peak standing crop of dominant late warm-season herbaceous speceis) savanna wetland comprised of narrow strips of eastern cottonwood-black willow (American elm and white ash were associates) riparian forest across a marsh of three square or American bulrush, hairy rose mallow, broadleaf cattail, and switchgrass developed on soil that was inundated (land surface covered) most of the year. Solidago species were also locally abundant on marsh of this wetland range. Eastern cottonwood was of the eastern variety or subspecies (Populus deltoides var. deltoides). This land overlaid abandoned lead-zinc subsurface mines and shafts that filled with water. This was in the heart of the Tri-State (Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri) Mining District which for several decades was the world's leading producer of lead and zinc. It was not known if this had been natural wetland prior to mining, but miles of shafts and mine rooms now filled with water undoubtedly contributed to sustained water flow and surface seepage (as well as periodic sink holes) that helped to maintaine the current wetland (and contribute acid mine drainage). Ottawa County, Oklahoma. Late July (estival aspect). Salicaceae form of savanna with marsh with closest range ecosystem and type being FRES No. 41 (Wet Grasslands Ecosystem) for herbaceous component and FRES No. 17 (Elm-Ash-Cottonwood Forest and Woodland Ecosystems) for woody component.. K-42 (Tule Marshes) and K-92 (Elm-Ash Forest), both of which are potential natural (climax) vegetation. No SRM for the wetland (601 or 710 for tallgrass paririe). SAF 63 (Cottonwood) and/or SAF 95 (Black Willow) for woody component, both of which can be seral. Combination of Plains and Great Basin Riparian Deciduous Forest biotic community, 222.2, Cottonwood-Willow Series, 222.21 and Plains Interior Marshland biotic community 242.3, Sedge Series, 242.31 of Brown et al., (1998, ps. 43, 45). Central Irregular Plains- Cherokee Plains Ecoregion, 40d (Woods et al., 2005). |
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50. If that ain't the cat's tail- Stand of broadleaf cattail on the marsh portion of a savanna wetland in the Cherokee Prairie. Narrow strips of wet bottomland forest dominated by black willow and eastern cottonwood alternated with belts of marsh comprised of American bulrush or three square, hairy rose mallow, broadleaf cattail, and bottomland switchgrass resulted in a savanna wetland above water-filled abandoned mines and shafts made during a lead and zinc mining heyday of the preceding century. Role of these underground water reserviors in maintaining the wetland was unknown given that this much of this land was wet prairie to marsh on the watershed of Tar Creek, a drainage of Spring River. How much of the wetland environment was natural and how much was man-made was most likely known only by God. It made for a rich floristic array and a productive range plant community either way (or both ways). Note that broadleaf cattail formed a nearly exclusive colony with only a few plants of rose mallow making it through the maze of root stocks (rhizomes) of Typha latifolia. For its part, hairy rose mallow also formed exclusive stands (shown above and below) that cattails were largely unsuccessful at invading. If this was government it would be designated as checks and balances and separation of powers, a situation at universities in the Golden Age of Academe known as shared governance. Each dominant species was "sovereign" within its own ecological territory or realm of influence. Fortunately for the range plants of this wetland vegetation, shared governance continued to function (unlike the present situation in Academia where invasive damned administrators became dicators and the sole dominants of a formerly much richer and more functional community). Ottawa County, Oklahoma. Late July (estival aspect). Salicaceae form of savanna with marsh with closest range ecosystem and type being FRES No. 41 (Wet Grasslands Ecosystem) for herbaceous component and FRES No. 17 (Elm-Ash-Cottonwood Forest and Woodland Ecosystems) for woody component.. K-42 (Tule Marshes) and K-92 (Elm-Ash Forest), both of which are potential natural (climax) vegetation. No SRM for the wetland (601 or 710 for tallgrass paririe). SAF 63 (Cottonwood) and/or SAF 95 (Black Willow) for woody component, both of which can be seral. Combination of Plains and Great Basin Riparian Deciduous Forest biotic community, 222.2, Cottonwood-Willow Series, 222.21 and Plains Interior Marshland biotic community 242.3, Sedge Series, 242.31 of Brown et al., (1998, ps. 43, 45). Central Irregular Plains- Cherokee Plains Ecoregion, 40d (Woods et al., 2005). |
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51. A rosy situation- Local stand of hairy rose mallow on a savanna wetland range. This colony (both sexual and sexual reproduction; shoots of clonal and unique genotypes) was part of a strip of marsh that alternated with lines of bottomland forest dominated by eastern cottonwood and black willow. In the first slide the outer edge (outer margin) of a rose mallow was adjacent to the edge or exterior of a colony of three square or American bulrush. The second photograph was a view of the interior of the rose mallow colony. All four of the dominant herbaceous species--three square or chairmaker's rush, rose mallow, broadleaf cattail, and switchgrass--formed exclusive colonies or stands in which the respective species were sole dominants. Local stands or assemblages in which three or four of the dominants shared dominance were less common than single species-dominanted stands (ie. a single herbaceous species effectively excluded most plants of the other three dominants in a mosaic pattern on the marsh). In niche theory, the spatial part of ecological niches of these wetland herbaceous species was well-defined. An interesting example of species (ecological) niche was the case of hairy (hairy seed) rose mallow in this wetland plant community in contrast to that of halbert-leaf rose mallow (Hibiscus militaris) which grew on wet prairie (also in asociation with bottomland ecotypes of switchgrass) and in the understorey of a sycamore-white ash bottomland forest in this same general locality. (Both of these species were shown and compared/contrasted below.) An example of the wet prairie vegetation was shown below in this chapter while that of the bottomland forest was presented in Central and Southern Forests II under the Woodlands and Forests heading. Other woody plants in these two slides included American or white elm, white ash, catalpa, and trumpet creeper (this latter conspicuously twining around various tree trunks). It appeared that the woody element of this savanna would unltimately terminate in an elm-ash climax (probably with persistent aged cottonwood). The herbaceous (marsh) component was probably an edaphic, topographic, (or whatever) climax due to the hydric feature of nearly yearlong saturated soil (more or less perennially indunated soil). In monoclimax theory the marsh and forest are postclimxes due to increased chresard (soil water content). Ottawa County, Oklahoma. Late July (estival aspect). Salicaceae form of savanna with marsh with closest range ecosystem and type being FRES No. 41 (Wet Grasslands Ecosystem) for herbaceous component and FRES No. 17 (Elm-Ash-Cottonwood Forest and Woodland Ecosystems) for woody component.. K-42 (Tule Marshes) and K-92 (Elm-Ash Forest), both of which are potential natural (climax) vegetation. No SRM for the wetland (601 or 710 for tallgrass paririe). SAF 63 (Cottonwood) and/or SAF 95 (Black Willow) for woody component, both of which can be seral. Combination of Plains and Great Basin Riparian Deciduous Forest biotic community, 222.2, Cottonwood-Willow Series, 222.21 and Plains Interior Marshland biotic community 242.3, Sedge Series, 242.31 of Brown et al., (1998, ps. 43, 45). Central Irregular Plains- Cherokee Plains Ecoregion, 40d (Woods et al., 2005). |
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52. Bloom-to-bloom on a wetland range- Panicle of switchgrass (bottomland ecotype) at left and a sexual shoot of hairy rose mallow in bloom at right on a marsh in the Cherokee Prairie in the Tri-State Mining District. These were two of the four alternating dominants of this wetland range type. Ottawa County, Oklahoma. Late July; peak standing crop and full-bloom phenological stage.. |
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Wetland Odd-Lots
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53. Bogged down in blooms- Localized area or patch of wet prairie in the Osage Questas section (Central Lowlands province) of the Tallgrass Prairie Region. Such restricted patches of distinctive vegetation are often described locally and colloquially as a "boggy spot" (which should not be confused with an actual or true bog). The one feature here was a community dominated by halberdleaf rose mallow (Hibiscus militris) with a bottomland ecotype of switchgrass and hairy fimbry (Fimbristylis puberula var. puberula) as associate species. On the less-wet margins of and small local spots within this local wetland there were scattered plants of Illinois bundleflower (Desmanthus illionensis), poison oak/poison ivy (Toxicodendron radicans= Rhus radicans= R. toxicodendron), and tickseed sunflower (Bidens polylepis). Vegetation on microsites or microhabitats like this (of this vegetational microscale) usually are not classified. Rather, these range plant communities are "lumped in" with the surrounding natural climax vegetation which, in this case, was big bluestem-dominated tallgrass prairie. Such range vegetation could, however, be interpreted as an island--and a small one at that--of marshlike wet grassland except that there is no description for such natural vegetation when dominated by forbs. Montgomery County, Kansas. Mid-July. FRES No. 39 (Prairie Grassland Ecosystem). K-66 (Bluestem Prairie). SRM 601 (Bluestem Prairie), generally, or, probably more specifically, SRM 710 (Bluestem Prairie). Bluestem "Tall-Grass" Series, 142.11, of Plains Grassland biotic community, 142.1 (Brown et al., 1998, p. 40).Central Irregular Plains- Osage Cuestas Ecoregion, 40b (Chapman et al., 2001). |
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54. Mallow on the prairie- Details of inflorescence and leaves of halbertleaf rosemallow growing on a local patch of wet prairie in the Osage Questas of southeast Kansas. The specific epithet of militaris was used in reference to the leaf of this species which was reminscent of the halberd, a combined spear and battleax used as a military weapon in the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries. H. militaris should be compared to H. lasiocarpos that was included in the next short section. The leaves readily distinguish these otherwise similar species. Hibiscus is in the Malvceae (mallow family), taxonomic home to cotton (Gossypium spp.).The staminal column, the circumcolumnar arrangement of many stamen encircling the style, is the "can't-miss" feature of the Malvaceae. Montgomery County, Kansas. Mid-July; peak-bloom stage. |
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Miscellaneous Plants of Central
Wetlands
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| Some range plant species of wet prairie, marsh, and wetland savannahs were presented in this section. |
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55. Rushed on the Piedmont Plains- A streatch of an ephemeral stream (Rush Creek) with chairmakers rush, American bulrush, or threesquare in the main channel (bed and lowest part of banks) with squirreltail bottlebrush (Sitanion hystrix) and inland saltgrass (Distichlis stricta= D. spicata subsp. stricta) comprising an outer wetland zone outward from that of American bulrush. Species in the range vegetation of this seasonal wetland have to have the ability to utilize water and complete their annual cycle before drier soil conditions of summer set in. American bulrush or threesquare is obviously an adaptable and widely distributed wetland species In this habitat it was growing in the semiarid zone of mixed prairie and shortgrass plains whereas in the preceding example it made its home on longer-lasting tallgrass wet prairie in the hunid zone. Rush Creek, Lincoln County, Colorado. Early July. FRES No. 41 (Wet Grasslands Ecosystem). K-42 (Tule Marshes). No SRM. Would be a Bulrush Series (of, say, 242.33 because none was shown) in Plains Interior Marshland 242.3 of Brown et al. (1998, p. 45). Southwestern Tablelands- Piedmont Plains and Tablelands 26e (Chapman et al., 2006). |
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56. Dense stand of shoots- Colony of three square, chairmaker's rush, or American bulrush (Scirpus americanus= S. olneyi) growing on a seasonally intrmittent stream in the semiarid High Plains. Many of the bulrushs are also known as tules, hence this species is frequently called tule, especially in local rural areas in the Western Range. This is also one of the most widely adapted tule or bulrush species. It grows from South America to northern reaches of North America and from the east to the west coast of North America where it is found on a array of moist (wet) habitats ranging from fresh through brackish to saline marshes and from seashores to inland areas (Fernald, 1950, p. 270). For example, this species is one of several Scirpus species aroung Great Salt Lake and also on wet prairie in the humid zone. Rush Creek, Lincoln County, Colorado. Early July. |
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| 57. Bulrush or tule shoots- Isolated shoots of of American bulrush or chairmaker's rush showing shoot features from shoot base to tip, including clusters of fruit (and as close as possible for all-inclusive view). These shoots were on a marsh in the Cherokee Prairie within the Tri-State Mining District of northeastern Oklahoma (Ottawa County). Late July. |
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| 58. Sexual shoots of American bulrush or three square- Clusters of fruits on shoots of American bulrush or chairmaker's rush growing in moist soil of Rush Creek in the High Plains of eastern (Lincoln County) Colorado. Early July. |
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59. Full clusters on three square- Clusters of maturing fruits of American bulrush or Olney's three square growing on a marsh in the Cherokee Prairie on a small tributary of Tar Creek. The fruit of Scirpus species has traditionally been interpreted as an achene that is lenticular (two- or three-sided) and beaked. These achenes are in the clusters that were spikes or spikelets in a panicle inflorescence. Ottawa County, Oklahoma. Late July. |
| Here we go again: It was remarked above that nothing-better-to-do taxonomists played word games with traditional scientific names. Several of the traditional Scirpus species were transferred to genus, Schoenoplectus. This included Scirpus americanus. As if that was not confusing enough, Scirpus americanus was reinterpreted as Scirpus pungens so that Scirpus americanus is now Schoenoplectus pungens. Even prior to that Scirpus olynei was confused with and transferred to Scirpus americanus in some treatments. |
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60. Stand of hairy fimbry (Fimbristylis puberula var. puberula)- This member of the Cyperaceae is in the same tribe (Scirpeae) as the bulrushes or tules. Fimbristylis species are much less abundant--other than locally--than their fellow tribal members. The fimbries are thus less valuable for soil protection and watershed values, than bulrushes. Plus, the forage value of these grasslike species is considerably less than most grasses. This stand was on a Flint Hills stocker range on which dominant tallgrass species (namely big bluestem, Indiangrass, switchgrass, and prairie cordgrass) had been grazed relatively heavy. Obviously hairy fimbry had been little touched by any grazing anima even on moderately heavy use. Not a particularily palatable species. Hairy fimbry is nonetheless a native grasslike plant of tallgrass prairie especially on more mesic to wet sites and microsites such as the one shown here. Butler County, Kansas. Mid-July. |
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61. Sexual shoots of hairy fimbry- Sequence of progressively closer views of inflorescences and the few remaining fruits of hairy fimbry. The inflorescence is a panicle (or at least a paniculate form or pattern of inflorescence). Most of the fruits (fruit type is achene) had been shed. Butler County, Kansas. Mid-July. |
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62. Plenty pretty when plenty water- Hairy seed or hairy rose mallow (Hibiscus lasiocarpos) growing on a wetland savanna in the lead-zinc area of the Cherokee Prairie in northeastern Oklahoma. This was the dominant forb (and locally exclusive herbaceous species) on a marsh of American bulrush (known also as three square and chairmaker's rush), broadleaf cattail, and switchgrass (a bottomland ecotype) that formed a savanna with black willow and eastern cottonwood. The contrast of leaf shape and size readily distinguish this hairy rose mallow from halbertleaf rose mallow featured above. Ottawa County, Oklahoma. Late July. |
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63. Big blossom on the wetland- Details of the extremely large and showy inflorescence of hairy seed or hairy rose mallow that was growing on a willow-cottonwood-rose mallow-three square-cattail-switchgrass wetland savanna in the eastern Cherokee Prairie. Ottawa County, Oklahoma. Late July. |
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Subalpine Mountain Meadows or Parklands
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64. Sierran Wet Meadow- This is one of several subtypes of mountain or subalpine meadows described for the Sierra Nevada Range. This community is even more diverse than that of the preceding photograph. Grasses include northern mannagrass (Glyceria borealis), beardless wildrye (Elymus trichoides), shorthair (Calamagrostis breweri), and the Eurasian hay grass, redtop (Agrostis alba). Wire rush is common. The dominant species away from water’s edge is mountain meadow sedge (Carex festivella), but others may dominate at micro-site scale. Forest vegetation of background is lodgepole and ponderosa pine. Plumas County, California. Estival aspect, June. No appropriate FRES Number or Kuchler unit. Wet variant of SRM 217 ((Wetlands). Sedge Series in Cascade-Sierran Montane Marshland biotic community of Brown et al. (1998). Good sources on classification and management of Sierra Nevada mountain meadows include Ratliff (1982), Ratliff (1985), and Ratliff et al. (undated). |
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| 65. Mesic Mountain Meadow- This is a moist subalpine meadow situated between the Lower Montane Yellow Pine Forest and sagebrush just above the Mixed Montane Chaparral (see Shrubland slides) in the San Jacinto Range (elevation between 4500-5000 feet). This is a flood meadow (in spring) but it dries out such that it is not permanently inundulated during the growing season. The soil remains moist but dries out enough in the upper profile that it can be grazed without inducing damage to the range. It is botanically rich being dominated by Carex species, epsecially C. senta but also supporting wire rush (Juncus balticus) and such grasses as tufted hairgrass, pine or malpais bluegrass (Poa scabrella), and bentgrass, probably both Hall’s and mountain bentgrass (Agrostis hallii and A. humilis). This community was described by Thorne in Barbour and Major (1995, p. 552). Riverside County, California. July. There is no FRES No. or Kuchler unit for vegetation known variously as mountain meadows, stringer meadows, subalpine meadows, parks, wet or dry meadows. As remarked above, this is one of the most ignored or overlooked communities of all native vegetation. Transverse-Peninsular Ranges variant of SRM 216 (Montane Meadows). An island of Sedge Series in Cascade-Sierran Montane Marshland biotic community of Brown et al. (1998). |
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66. Mesic subalpine
mountain meadow- This moist (but not wet) meadow is dominated by tufted
hairgrass and sedges including sheep, Hood's, and ebony sedges (Carex
illota, C. hoodii, C. ebena). Squirreltail bottlebrush and
spike trisetum (Trisetum spictum)
occurred sporadically. Scattered but abundant forbs were limited to
composites including mulesear wyethia (Wyethia
amplexicaulis), short-beaked or pale agoseris (Agoseris glauca), and arrowleaf balsamroot
(Balsamorrhiza sagittata).
Larger mountain meadows are also known as "parks", a term
commonly used by stockmen. Willows line a small stream where the cattle
are standing. On this cattle allotment graminoids have been grazed
whereas forbs have not which creates an aspect such that the range
appears in only Fair range condition, but close inspection revealed
that grasses and sedges dominated and had not been excessively grazed.
Soils of mesic meadows such as this one dry out enough that they can be grazed without damaging the land. The background is Douglas-fir-quaking aspen forest. Shoshone National Forest, Park County, Wyoming. Estival aspect, July. There is neither FRES nor Kuchler unit for mountain meadows. Apparently they are a small enough vegetation mapping unit that they are “lumped” in with surrounding vegetation (Douglas-fir Forest in this case). Mountain meadows in the Rocky Mountains were discussed variously in Barbour and Billings (2000, ps. 109-112) and specifically for this area by Knight (1994, ps. 193-200). SRM 313 (Tufted Hairgrass-Sedge). Sedge Series in Rocky Mountain Alpine and Subalpine Marshland biotic community of Brown et al. (1998). Middle Rockies- Absaroka-Gallatin Volcanic Mountains Ecoregion, 17i (Chapman et al., 2003). |
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Subalpine mountain meadows are frequently--in fact, commonly or even typically--in physical contact with and impacted by various adjacent range types and ecosystems. Subalpine meadows are physically closer to direct human activity and for this and other reasons (including a less severe environment) are more susceptable to human impact along with influences of neighboring plant communities. Alpine (mountain top) meadows have relatively distinct boundaries and are not situated among a variety of range types (ie. they begin at timberline and end at the nival zone). Alpine meadows are comprised almost exclusively of native species because alpine habitats are too harsh for most--certainly not all--introduced plant species. Not all of the alpine zone is meadow of course. There are mosaics of different plant communities (sometimes with quite discrete boundaries) which is why the alpine range ecosystem and general alpine range type--including alpine meadows--was treated in a separate chapter. Overall, however, alpine range communities are less apt to be contiguous with and, therefore, influenced by drastically different range types and ecosystems. And they are farther from constant and direct human action. In other words, the natural phenomenon of landscape scale and organization along with human impacts (many of them adverse to meadows and none of them inherently natural in the strict sense) confounds analysis and description of subalpine mountain meadows. In short, lower-elevation meadows are less likely to still exist with the potential natural vegetation and even the natural vegetation is more often influenced by neighboring natural vegetation. Subalpine meadows are more apt to be influenced by conterminous or close-proximity vegetation, both natural and human modified, as well as by "the heavy hand of man".. Some of the examples of subalpine meadows (including some in national parks) that were presented below reflect these realitities. Subalpine mountain meadows may have been "changed a little", contaminated, modified or altered, or even greatly disrupted through direct or indirect anthropogenic (human) manipulation. The first example (immediately below) was of a manifestly human-altered (almost a" man-made-over") subalpine meadow that developed along a major stream, had both wet and dry aspects, was surrounded by woody vegetation (at one time) and was situated at the edge of a "tourist town". |
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67. Subalpine and subnatural- A subalpine mountain meadow and riparian woody vegetation (mostly a willow carr) on floodplain and bank of Big Thompson River that flowed through its valley below a mesic mixed montane forest in which Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii), interior lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta var. latifolia), and ponderosa pine (P. ponderosa) were dominant species. Herbage and browse of the two distinct range types were being fed on by Rocky Mountain elk (Cervus canadensis subsp. nelsonii= C. elephus subsp. nelsonii). This range was both feeding and calving ground for elk which periodically used it over a relatively long grazing season the duration of which depended on such variables as length and severity of winter. Human residences had been built at edge of the coniferous forest. Edge of the meadow (from which these photographs were taken) was on the right-of-way while the other boundary of the meadow was another highway by a strip mall. Elk were habituated to tourists like your author. Meadow vegetation had likewise adapted to man. This meadow was subirrigated to roughly half or somewhat more of its width with the remainder (ground higher above and farther from channel level) being dry meadow. The natural vegetation of the meadow had varied from dominance by caric sedges, Baltic or Arctic rush (Juncus balticus), and mesic grass species such as Canada reedgrass or bluejoint (Calamagrostis canadensis) on the wet portion to dominance by western wheatgrass (Agropyron smithii) on the dry meadow of the higher slope. Almost all of the meadow (wet and dry) had been highly altered by establsihment of numerous Eurasian species (agronomc and noxious) introduced by white man. All these species have naturalized throughout much of this region, the Southern Rocky Mountains, especially in disturbed areas. These grass species included (in this approximate order of apparent abundance): smooth brome (Bromus inermis), intermediate wheatgrass (Agropyron intermedium), crested wheatgrass (A. cristatum), Kentucky bluegrass (Poa pratensis), tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea), and cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum), and traces of timothy (Phleum pratense). Forbs in the meadow included yellow sweet-clover (Melilotis officinale) an agronomic species; tumble mustard (Sisymbrium altissimum), another Eurasian weed; hoary false alyssum (Bertroa incana), one-sided penstemon (Penstemon unilateris), and tenpetal blazingstar or giant eveningstar (Mentzelia decapetala) . Native shrubs out in the meadow (not so much in the riparian woody vegetation) included Wood's rose (Rosa woodsii) and shrubby cinquefoil (Potentilla fruticosa). Species composition of the riparian scrub was largely Rocky Mountain willow (Salix monticola), and probably some other willow species as well such as planeleaf or tealeaf willow (S. plantifolia), Bebb's or longbeak willow (S. bebbiana), Drummond's or blue willow (S. drummondiana), and Geyer's willow (S. geyeriana) all of which were identified along drainage of the Big Thompson River in this locality (Gage and Cooper, 2005), plus some plants of narrowleaf cottonwood (Populus angustifiolia) and chokecherry (Prunus virginiana). Over the two time periods that this photographer observed elk on this meadow and streamside scrub (the willow carr) there was much animal-to- animal variation as to whether browse or forage was selected. Some individuals appeared to be more browsers while other animals tended to be grazers with an apparent preference for herbaceous plants. Cows with calves stayed noticeably closer to the stream and woody vegetation (second of these photographs) whereas bachelor bulls and dry cows fed more on the meadow, especially the meadow areas with more smooth brome. This meadow had in effect become tame (introduced or agronomic) pasture with a diverse species composition of domestic forage species. The subirrigated portion (wet meadow) had become, in effect, an irrigated permanent pasture mixture. The willow-cottonwood carr was seemingly lunchanged (or only slightly changed) in species composition, at least for the time being, based on cursory (and solely descriptive and, perhaps, subjective) comparison with similar riparian vegetation less browsed by elk. However, there were obvious signs of heavy browsing with only limited leaves, buds, and young leaders up to browse height. Gage and Cooper (2004, 2005) reported on potential impacts of elk on riparian vegetation in this immediate area. These authors Gage and Cooper (2004, 2005) concurred with previous observations that overbrowsing by elk had caused (at least contributed to) declines in willow carrs and that without reduction in elk populations or alternative elk management "degradation of willow communities will likely continue" (Gage and Cooper, 2005). Note: these two and the next two photographs of this subalpine meadow and riparian scrub were included at this juncture not to show the potential natural (= climax) vegetation of these range types, but instead to present: 1) the degree to which human action (man's input, or lack thereof to correct past inputs) can highly modify these two range plant comunities and 2) landscape mosaic and interconnectedness of diverse range plant communities. Larimer County, Colorado. Early July. |
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68. By a river in the woods at the edge of town- Subalpine meadow (of both wet and dry forms or subtypes) and riparian scrub being grazed and browsed by Rocky Mountain elk on the floodplain and bank of Big Thompson River on the immediate outskirts of a tourist town. Vegetation in the background of these and the two preceding slides was a mesic montane mixed conifer forest with Douglas-fir, lodgepole pine, and ponderosa pine being the dominant species. The riparian shrubland was primarily a willow carr in which Rocky Mountain willow was the major species. Other willow species that were likely represented in this riparian zone included planeleaf or tealeaf willow, Bebb's or longbeak willow, Drummond's or blue willow, and Geyer's willow. Other shrubs in the willow carr included narrowleaf cottonwood and chokecherry. There was heavy browsing of these hardwood shrubs by elk, but at this time species composition was visually similar to that of other willlow carrs in this general area that had not been subjected to as heavy a degree of use as browsing on this elk range that served as both feeding and calving ground. By contrast to the relative nativeness of the riparian scrub the meadow had been greatly altered by invasion of Eurasian herbaceous species introduced by white man. These species included primarily agronomic forage species and a lesser number of pioneer (weedy) forbs. All these exotic plant species were invasive--to one degree or another--in the Southern Rocky Mountain Region. The most common of these Eurasian plant species on this meadow included smooth brome, intermediate wheatgrass, crested wheatgrass, Kentucky bluegrass, tall fescue, and cheatgrass, and traces of timothy (in roughly that order). Major forbs on the meadow were yellow sweet-clover; tumble mustard, hoary false alyssum, one-sided penstemon, and tenpetal blazingstar or giant eveningstar. Only the first two of these forbs were introduced species.Native shrubs in the meadow included Wood's rose and shrubby cinquefoil neither was in the riparian willow carr. Species dominance on the meadow varied from one spot to another. This phenomenon of locally specific populations (mini-communities) probably corresponded to microhabitats with soil water content being a major component of these microenvironments. Portions of this meadow were subirrigted by lateral flow back and forth to and from Big Thompson River so as to be wet meadow. On an outer higher slope (above the subsurface water level) of this meadow it was the dry form or dry meadow. Based on relict plants of native species the author concluded that major species of wet meadow were caric sedges, Baltic or Arctic rush, and bluejoint or Canada reedgrass whereas the dry meadow was likely a consociation of western wheatgrass. The dry meadow portion was what was left of a swale following construction of an adjoining state highway. There were highways on three sides of this meadow, this part of the Big Thompson River floodplain, and a strip mall adjoining it on one of those three sides. It was little wonder that the subalpine meadow had been converted by anthropogenic actions (direct and indirect) into an irrigated agronomic pasture mix of introduced forage species, aided by heavy defoliation of a native ruminant that had become behaviorally adapted to humans. An indication of adjustment of these elk to human presence was the fact that all except the first of the four photographs in these two sets of slides were taken with a normal lense (ie. a one-to-one subject size that accurately showed distance between elk and photographer). From one philosophical perspective, meadow vegetation also adjusted to European man by being converted into a tame perennial pasture of domestic forage species. For their part, elk demonstrated much animal-to animal variation in plant species eaten. To a considerable extent this coincided with areas of this range on which they fed. Cows with calves stayed and fed closer to the riparian scrub and consequently consumed relatively more browse whereas dry cows and bachelor bulls grazed farther from the riparian zone and up to highway rights-of-way. With this pattern of self-distribution on the range meadow-feeding elk grazed on both wet and dry meadow. Based on the photographers observtions of elk behavior on two consecutive evenings it was apparent that individual animals had different preferences for range plant species, with some animals being more (primarily) grazers while others tended to be browsers. These feeding patterns could change with seasons, animal age and reproduction/lactation status, availability of feed species, etc. The nearly countless studies of range animal feeding behavior suggest that elk diets would be dynamic and variable. Incidentially, the author has spent a lifetime (beginning in boyhood) observing feeding activities of animals on pasture and range. He felt confident that his unquantified (dataless) observations in this matter were reliable. Larimer County, Colorado. Early July (estival aspect); agronomic species were at phenological stages ranging from anthesis to grain-ripening. |
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69. Off to the side in early morning sun- Local stand of one-sided penstemon (Penstemon unilateralis) growing on a subalpine meadow that was subirrigated by lateral moverment of water from Big Thompson River, the floodplain of which this wet meadow had developed on. This photograph was taken in early morning hence the long shadows and more subtle colors in the less intense light of earlier hours. Angle between sun and subject was such that there was adequate bright light to get depth-of-field. For certain colors (eg. paler pastels) this is the prefered photographic environment, but the time for this particular light condition is very short-lived, a narrow gate indeed. For the great majority of both landscape and detailed (deep depth-of-field) prange plant pictures bright, intense, direct light is superior. Long shadows cast at this early morning atmosphere created a somewhat erie "photographic feeling". One-sided penstemon is one of the more widely distributed forbs (and one of the least choosey as to its habitat) throughout much of the Southern Rocky Mountains. It grows from the riparian zone of wet stream banks through subirrigated meadows such as this to drier and more shaded floors of ponderosa pine-bunchgrass woodland ranges out onto forest parks. Larimer County, Colorado. Early July; peak full-bloom stage of phenology. |
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70. Closer study- One-sided penstemon at closer camera range to present details of shoot and inflorescence. These plants were growing on a wet subalpine meadow on the floodplain of Big Thompson River. This wet portion of the meadow were subirrigted by lateral flow from the river. It was the lower end of the meadow and willow carr shown above. Larimer County, Colorado. Early July; peak full-bloom stage of phenology. |
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71. Wet and dry, herbaceous and woody- Subalpine mountain meadow in a stream valley with both wet meadow and dry meadow as well as a "little jag" of willow carr at the end of riparian scrub along an ephemeral drainage. The lighter green in background next to mesic montane forest (Douglas-fir, ponderosa pine, lodgepole pine) and the plant life on upper slope in oblique foreground was dry meadow whereas the different-colored strip of vegetation in middle (along the stream drainage) was wet meadow. The willow scrub was mostly Rocky Mountain willow with some Bebb's and Drummond's willow farther up the riparian zone. The second of these two slides presented some of the willow carr and adjoining vegetation (a thin band of wet meadow) at closer camera range. Plant species of dry meadow vegetation was Arctic or Baltic rush, the dominant, along with some sulphur-flowered wild-buckwheat (Eriogonum umbellatum) and one-sided penstemon. Larimer County, Colorado. Early July. FRES No. 37 (Mountain Meadows, listed under Grassland Ecosystems). Not delineated at Kuckler mapping scale. SRM 216 (Montane Meadows). Variant of Rush Series 241.92 n Rocky Mountain Alpine and Subalpine Marshland biotic community 241.9 of Brown et al. (1998, p. 45). Southern Rockies- Crystalline Forests Subalpine Ecoregion, 21b (Chapman et al., 2006). |
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72. Subalpine mountain meadow in a mountain valley- View across a subalpine meadow of both wet and dry portions (wet meadow, dry meadow) in the Southern Rocky Mountains. The edge of a mesic montane forest of Douglas-fir, lodgepole pine, ponderosa pine, and quaking aspen was in the distant background. Immediately in front of the forest and seen as a lighter band of green was dry mountain meadow. Range vegetation in the rest of the photograph (in front of the lighter green strip) was wet meadow with the varying colors due to different plant species which grew as colonies. The two main range species of this wet meadow were bluejoint or Canada reedgrass and water caric sedge (Carex aquatilis). The sward of wet meadow was presented in greater detail (at closer camera range) in the immediately two succeeding photographs and their caption. Larimer County, Colorado. Early July. FRES No. 37 (Mountain Meadows, listed under Grassland Ecosystems). Not delineated at Kuckler mapping scale. SRM 216 (Montane Meadows). Variant of Sedge Series 241.91 n Rocky Mountain Alpine and Subalpine Marshland biotic community 241.9 of Brown et al. (1998, p. 45). Southern Rockies- Crystalline Forests Subalpine Ecoregion, 21b (Chapman et al., 2006). |
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73. Species composition where wet- Two "photoplots" of the sward of the vegetation of the wet subalpine meadow introduced in the preceding slides. The dominant species was bluejoint or Canada reedgrass and the associate was water caric sedge. Larimer County, Colorado. Early July. Early estival aspect; pre-boot phenological stage in both species. |
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74. Rushed by dryness-Local stand of Baltic or Arctic rush (Junmcus balticus var. montanus= J. arcticus ssp. ater, J. ater) on drier, higher slope of a subalpine mountain meadow (park). Hermann (1975, ps. 46-47) described this species as the "most plentiful rush" in the greater Rocky Mountain-Colorado Basin Region.noting further that the J. balticus group "comprise an extremely polymorphic complex" and one whose members are "among our most important forage plants". According to Hermann (1975, ps. 46-47) this high forage value is in hay where Baltic rush with its high protein content (and less opportunity for animals to feed selectivity) is palatable. Hermann remarked that cattle would not eat Baltic or Arctic rush "in pastur", but the current author observed on numerous wet meadows beef cattle of typical British breeds and crosses (Hereford, Anugs, black baldy) grazing J. balticus, often to moderate or greater degrees of use especially on wet meadows and irrigated pasture. Larimer County, Colorado. Early-July. |
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75. It wasn't that cold- Habit of Baltic or Arctic rush on a drier microsite of a subalpine mountain meadow. Baltic rush has relatively large, stout, and long rhizomes, but indivudual clonal units commonly develop as "small tufts" within sod-forming populations (Hermann, 1975, p. 46). One such cespitose group or modules was shown among rhizome-arising separate shoots in this photograph. Scientific and common names notwithstanding, Baltic or Arctic rush is well-adapted to high summer temperatures (at least given adequate soil water). Photographs of plants on this subalpine meadow were taken on a bright, summer afternoon with temperatures in excess of 90o Farenheit. Larimer County, Colorado. Early-July. |
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76. Shhoting fruits- Shoots of Baltic or Arctic rush with fruit clusters. These examples were on the same subalpine mountain meadow as featured above. The fruit of Juncus species is a loculicidal capsule, "a capsule which dehisces by means of openings into the locules, about midway between the partitions". Locule in this context is a cavity or space within the ovary. Capsule is a dry dehiscent fruit formed from a pistil having two or more fused carpels (Smith, 1977, ps. 66, 229, 291, 300). Larimer County, Colorado. Early-July. |
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77. Forb on the dry end- Sulphur-flowered wild-buckwheat (Eriogonum umbellatum) on the higher, drier portion of a subalpine mountain meadow in the Southern Rocky Mountains (first slide). This showy member of the Polygonaceae was growing alongside Arctic or Baltic rush, the dominant species, and one-sided penstemon, another colorful forb, of the dry upper edge of the meadow. Details of the flower cluster of this species (second slide) from outer edge of a riparian zone along Larimer County, Colorado and Roosevelt National Forest, Boulder County, Colorado, respectively. Early July; peak bloom. |
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78. Subalpine mountain meadow or park- "Park" is a term widely used in mountainous parts that, like such nouns as "cow", "cattle", "man", and "dog", has various meanings and conotations that are place- and situation-dependent. At the large geologic scale, park refers to land forms that are "breaks" (geologic interruptions or basins) in a mountain range or chain of peaks. This is particularily prominent in the Southern Rockys such that in Colorado there are the large and well-known North Park, South Park, and Middle Park as well as the San Luis Valley (which is a park-- in fact, the largest Colorado park--in this meaning even though it does not include the word in it's official designation). These parks tend to be predominantly grassland rather than forest formations, but typically there are also some forest, woodland, shrubland, and even subalpine meadow (= park) formations in the larger parks. (This was a good point at which to use "formation" to show how the term was taken from Geology by plant geographers and applied to Plant Geography and Plant Ecology to mean the broadest, most general unit of vegetation or the vegetation type at largest mapping scale.). At smaller (though still geologic-based) scale, park is used as a synonym for meadow, at least mountain meadow. This usage was applied two sentences above such that there are parks (meadows) within larger parks ( geologic depressions in a mountain range). Some of these meadows have official names that include park as part of that designation. Examples include Horsehoe Park, Moraine Park, and Willow Park in Rocky Mountain National Park, the nearest town to which is Estes Park (Colorado). Sometimes "park" is applied to an opening within an overall forest community or cover type in which case it is synonymous with the more familar "glade". In this usage park has the glade connotation of being "grassy" (or at least herbaceous), but where the park is wet or very moist it may support woody plants like willows, alders, birch, hawthorn, or smaller cottonwoods in which case the park will have a shrub or even scattered tree component. The subalpine mountain meadow or park displayed here is Fall River Horseshoe Park. It was carved by the Fall River Glacier and is an ancient lake basin formed when the terminal moraine acted as a dam of this glacial-scoured U-shaped valley. Here "park" also applies to the valley and, as explained in the preceding paragraph included some woody riparian vegetation. This was barely visible at the far edge of the park where various forest types (Douglas-fir type, ponderosa pine type, up through Englemann spruce-subalpine fir forest) grow in the various Life Zones of the mountains. Within Horseshoe Park there are various vegetational zones with habitats of the various species determined largely by soil water capacity and other edaphic factors. This photograph was taken during the most extreme drought in history of Colorado records (2002) when the meadow was dry for all practical purposes. Of course such periodic droughts may well be one factor (among several) that prevents invasion of the park by trees from the surrounding forest. In this phenomenon and in context of vegetational dynamics, catastrophic events like drought are "blessings in disguise" that maintain the ecological integrity of the vegetation and the structure and function of the ecosystem. Droughts, fires, avalanches, high winds, storms, etc. all fall into this category and are known by ecologists and natural resource practitioners as disturbances. Disturbances typically provide essential restorative roles to ecosystems. This is especially true for those range ecosystems that are seral to the types of climax vegetation that provide little range for grazing and browsing animals. Even in extreme drought the different plant communities of this subalpine mountain meadow can be distinguished by the various colors of the vegetation. For example, the tan-colored zone closest to the stream channel is comprised primarily of Carex species. The adjective "subalpine" is applied to meadows that are below (lower in elevation; farther down the mountain) the meadows of the apline ecosystem (the Alpine Life Zone) which are obviously alpine meadows. Plant communities (determined by species composition and structure of the vegetation) of alpine meadows and subalpine meadows are distinctively different just as are those of the various kinds of forests (Douglas-fir, ponderosa pine, lodgepole pine, Englemann spruce-subalpine fir). Many species are common to some or all of these communities (cover types, ecosystems, biomes; call them as you will), but the different proportions of them and the different physical and chemical (abiotic) factors create different kinds of vegetation. This includes vegetation that is unique in being a combination of different adjoining communities. Such vegetation is designated an ecotone or said to be ecotonal. It is a transition between adjacent plant communities. Small- scale ecotones were visible here in Horseshoe Park. The modifier "mountain" is used to distinguish meadows in mountainous terrain from those on lower land forms such as plains and valleys. Mountain meadows as well as those of river valleys or coastal areas can be classified as wet, mesic, or dry. As remarked previously, some distinctions among meadows, marshes, grasslands, bogs, or fens are arbitrary. Even with precise definitions, designation can legitimately vary among interpretors of different backgrounds, biases, and professions. Rocky Mountain National Park, Larimer County, Colorado. Late June. FRES No. 37 (Mountain Meadows, listed under Grassland Ecosystems). Not delineated at Kuckler mapping scale. SRM 216 (Montane Meadows). Sedge Series 241.91 in Rocky Mountain Alpine and Subalpine Marshland biotic community 241.9 of Brown et al. (1998, p. 45). Southern Rockies- Crystalline Forests Subalpine Ecoregion, 21b (Chapman et al., 2006). |
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79. Mosaic mostly by water-Another view of the subalpine mountain meadow introduced above (Fall River Horseshoe Park). This landscape view was taken from a vantage point on dry meadow (foreground, distant background) and wet meadow between (background). Gramnoids (grasses and grasslike plants) comprised almost all of the meadow vegetation. Differences in quantity of effective soil water content accounted for most of the considerable variation (much of it quite local in spatial scale) in species composition of this range vegetation. Various Carex species predominated on the dry bench in the foreground. This photograph was taken early in the growing season so that positive identification to species was impossible. Rocky Mountain National Park, Larimer County, Colorado.Mid- June. FRES No. 37 (Mountain Meadows, listed under Grassland Ecosystems). Not delineated at Kuckler mapping scale. SRM 216 (Montane Meadows). Sedge Series 241.91 in Rocky Mountain Alpine and Subalpine Marshland biotic community 241.9 of Brown et al. (1998, p. 45). Southern Rockies- Crystalline Forests Subalpine Ecoregion, 21b (Chapman et al., 2006). |
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80. On the dry and sunny side- A predominately southslope served as the photographic reference point for this view of Fall River Horseshoe Park. Forest communities in distant background ranged from scattered pockets of Douglas-fir open to ponderosa pine savanna and woodland, quaking aspen parksup to Engelmann spruce-subalpine fir. Range plants had progressed in phenological development more on this drier south-facing slope, but the author was limited in identification of species to families Gramineae and Cyperaceae other than to recognize to genus level in case of Carex. Rocky Mountain National Park, Larimer County, Colorado. Mid-June. FRES No. 37 (Mountain Meadows, listed under Grassland Ecosystems). Not delineated at Kuckler mapping scale. SRM 216 (Montane Meadows). Sedge Series 241.91 n Rocky Mountain Alpine and Subalpine Marshland biotic community 241.9 of Brown et al. (1998, p. 45). Southern Rockies- Crystalline Forests Subalpine Ecoregion, 21b (Chapman et al., 2006). |
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81. In the wet bottom- Upper (higher) edge of wet mountain meadow at lower end of Fall River Horseshoe Park provided this example of meadow ("park) vegetation that developed under more a mesic edaphic environment. At this stage of the annual cycle in the range plant community the species in most advanced stages of phenological development were the spikerushes (Eleocharis spp.) A local stand of common spikerush (E. macrostachya= E. paulustris) formed bulk of the vegetation shown in the foreground of this photograph whereas populations of few-flowered spikerush or spikesedge (E. paucifora= E. quinqueflora), in association with Juncus and Carex species made up the range vegetation in lower, wetter (marshlike) habitats in the background. Although few-flowered spikerush provided the bulk of biomass at this early part of the growing season Carex and/or Juncus species contribued more of the standing crop as the annual period of plant growth advanced. Forbs were non-existent. Rocky Mountain National Park, Larimer County, Colorado. Mid-June. FRES No. 37 (Mountain Meadows, listed under Grassland Ecosystems). Not delineated at Kuckler mapping scale. SRM 216 (Montane Meadows). Sedge Series 241.91 in Rocky Mountain Alpine and Subalpine Marshland biotic community 241.9 of Brown et al. (1998, p. 45). Southern Rockies- Crystalline Forests Subalpine Ecoregion, 21b (Chapman et al., 2006). |
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82. Spiked by water- Local stand of few-flowered spikerush (E. paucifora= E. quinqueflora) on a lower, wetter poration of a wet, subalpine, mountain meadow. Local zones or "strips" of Juncus sp. grew on either side of this population of spikerush. Rocky Mountain National Park, Larimer County, Colorado. Mid-June, early bloom stage of phenology. |
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83. Another view another year- View across Fall River Horseshoe Park from a higher slope as seen the year after the scenes and plants shown in the preceding slides. Wet meadow was in the midground whereas that in the foreground was dry meadow. More precisely, foreground vegetation was on an ecotone between dry meadow and a mixed prairie community that was the lower slope (toe slope) of a ponderosa pine woodland to savanna. The dry meadow featured here was an herbaceous community of needle-and-thread (Stipa comata) and Colordo or confusing rush (Juncus confusus). This subalpine mountain meadow was a relatively large park (not counting area-size parks like North, Middle, and South Parks). Park in this usage was explained above. Rocky Mountain National Park, Larimer County, Colorado. Early July. FRES No. 37 (Mountain Meadows, listed under Grassland Ecosystems). Not delineated at Kuckler mapping scale. SRM 216 (Montane Meadows). Variant of Rush Series 241.92 in Rocky Mountain Alpine and Subalpine Marshland biotic community 241.9 of Brown et al. (1998, p. 45). Southern Rockies- Crystalline Forests Subalpine Ecoregion, 21b (Chapman et al., 2006). |
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84. And still yet more variation in its vegetation- "Photoquadrant" of some of the range vegetation on the dry subalpine mountain meadow shown immediately above. Dominant range speacies were needle-and-thread and Colorado or confusing rush. This photograph was what the photographer regarded as a "flock shot", a term borrowed from waterfowlers meaning that nothing in particular (not a specific target) was focused on and instead a general "trying-to-shoot-at-as-much-as-possible" and "take your chances" blast in the general direction (ie. a shotgun approach). This is often the best, indeed the only way, when trying for great depth-of-field under an overcast sky with slow film. Rocky Mountain National Park, Larimer County, Colorado. Early July. FRES No. 37 (Mountain Meadows, listed under Grassland Ecosystems). Not delineated at Kuckler mapping scale. SRM 216 (Montane Meadows). Variant of Rush Series 241.92 in Rocky Mountain Alpine and Subalpine Marshland biotic community 241.9 of Brown et al. (1998, p. 45). Southern Rockies- Crystalline Forests Subalpine Ecoregion, 21b (Chapman et al., 2006). |
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85. Yeah, but they're all confusing- Stand of Colorado or confusing rush (Juncus confusus) growing on dry (less mesic, upper slope) part of subalpine mountain meadow at lower (eastern) end of Fall River Horseshoe Park. Other Juncus species were growing on lower, wetter parts of this meadow, but those were later maturing than this species and could not be identified from vegetative characteristics. Confusing or Colorado sedge is--as indicated by "Colorado" in one of the common names--one of the more widespread and plentiful Juncus species throughout the Southern Rocky Mountains. On this "park" Colorado sedge was dominant to co-dominant with needle-and-thread (Stipa comata), this latter being the associate when not the co-dominant species on drier, higher habitats of this subalpine meadow. Rocky Mountain National Park, Larimer County, Colorado. Early June, ripening fruit stage of phenology. |
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86. Clusters of dry fruit- Sexual shoot of Colorado or confusing rush with a group of maturing capsules, the fruit type of Juncaceae. There are fewer Juncus than Carex species so the former are not as confusing (frustrating) to identify, but they are still a challenge to all but those specializing in this family. The definitive authority (or closest thing to it) for Juncus species in the Rocky Mountain Region remains Hermann (1975) who described Colorado rush (including forage value (Hermann, 1975. ps. 26-27). Fall River Horsehoe Park, Rocky Mountain National Park, Larimer County, Colorado. Early June, ripening fruit stage of phenology. |
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87.Big disturbance by a little critter- Local spots of exposed soil on a subalpine meadow were the results of burrowing and related activies of northern pocket gopher (Thomomys talpoides), a native fossorial (burrowing or digging, usually applied in context of ground-dwelling) rodent. Mixing of soil within the soil profile by animal burrowing as well as through freeze-thaw and shring-swell action is pedoturpation. This form of soil and vegetation disturbance is a natural process that has been going on for millennia. This was another view of Fall River Horseshoe Park showing the vegetational mosaic of various herbaceous communities that was primarily the influence of varying degrees of soil wetness. This was a "patchwrok" of wet and dry meadows at small (local) scale. Rocky Mountain National Park, Larimer County, Colorado. Mid-June. FRES No. 37 (Mountain Meadows, listed under Grassland Ecosystems). Not delineated at Kuckler mapping scale. SRM 216 (Montane Meadows). Sedge Series in Rocky Mountain Alpine and Subalpine Marshland biotic community of Brown et al. (1998). Southern Rockies- Crystalline Forests Subalpine Ecoregion, 21b (Chapman et al., 2006). |
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88. Subalpine mountain meadow- This drainage (part of the greater Colorado River System) has several zones of vegetation primarily determined by cressard (soil water content). Willows and other hydrophytic shrubs form a riparian zone (left and center background) and Douglas-fir forest (far background) developed just beyond the hydric (wet) zone. Both dry and wet forms of mountain meadow were shown in the foreground. Overgrazing (prolongued overuse that resulted in retrogressive vegetational change; known to rangemen and wildlifers as range deterioration) was clearly evident on this game range. Longterm overuse allowed some displacement of native grasses and sedges by exotic species such as Kentucky bluegrass, timothy, and common dandelion (Taraxacum officinale). Dandelions were conspicuous in the foreground of this overgrazed elk range. Kawuneeche Valley, Rocky Mountain National Park, Grand County, Colorado. June. FRES No. 37 (Mountain Meadows). No Kuchler unit at this scale. SRM 216 (Montane Meadows, variant of a general cover type designation/description and, thereby, of limited utility here; the SRM did not publish a mountin meadow cover type for the Rocky Mountains). Sedge Series in Rocky Mountain Alpine and Subalpine Marshland biotic community of Brown et al. (1998). Southern Rockies- Crystalline Forests Subalpine Ecoregion, 21b (Chapman et al., 2006). |
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89. Common dandelion (Taraxacum officinale)- Though it caused mental anguish for your author to include this ubiquitous yard weed in a publication devoted to range vegetation he did so recognizing that education ranks aesthetics. (This is one of the 200 species selected for the Master Plant List for the International Range Plant Identification Contest sponsored by the Society for Range Management.) Overgrazing by elk of a subalpine mountain meadow serving as public range in a national park allowed invasion by this weedy Eurasian composite. (If livestock had been forced to abuse a range to this degree a citizenry of city slickers would have justifiably thrown a fecal fit, but somehow exceptions seem to be made when wildife are compelled through human mismanagement to do the same thing.) The common dandelion is one of the most widespread weeds on Earth. It is most common on turf mismanaged by overcropping. That includes overgrazed mountain meadows (especially at subalpine zones) the same as overmowed yards. Taraxacum species (there are three native ones in Rocky Mountain National Park) are in the Liguliflorae of the Compositae, the subfamily whose members exude a milky latex in the sap. The fruit of dandelion is an achene (dry, single-seeded, indehiscent fruit with pericarp and seed coat separate) with a pappus (a modified calyx) attached to it that very effectively disseminates the propagule. This entire structure is attached to the central receptacle (the rounded, expanded top of the "flower stalk"). Ottawa County, Oklahoma. March. |
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90. Wet subalpine mountain meadow- The sedge meadow seen in these two views was farther down the Kawuneeche Valley (lower elevation) from the overgrazed upper end of the watershed shown in the preceding landscape photograph. In the current photo-plot there was very limited grazing of the meadow range and plants had developed with little utilization. The dominant-- almost exclusive-- species was beaked sedge (Carex rostrata): a beaked sedge consociation. The closest thing to an associate species (it was more like a rarity) was bluejoint or Canada reedgrass (Calamagrostis canadensis). Bluejoint was in full-flower, but the beak sedge was in pre-bloom stage. The low shrub seen in the second view was shrubby cinquefoil (Potentilla fruticosa= Dasiphora fruticosa= Pentaphylloides floribunda). Kawuneeche Valley, Rocky Mountain National Park, Grand County, Colorado. June. FRES No. 37 (Mountain Meadows, listed under Grassland Ecosystem). No Kuchler units at this spatial or mapping scale. SRM 216 (Montane Meadows, a general cover type designation, hence of limited value; no meadow meadow cover types given for the Rocky Mountains). Sedge Series in Rocky Mountain Alpine and Subalpine Marshland biotic community of Brown et al. (1998). Southern Rockies- Crystalline Forests Subalpine Ecoregion, 21b (Chapman et al., 2006). |
| More mesic or hydric "spots" (whether different range sites or simply local microsites was a call beyond this author) in this same park or valley were dominated by willows (Salix brachycarpa, S. plantifolia) growing on the beaked sedge meadow more as a savanna than as a willow thicket or carr. For consistency of presentation, slides of this Salix-Carex savanna or shrubland vegetation were included under the Willow heading of Shrublands. The ecological status of these willows on a wet subalpine meadow meadow was unknown (and would probably always be arbitrary and arguable). Given the inclusion of meadows under the Grasslands and the fact that willow-dominated vegetation is shrubland it seemed most logical to keep the "willers" in one place. Vegetation is like these computer software programs (eg. Dream Weaver, Microsoft) with their factory installed glitches: it has a mind of it's own. Viewers wishing to follow the "flow" of vegetation down this mountain (Kawuneeche) valley should now get on the "mix-master" table of contents, take the Shrublands exit, and stay on it until the Willows turnoff is reached. |
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| 91. Bluejoint or Canada reedgrass (Calamagrostis canadensis)- This member of the Aveneae or oat tribe is one of the more important forage-producing grasses in moist and northern range habitats. Its range extends from Atlanic to Pacific Coasts. It occurs in all of the Prairie Provinces, all of the 11 Western Range States, and all of the 17 Western Range States except Oklahoma and Texas. It is a very important range grass in Alaska where it has it's own rangeland cover type designation and description: SRM 905. Forage value of bluejoint or marsh reedgrass is fair to good, but quantity is outstanding this typically being the major producer on sites and types where it occurs (ie. it tends to be the dominant species where it is found). Kawuneeche Valley, Rocky Mountain National Park, Grand County, Colorado. June. |
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92. Wet enough to be boggy- Wet mountain (subalpine) meadow in the Culebra Range of the Southern Rocky Mountains (just below North Leveta Pass). Dominant plant species were bog or marsh bluegrass (Poa leptocoma) and longstyle rush (Juncus longistylis). There were some other grasses and Carex species in this wet meadow, but at this stage of the vegetation annual growth cycle these two species furnished almost all of the biomass. They also seemed to be the species that made up most of the previous year's herbage. The beauty of this lovely meadow was only slightly marred by the yellow heads of common dndelion. This latter is a naturalized, Eurasian composite that is a widespread and horribly invasive weed throughout much of the Southern Rockies. A general landscape view was presented in the first of these two photograph while the second slide showed the sward of this wetland range. Forest vegetation on mountains surrounding this "park" was mostly Upper Montane Coniferous Forest-White Fir-Douglas-Fir-Ponderosa Pine Series (Dick-Peddie, 1993, ps. 62-64). Reecall from above that the term "park" as used by local rural folk in the Rocky Mountains is the traditional term for mountain meadow of open (treeless), grass-dominated areas within larger areas of forests (ie. "park" is more-or-less synonymous with meadow, especially mountain meadow). North Leveta Pass, Trichera Ranch, Castillo County, Ccolorado. Late June (early estival aspect). FRES No. 37 (Mountain Meadows, listed under Grassland Ecosystems). Not delineated at Kuckler mapping scale. SRM 216 (Montane Meadows). Sedge Series in Rocky Mountain Alpine and Subalpine Marshland biotic community of Brown et al. (1998). Southern Rockies- Sedimentary Subalpine Forests Ecoregion, 21e (Chapman et al., 2006). |
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93. Thatch on the meadow- Detail of the sward of the wet, subalpine mountain meadow introduced in the preceding two photographs. The dead straw or thatch-like material was the accumulation of last year's shoots of longstyle rush and bog or marsh bluegrass, co-dominants of this mountain wetland. This wet meadow had not been hayed or grazed during the last year (perhaps a few before that). North La Veta Pass, Trichera Ranch, Castillo County, Ccolorado. Late June (early estival aspect). FRES No. 37 (Mountain Meadows, listed under Grassland Ecosystems). Not delineated at Kuckler mapping scale. SRM 216 (Montane Meadows). Sedge Series in Rocky Mountain Alpine and Subalpine Marshland biotic community of Brown et al. (1998). Southern Rockies- Sedimentary Subalpine Forests Ecoregion, 21e (Chapman et al., 2006). |
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94. Really wet- Two more views of the wet, subalpine mountain meadow just below North Leveta Pass that was introduced above. Both of these photographic perspectives provided another example of a "park" (the term was explained earlier in this chapter) and showed the land form of "park" as it is applied in the Rocky Mountain Region. This mountain meadow was lower in elevation than alpine (above timberline or treeline) mountain meadows, thereby needing the adjective of subalpine for clarifiction. This wet "park" was picturesquely positioned between higher mountain slopes and crests on which the major forest range type was Upper Montane Coniferous Forest-White Fir-Douglas-Fir-Ponderosa Pine Series (Dick-Peddie, 1993, ps. 62-64). In this example, there was not an alpine zone on surrounding mountain tops so the herbaceous range vegetation was in a bowl-shaped valley that was surrounded by forests. An arragnement of natural vegetation in which a meadow is "engulfed" by forests is a textbook example of what is implied when local hill folk speak of "park". Co-dominants of this wet, subalpine meadow were marsh or bog bluegrass and longstyle rush. There were a few other graminoids present including some Carex species and, undoubtedly, other grasses (probably Poa species) and perhaps other Juncus species. At this early part of the short growing season later-maturing plants species had not progressed enough to flowering stage to be positively identified. Only local or experienced botanists could identify these species in the strictly vegetative stages of phenology. In fact, even the most comprehensive and detailed keys for grasses (Shaw, 2008), sedges (Hurd et al. 1998), rushes (Hermann, 1975), or all these (Weber, 1990) relied on inflorescences and/or fruits for identification to species level. For instance, in his Juncus key Herman (1975) even distinguished among species on basis of length of anther, and to tenths of a millimeter! Regardless, the bulk of current season's biomass at time of photographs was made up of bog bluegrass and longstyle rush. North La Veta Pass, Trichera Ranch, Castillo County, Ccolorado. Late June (early estival aspect). FRES No. 37 (Mountain Meadows, listed under Grassland Ecosystems). Not delineated at Kuckler mapping scale. SRM 216 (Montane Meadows). Sedge Series in Rocky Mountain Alpine and Subalpine Marshland biotic community of Brown et al. (1998). Southern Rockies- Sedimentary Subalpine Forests Ecoregion, 21e (Chapman et al., 2006). |
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| 95. All bogged up- Bog or marsh bluegrass (Poa leptocoma) growing on a wet, subalpine mountain meadow at La Veta Pass. This was an important--locally dominant--range plant on this wet "park" (medow). North La Veta Pass, Trichera Ranch, Costillo County, Colorado.Late June (early spring), early bloom stage (panicle just emerged from boots). |
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| 96. Bowled over- Sugar bowl, hairy, or Scott's leatherflower (Clematis hirsutissima subsp. scottii) growing on a drier portion of the wet, subalpine meadow at North La Veta Pass. Trichera Ranch, Costillo County, Colorado.Late June (early spring), peak-bloom stage |
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97. Mesic subalpine meadow or parkland - Some of the most botanically diverse and lushest mountain meadows are those of the Olympic Mountains in the precipitation-drenched Olympic Peninsula. Franklin and Dyrness (1973, ps. 250-264) described several of thse subalpine herb communities. Many of these subalpine parklands occur immediately adjacent to timberline communities that range from forests of large trees down to krumholtz scrub vegetation. Often woody and herbaceous range communities developed in an intermixed patchwork-like pattern. In other locations subalpine meadows are of substantial "field"-size such as the one shown here. This large, picturesque meadow was characteristic of the sedge meadow community. There were numerous species of forbs and grasses (as shown below), but showy sedge (Carex spectabilis) was the dominant parkland species. This was an example of the "lush herbaceous" community known also as the "Tall Sedge" type (Franklin and Dyrness, 1973, p. 258). Soils of this site were generally well-drained yet mesic as result of generally heavy precipitation and cooler temperatures at the relatively high elevation (over 5200 feet). Species present included: C. spectabilis, Juncus drummondii, J. mertensianus, Festuca viridula, Phleum alpinum, Stipa comata, Sitanion hystrix, Bistorta bistortoides, Erythionium grandiflorum, Allium crenulatum, Lupinus latifolius var. subalpinus, Geum triflorum, Artemesia trifurca, Achillea millefolium subalpina, Cirsium edule, Agroseris grandiflora, and Eriogonum ovalifolium among others. Several of these species were presented below. Subalpine tree communities dominated by subalpine fir (Abies lasiocarpa) surrounded the margins of this meadow that was technically below timberline. Like the other subalpine meadows presented in this section this range plant community was included with the grassland vegetation and cover types (even when grasslike plants such as Carex and Juncus species and not grasses were community dominants). These subalpine meadows were treated separately from true alpine communities although certain local plant communities in alpine ecosystems resembled subalpine parklands in physiognomy, structure, and species composition. Big Meadow, Olympic National Park, Clallam County, Washington. June. FRES No. 37 ( Mountain Meadows, listed under Grassland Ecosystems). Kuchler-45 (Alpine Meadows and Barren; Agrostis, Carex, Festuca, Poa). SRM 216 (Montane Meadows). Mixed Bunchgrass Series within Cascade-Sierran Alpine and Subalpine Grassland biotic community of Brown et al. (1998). Showy sedge meadow association of Kagan et al. (2004). North Cascades-High Olympics Ecoregion, 77i (Pater et al., undated). |
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98. Edge effect- Juncture of subalpine forest and subalpine meadow created the well-known "edge effect" so favorable to many wildlife species, Columbia black-tailed deer (Odocoileus hemionus columbianus) in this example. The subalpine meadow was subject of interest in this section with the subalpine forest being treated separately under Forests (Sierra, Cascade and Coast Ranges). It was pointed out to viewers at this point however that the ecotone between forest (or perhaps more aptly described as woodland) was extraordinarily narrow, if in fact an ecotone existed at all. The stunted, dwarfish aubalpine fir that had slowly invaded the meadow constituted this transition zone as if a tug-of-war was ongoing between these communities (biomes for that matter). Meadow species were listed in preceding caption. Many were shown in photographs below. Big Meadow, Olympic National Park, Clallam County, Washington. Elevation over 5200 feet. June. Classification of subalpine parkland: FRES No. 37 (Montane Meadows, under Grassland Ecosystems), Kuchler-45 (Alpine Meadows and Barren; Agrostis, Carex, Festuca, Poa), SRM 216 (Montane Meadows). Mixed Bunchgrass Series within Cascade-Sierran Alpine and Subalpine Grassland biotic community of Brown et al. (1998). Showy sedge meadow association of Kagan et al. (2004). North Cascades-High Olympics Ecoregion, 77i (Pater et al., undated). |
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99. Range community of Olympic Mountains subalpine parkland- In this photo-plot of a subalpine mountain meadow the dominant species, showy sedge, was featured prominently as it was "accompanied" by local associate, Arctic or subalpine lupine (Lupinus latifolius subalpinus). Other species present included alpine timothy (Phleum alpinum), Merten's rugh (Juncus mertensianus) and greenleaf fescue (Festuca viridula). Big Meadow, Olympic National Park, Clallam County, Washington. Elevation above 5200. June. FRES No. 37 (Montane Meadows). Kuchler45 (Alpine Meadows and Barren). SRM 216 (Montane Meadows). Mixed Bunchgrass Series within Cascade-Sierran Alpine and Subalpine Grassland biotic community of Brown et al. (1998). Showy sedge meadow association of Kagan et al. (2004). North Cascades-High Olympics Ecoregion, 77i (Pater et al., undated). |
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100. Turf (sward) of mesic subalpine mountain meadow in Olympic Peninsula- Photo-plot of graminoid community of subalpine parkland in Olympic Mountains. Dominant species was showy sedge with Merten's sedge, Drummonds sedge (Carex drummondii), alpine timothy, and greenleaf fescue well-represented. This was the Tall Sedge cover type or community (Franklin and Dyrness, 1973, p. 258). The main body of this community, the typical botanical expression of Tall Sedge or Showy Sedge vegetation, was graminoid with a turf-like physiognomy. Forbs other than subalpine lupine were very limited. Along edges of such subalpine meadows there where subalpine tree (or scrub-tree) communities of subalpine fir and, often, mountain hemlock (Tsuga mertensiana). Where woody vegetation adjoined subalpine meadows there were numerous forbs. Several of these were included below. Evidence of grazing (most likely by Columbia black-tailed deer; two slides immediately above) was conspicuous. Big Meadow, Olympic National Park, Clallam County, Washington. Elevation above 5200. June. FRES No. 37 (Montane Meadows). Kuchler 45 (Alpine Meadows and Barren). SRM 216 (montane Meadows). Mixed Bunchgrass Series within Cascade-Sierran Alpine and Subalpine Grassland biotic community of Brown et al. (1998). Showy sedge meadow association of Kagan et al. (2004). North Cascades-High Olympics Ecoregion, 77i (Pater et al., undated). |
| The species richness of subalpine meadows in the Olympic Mountains rivaled their aesthetic quality and was one of the factors contributing to the beauty of this landscape. Common plants observed on a subalpine mountain meadow and it's ecotone with subalpine woody vegetation followed. Vegetation was at, or close to, peak standing crop in the early estival aspect. Elevation was 5200-5300 feet. |
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| 101. Showy sedge (Carex spectabilis)- The dominant species of one of the subalpine mountain meadow communities or types in the Pacific Northwest (Franklin and Dyrness, 1973, ps. 258-259). At anthesis phenological stage. |
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| 102. Drummond rush (Juncus drummondii)- Center plant with dead prostrate shoots was Drummond rush. Flower of Drummond rush in anthesis in second slide. Olympic National Park, Clallam County, Washington. June. |
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| 103. Merten's rush (Juncus mertensianus)- Colony of Merten's rush at edge of subalpine fir community. Inflorescence was in immediate post-bloom stage. Olympic National Park, Clallam County, Washington. June. |
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| 104. Greenleaf fescue (Festuca viridula)- This locally common associate species of subalpine parklands was growing at the edge of such a meadow in the Olympic Mountains. An inflorescence of alpine timothy in anthesis was growing at base of the fescue. A young inflorescence (panicle) of greenleaf fescue had just emerged from the boot as shown in the second photograph. Olympic National Park, Clallam County, Washington. June. |
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| 105. Alpine timothy (Phleum alpinum)- Whole shoots and inflorescence of alpine tomothy in anthesis. The panicle of timothy species is a contracted panicle. These particular plants were growing together with greenleaf fescue, showy sedge, and several speciesof forbs including the next two presented. Big Meadow, Olympic National Park, Clallam County, Washington. June. |
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| 106. Three-forked sagewort (Artemesia trifurcata)- The herbaceous member of the huge sagebrush group was growing beside the greenleaf fescue and alpine timothy shown in the preceding four slides. Big Meadow, Olympic National Park, Clallam County, Washington. June. |
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| 107. Indian or Cayuse thistle (Cirsium edule)- This native thistle is far from a weed, but it is sometimes common in disturbed areas like clearings or road rights-of-way. It is common in low moist areas of subalpine meadows. Big Meadow, Olympic National Park, Clallam County, Washington. June. |
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| 108. Bigflower mountain-dandelion (Agoseris grandiflora)- Mountain-dandelion is an apt name as this species is in the Liguliflorae subfamily that includes the lettuces and true dandelions and whose members secrete a milky latex in the sap and possess only ligulate, strap-shaped, ray flowers in the inflorescence head. Big Meadow, Olympic National Park, Clallam County, Washington. June. |
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| 109. Threadleaf sandwort (Arenaria capillaris)- Whole plant and flowering shoots of threadleaf sandwort at edge of subalpine parkland adjacent to rocky slope. Olympic National Park, Clallam County, Washington. June, |
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| 110. Narrow-sepaled phacelia (Phacelia leptosepala= P. hastata var. leptosepala)- Photographs of whole plant and flowering shoot of one of several species of Phacelia species that are notable Western Range forbs. This specimen was growing beside three-forked sagewort and showy sedge. Subalpine meadow, Olympic National Park, Clallam County, Washington. June. |
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| 111. Few-flowered or Martindale's biscuit-root or desert parsley (Lomatium martindalei)- This species is more common on drier sites of subalpine mountain meadows. This individual grew in association with threadleaf sandwort and greenleaf fescue on a dry, rocky south slope. Subalpine mountain meadow (elevation about 5300 feet), Olympic National Park, Clallam County, Washington. June. |
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| 112. Pink plume, lions beard, or prairie smoke (Geum triflorum)- This forb represented the rose family on a rocky slope where it grew with threadleaf sandwort, Martindale's biscuit-root, three-forked sagewort, and greenleaf fescue. Subalpine parkland (about 5300 feet elevation). Olympic National Park, Clallam County, Washington. June. |
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| 113. Broadleaf lupine generally, but at variety level alpine or Arctic lupine (Lupinus latifolius var. subalpinus)- This papilionaceous legume was the major forb on the main body of a subalpine mountain meadow where it formed a local associate with the dominant showy sedge. There are some sites where alpine lupine is co-dominant with showy sedge (Franklin and Dyrness, 1973, p. 259). In the Olympic Mountains (elevation was about 5300 feet), Olympic National Park, Clallam County, Washington. June. |
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114. Scalloped onion (Allium crenulatum)- This
attractive member of the lily family grew on some of the drier, shallower
sites of subalpine mountain meadows where it was associated with few-flowered
or Martindale's biscuit-root and threadleaf sandwort. Olympic Mountain
(5300 feet elevtion), Olympic National Park, Clallam County, Washington.
June.
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115. Wire rush meadow- This subalpine wet meadow was dominated by Baltic or wire rush (Juncus balticus). The associate plant was the limited component of Carex species. Individual plants of the introduced grasses, Kentucky bluegrass and timothy, were found as rarieties. The only forb was Missouri blueflag or the Rocky Mountain iris (Iris missouriensis). This was a consociation of wire rush. The brown patches were dead shoots of Juncus and not separate species like Carex or Poa (photograph taken during the most extreme drought in any one year since weather records began in Colorado). North Park, Jackson County, Colorado. June. FRES No. 37 (Mountain Meadows). No Kuchler unit at this spatial scale.SRM 216 (Montane Meadows, variant of a cover type much too general to be of much specific use). Rush Series in Rocky Mountain Alpine and Subalpine Marshland biotic community of Brown et al. (1998). Southern Rockies- Sagebrush Parks Ecoregion, 21i (Chapman et al., 2006). |
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| 116. Missouri or Rocky Mountain iris or wild blueflag (Iris missouriensis)- There is a rather large number of Iris species native to North America. In Notes on Western Range Forbs, Dayton (1960, p.56-59) listed 15 species for the "western range area" with 12 of these limited to the "Pacific region". Dayton (1960, p. 57) concluded that the Rocky Mountain iris was easily the most common and widely distributed of these western species. Given that several beautiful specimens were unstoppable by the driest year on record and were growing and blooming profusely on the wire rush meadow presented immediately above, this seemed a good place to present this range beauty for students' viewing pleasure. North Park, Jackson County, Colorado. June. |
| Organizational note: A section devoted to invasion of subalpine mountain meadows by various conifers was included in the subchapter devoted to Northern Cascades forests (Forests- Sierra-Cascades). |
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Lower Montane Meadows
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| 117. Dry Mountain (= Subalpine) Meadow- This is a Northern Rocky Mountain (= Petran) xeric subalpine mountain meadow dominated almost exclusively by tufted hairgrass (a consociation of that species). There are some Carex as well as Poa species but they are incidental. This depression fills with melt water early in the season but soon dries to the xeric state in contrast to the hydric and mesic states of wet and moist meadows seen in the previous slides. No appropriate FRES Number or Kuchler Unit. SRM 313 (Tufted Hairgrass-Sedge ). Not a specific designation in Brown et al. (1998), but could be interpreted as Mixed Meadow Series in Rocky Mountain Montane Grassland biotic community. Middle Rockies- Yellowstone Plateau Ecoregion, 17j (Chapman et al.). |
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| 118. Tufted hairgrass- This distinctive cespitose grass is a dominant species on such range types as alpine rangeland (SRM 410), subalpine mountain meadows (eg. SRM 313, tufted hairgrass-sedge), California coastal prairie (SRM 214), and tundra meadows (eg. SRM 910, tundra hairgrass). |
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Flood Meadows and Marshes
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The section below included kinds of range vegetation comprised of grasses and/or grasslike plants that develop on wet soil and make up herbaceous wetlands. Some of these range plant communities develop on land the surface of which is covered by water yearlong (or at least a good part of the year or plant growing season) and whose subsurface usually stays perpetually moist to wet. These yearlong wet or, at least, moist wetlands are marshes. A similar yet different category or kind of herbaceous wetland is that on which range plant communities have standing water or are wet on the soil surface only seasonally or, often, only during part of a season (eg. land surface inundated only in early to mid-spring, land flooded primarily in winter). The latter wetlands have traditionally been called flood meadows though many of them consist of the same plant species as marshes, the more obvious form of herbaceous wetlands. Marshes can be wet due to flooding that resulted from overland flow (surface runoff) of water, especially streams overflowing their banks. Marshes can also form on rangeland that is not flooded by flowing water per se but instead has standing surface water due to poorly drained soils. Some people regard both of these conditions as flooding whereas others would limit the term "flooding" to inundation of land by water from streams. By some criteria or definitions many or most marshes are not flooded, hence this wetland vegetation cannot be regarded as flood meadows (say, those that do not occupy flood plains). Some (or maybe most) marshes are not even meadows. Similarly, not all flood meadows are wetlands, at least not yearlong. Synopsis: wet meadows and marshes sometimes have been regarded as different kinds or categories of herbaceous rangeland. Both categories of groups--assuming they are different enough to be distinguished-- of range cover types were included in this section. |
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119. Intermountain flood meadow- An intermountain flood meadow that by summer will become a mesic or even dry meadow supporting members of all three major grasslike forage families: Typhaceae, Juncaeae, and Cyperaceae. In the foreground of uncut vegetation beginning at right is common or narrowleaf cattail (Typha domingensis = T. angustifolia var. domingensis). Broadleaf or common cattail (T. latifolia) also occurs on this meadow but cannot be seen from this angle. Background vegetation is dominated by soft-stem bulrush (Scirpus validus), but hardstem bulrush (S. acutus) and common three square (S. pungens) are also common on flood meadows of the area. Each of these Scirpus species was assigned to its own series by Montana Natural Heritage Program (1988). Bulrushes are commonly called tules in this part of the country. Hence this is a tule marsh. Beneath the more open areas of tules or in patches among them are sedges and wire rush (Juncus balticus) and toad rush (J. bufonius). Sedges include blackcreeper sedge (Carex praegracilis), slender or wool-fruit sedge (C. lasiocarpa), and slenderbeaked sedge (C. athrostachya). Giant burreed (Sparaganium eurycarpum) is also present behind the tules. The rank overly mature herbage shown here is not very palatable even to cattle (not to mention small ruminants or horses). Cattails are the lowest of all in forage value, which is why they have been left where possible. Cows have to be cold and hungry before they will readily eat coarse flood meadow hay except for that which is mostly inland saltgrass. Otherwise they just lay in it. Most flood meadows are valuable as habitat for migratory waterfowl and leaving patches of unmowed tules andcattails is desirable. Bear Lake Valley, Franklin County, Idaho. Estival aspect, July. FRES No. 41 (Wet Grasslands Ecosystem), K-42 (Tule Marshes). There is no SRM designation for tule marsh (or any wetland for that matter except riparian vegetation) in Great Basic Cover Types. This is a common situation— in fact, more often than not —for meadows in general and specifically for flood meadows. They are simply not described, usually not even recognized with a name or number. This is most remarkable given the current general interest in wetlands and the central importance of these flood meadows in ranching and public land law as will now be explained. This wetland is an example of a vegetation cover type and a land use characteristic of the northern Intermountain Region, especially the Interior Northwest. A natural broad meadow flooded in the spring with melt water from surrounding hills supports aquatic graminoid plants such that it is utilized for hay. The hay was traditionally put up in haystacks which were then fenced and cattle were wintered on the meadows or "stackyards". When cattle were moved off the flood meadows (which are dry summer through winter) to spring range, fences are removed (and fencing material stored for the next year) and the dung was scattered with tractor-(rarely, horse)-drawn drags before the meadows are flooded by spring run-off of snow melt from the hills. Runoff also goes into rivers and lakes. Some of this spills over as overflow water and is used directly on the flood meadows. In addition, some of the river and lake water is also used by ranchers according to their water rights. There may be an irrigation district with a “water master” used to regulate this water through a series of ditches, cannels, and outlets. The water master is “the law”, the legal official who apportions the water according to water rights by the “Colorado” or “California” Doctrine of Prior Appropriation. In the Seventeen Western Range States that begin with the tier of Great Plains States and extend to the Pacific, the Anglo Saxon and "eastern states". Riparian Doctrine was superceded by that of Prior Appropriateion developed by miners. This allows water rights such that water becomes private property just like land. In fact, in semiarid and arid regions water rights and water as private property is more important than land ownership because much of such land is useless for farming or even ranching without surface water. Water is part of commensurate base property, the basis for allocation of grazing privileges on state and federal lands (public range). The principle of commensurability means that a livestock owner can “run” (graze) on public range only the number of animal units (measured as animal unit months of forage) for which he can produce feed from his private property to support during the non-grazing season. Due to the all-determining role of water rights (water ownership) the Taylor Grazing Act, which authorized the Bureau of Land Management (United States Department of Interior) to regulate and manage grazing on the former Publci Domain, can administer range allotments based on water rather than on land (ie. water not land is the base property). It is hay meadows (and the water to flood them) like the one seen here that constitute the actual base property (ie. that are the basis of grazing privileges). This insured that the principle of priority (“first in time, first in rights”) was preserved. When a ranch with a BLM or Forest Service grazing permit or allotment sells the priority typically passes with the property. Thus real estate value of the ranch includes the grazing privilege on the public land as well as private property. This is why ranch owners could afford to invest some of their money and labor for improvement and development of public range to which they held the grazing privilege. If the rancher who held the grazing privilege (and made such investments) lost his privilege or, more commonly, had to cut the number of head he could run on the allotment or turn out later in spring or take off stock earlier in fall (ie. he could buy fewer animal units months of feed) this reduced returns to his capital investment. The "back gate swings both ways". Private investment could also benefit the public because things like water development increase carrying capacity for wildlife on public land, land to which the tax-paying public has free access. Perhaps even more importantly, feed such as hay grown on flood meadows benefits native ruminants like mule deer and elk. The importance of flood meadows as nesting and stop-over habitat for migratory waterfowl cannot be overemphasized. By tying grazing privileges to base property (ie. preserving the principles of priority and commensurability), rather than an alternative form of allocation such as competitive sealed bidding, the owner of private property is encouraged to care for, improve, and efficiently use his private property of land and water. This partnership fosters greater conservation of natural resources, lends economic stability to local communities and, especially, stabilizes the livestock industries. Private property of water can be separate from that of land. A land and water owner can sell both or one without the other. For example, cities along the Front Range in Colorado have purchased water rights from farmers and ranchers living at considerable distances from the city limits. This may force land owners to convert cropland back to range. Or it may compel them to sell land and water for suburban land development, that cancerous scourge of God’s creation. Likewise, if governmental policy— for whatever reason(s) —make it unfeasible or impossible for ranchers to continue to live their chosen way of life they have forced on them the imperative to sell and move off the land. The most readily buyer is often a land developer such that the fomer ranch, “natural area”, and wildlife habitat is turned into another damnable subdivision. This is even worse than would first appear due to the usual land (and water) ownership pattern. Scarcity of water, the life blood of existence, in the West forced the first European occupants to acquire title to and settle on land along creeks, rivers, lakes, etc. which had access to water adequate for domestic, livestock, mining, and irrigation use. The remaining Public Domain was useful mostly for watershed and grazing (some lumbering) in the case of National Forests and for the most extensively managed grazing in what eventually became land administered by Bureau of Land Management. In this way the more level, best watered land having the “highest and best” economic use, the land with the greatest capability for all uses, became private property. The land nobody but timber thieves, prospectors, and free-range stockmen wanted (could use) became public land, often public land without the water rights. If public land ranchers, the owners of the water and the “prime” watered land, are forced off of public range by urban, environmentalist voters ranchers have the economic incentive to sell their property so as to ruin it for the very purposes for which they were presumedly driven off the public land. (By the way, these urban voters become environmentalists wishing to “preserve nature” after they got their lot in surburbia with the “ranch-style” two-car garage house and three tomato plants— and before the divorce. Their surburban lot was, of course, taken out of “nature” or at least an orchard or “cow pasture”, but that was before IGM or I Got Mine.) This lesson was learned, belatedly and more or less begrudgingly, by such glossy magazine organizations as the Sierra Club. Welcome to the club, clubbers. |
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| 120. Intermountain flood meadow, a tule marsh, used for hay production- Detailed view of the populations of species of grasslike plants that make up the flood hay meadow seen in the preceding slide and the following one. The various species of bulrushes (= tules), sedges, rushes, cattails, and grasses that comprise this diverse flood meadow community often grow in patches or large spots of single-species stands due to asexual reproduction by tough mats of rhizomes in the grasslike plants or stolons in grasses like inland saltgrass. Species seen include many of those given under the last photograph including: narrowleaf cattail (immediate foreground), soft-stem and hard-stem bullrushes, known generically as tules, (the dull, dark green patch immediately behind the cattail colony), and mixed species stands of slenderbeaked, blackcreeper, and wool-fruit sedges in with inland, interior, or desert saltgrass (Distichlis stricta= D. spicata var. stricta). Giant burreed is interspersed among the tules. Bear Lake Valley, Franklin County, Idaho. Estival aspect, July. FRES No. 41 (Wet Grasslands Ecosystem), K-42 (Tule Marshes). Sedge Series in Great Basin Interior Marshland biotic community of Brown et al. (1998). Wyoming Basin- Wet Valleys Ecoregion, 18c (McGrath et al. 2001). |
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121. Mowed and windrowed hay on a tule marsh- Herbage from Carex, Scirpus, Typha, Juncus, and Distichlis species being put up as hay for cattle. This is often the heart of base property and just one more example of the priceless value of water in the West. It also underscores the importance of quality watershed for snow storage that yields melt water for irrigation of flood meadows like this one. This hay grower is trying to retain as much of the nutritive value of the feed as possible by baling and storing the hay bales where they will not lose feed value by water damage. Traditionally marsh hay was put up in loose stacks and fed out by team or, later, tractor and wagon. This is designated as marsh hay in contrast to the better quality Intermountain grass hay designated as meadow hay. Hay from tallgrass prairie made up largely of big bluestem, Indiangrass, switchgrass, and prairie dropseed is of course prairie hay. Marsh hay is generally of the lowest palatabality, hence nutritive value. According to feed compostion tables (Subcommittee of Feed Composition, 1971) all three as well as cattail hay and bulrush hay are roughly equivalent (eg. about 5.8% Crude Protein and 44-48% Total Digestible Nutrients. (The secret to this kind of hay is getting them to eat it, which is where the art of animal husbandry comes in.) "Beats a snowbank". Bear Lake Valley, Franklin County, Idaho. July. FRES No. 41 (Wet Grasslands Ecosystem), K-42 (Tule Marshes). No SRM. Sedge Series in Great Basin Interior Marshland biotic community of Brown et al. (1998). Wyoming Basin- Wet Valleys Ecoregion, 18c (McGrath et al. 2001). |
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122. Oasis on a grand scale- Landscape view of Malheur (from Malheur Lake) or Blitzen (from Donner and Blitzen River) Marsh, a freshwater marsh in Oregon (Harney) High Desert. This wetland has the enviable record as being the largest fresh-water wetland in North America west of the Mississippi River. Smack in the middle of the sagebrush shrub steppe (foreground) in the High Lava Plains province of central and southeastern Oregon is the natural wetland formed by Malheur Lake supplied by the Donner and Blitzen River. There were several different range plant communities of smaller and varrying spatial scale within the total wetland or marsh community. An example of this arrangement of smaller communities within larger communities in a bulrush marsh was presented by Brown et al. (1998, Figure 1, p. 6). This wetland has been modified somewhat by irrigation works (note ditch in foreground immediately behind the edge of sagebrush shrub steppe) and serves as a national wildlife refuge while still providing many Animal Unit Months of livestock (cattle) grazing plus hay meadows as well as serving as a critical wildlife sactuary, especially for migratory waterfowl. Several slides were presented below to provide representative samples of wetland range vegetation typical in species composition, structure, and function to other (though smaller) marshes scattered throughout the North American Intermountain West. Some of these wetlands are freshwater marshes and some are saline or alkali marshes, but they are similar to the "crown jewel" marsh featured here. Several of these wetland communities were part of Malheur or Blitzen Marsh. A very informal and delightful account of the role that Blitzen Marsh played in economic development and cultural history of the Oregon High Desert can be found in the classic history, Harney County Oregon, and Its Range Land (Brimlow, 1951). Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, Harney County, Oregon. June. Estival aspect. FRES No. 41 (Wetland Grasslands Ecosystem). K-42 (Tule Marshes). Variant of SRM 217 (Wetlands). Northern Basin and Range- High Desert Wetlands Ecoregion, 80c (Thorson et al., 2003). |
| 123. Shown below were five photographs of the freshwater Malheur or Blitzen Marsh. This immense Intermountain wetland consisted of various local communities varying slightly from each primarily in species composition but also somewhat in community structure due to varying quantities and quality of surface and soil water as well as factors such as numerous edaphic features (eg. soil salinity, depth, texture, slope). Photographs were taken in a early summer (June) in a year of typical moisture conditions (ie. "an average year"). |
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123A. General view of an Intermountain freshwater marsh- This view of wetland range vegetation was from an edge of Malheur Marsh looking across this large wetland at landscape scale. There was a local range community dominated by various sedges (Carex spp.) and spikerushes (Eleocharis spp.) in the foreground. A second community dominated by inland saltgrass (Distichlis stricta) occupied the midground, behind which was a typical tule marsh community. Tule (bulrush) marsh is the most common descriptive name of the major community or form of many Intermountain marshes and wet meadows, but within this general or defining community there are various other communities, some of which are of smaller or even local scale. Examples of these latter plant communities include cattail stands or pond vegetation. There is considerable variation even with the overall tule community there being nine species of Scirpus that call Blitzen Marsh their home. Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, Harney County, Oregon. June. Estival aspect. FRES No. 41 (Wet Grasslands Ecosystem). K-42 (Tule Marsh). Variant forms of SRM 217 (Wetlands). Sedge Series of either Oregonian Interior Marshland or, more likely, Great Basin Interior Marshland (Brown et al. 1998) in foreground. Northern Basin and Range- High Desert Wetlands Ecoregion, 80c (Thorson et al., 2003). |
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123B. Composite view of plant species in a large freshwater marsh- At far right to almost mid- foreground was white cattail (Typha xglauca) that was considerably smaller than most others as it was at extreme edge of adequate water level. To right and occupying rest of foreground was inland saltgrass. Scattered individuals of bulrush grew in the midground. Background consisted largely of a cattail community that appeared to have such amounts of undecayed Typha remains from previous growing seasons that it was being "shaded-out" (shading itself out). Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, Harney County, Oregon. June. Estival aspect. FRES No. 41 (Wet Grasslands Ecosystem). K-42 (Tule Marsh). Variant of SRM 217 (Wetlands). Portions of several associations were visible here including that of the narrow-leaved cattail-broad-leaved cattail (far right foreground and midground) and hardstem bulrush (background) of Kagan et al. (2004). Northern Basin and Range- High Desert Wetlands Ecoregion, 80c (Thorson et al., 2003). |
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123C. Plant community of an Intermountain freshwater marsh- One of the more common range plant communities in Malheur Marsh was one consisting of tules (bulrushes) with an outer drier zone dominated by the much lower-growing spike rushes with various carices as associates. Tules often form dense consociations or single-species stands that relegate other species to their perimeter. Dominant bulrush here was the one known variously as great tule, great or giant bulrush, or hardstem bulrush (Scirpus acutus). Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, Harney County, Oregon. June. Estival aspect. FRES No. 41 (Wet Grasslands Ecosystem). K-42 (Tule Marsh). Variant of SRM 217 (Wetlands). Sedge Series of either Oregon Interior Marshland or, more likely, Great Basin Interior Marshland of Brown et al. (1998). Overall range plant community was the hardstem bulrush association of Kagan et al. (2004) with the binomial, Schoenoplectus acutus, used for great tule, giant bulrush, or hardstem bulrush. Northern Basin and Range- High Desert Wetlands Ecoregion, 80c (Thorson et al., 2003). |
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123D. Stand of white cattail locally dominant (exclusively so) in an Intermountain freshwater marsh- Vegetation in this part of Blitzen Marsh consisted of a colony or single-species stand of white cattail in standing fresh water. To the extreme right and extending to background was a stand of giant tule in full-bloom. Throughout most Intermountain wetlands cattails frequently comprise the local vegetation to exclusion of other plant species (as do other rank-growing marsh species like the bulrushes) Recent taxonomic treatments of the cattail shown here interpreted it as a hybrid between Typha angustiflolia and T. latifolia with the species designation of Typha xglauca. Older interpretations recognized only the two above species plus T. domingensis, but it is now recognized that all North American Typha species hybridize. Malheur National Wildlife refuge, Harney County, Oregon. June. Estival aspect. FRES No. 41 (Wet Grasslands Ecosystem). K042 (Tule Marsh). Variant of SRM 217 (Wetlands). Narrow- leaved cattail-broad-leaved cattail marsh association of Kagan et al. (2004). Northern Basin and Range- High Desert Wetlands Ecoregion, 80c (Thorson et al., 2003). |
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123E. Pond-like plant community in Intermountain freshwater marsh- A diverse range plant community was growing on this local deeper-water site in Malheur Marsh. In addition to white cattail, great tule, and several species of Carex and Eleocharis yellow water buttercup (Ranunculus flabellaris) was thriving in this backwater of the Donner and Blitzen River.(Buttercup was the yellow-colored floating material in right-center midground.) In the middle of the Oregon High Desert not far from malpais range communities and halophytic desert scrub such aquatic species as water buttercup were thriving. Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, Harney County, Oregon. June. Estival aspect. FRES No. 41 (Wet Grasslands Ecosystem). K-42 (Tule Marsh). Variant of SRM 217 (Wetlands). No single association designation could be applied handily, but hardstem bulrush marsh association of Kagan et al. (2004), with Schoenoplectus acutus used as the binomial for giant bulrush, great tule, or hardstem bulrush, was the most appropriate for the overall range plant community. Northern Basin and Range- High Desert Wetlands Ecoregion, 80c (Thorson et al., 2003). |
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124. Stand of great bulrush (= great tule or giant tule or hardstem bulrush)- This was an example of the way Intermountain marshes are seen and remembered by many visitors to this marvelously productive and critically important range ecosystem. This is an exclusive single-species stand of great bulrush (Scirpus acutus= Schoenoplectus acutus). The shoots of this rhizomatous species frequently form such dense vegetation that other vascular plants can grow only "along the edges" of the tules. These shoots were in anthesis. Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, Harney County, Oregon. June. Estival aspect. FRES No. 41 (Wetland Grasslands Ecosystem). K-42 (Tule Marsh). Variant of SRM 217 (Wetlands). Hardstem bulrush marsh association of Kagan et al. (2004) in which Schoenoplectus acutus was used for Scirpus acutus. Northern Basin and Range- High Desert Wetlands Ecoregion, 80c (Thorson et al., 2003). |
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125. Inflorescences of giant bulrush (Scirpus acutus)- This "giant" tule can be readily identified by the fool-proof feature of a subtending bract that extends above (higher than) the flower cluster to appear as if it were the tip of the shoot. Anthesis. Over the years this species has had numerous scientific names including Schoenoplectus acutus which aqs of this writing was the "latest fashion" binomial. Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, Harney County, Oregon. June. |
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126. What water hath wrought- Source end of a tule (Scirpus spp.) marsh (brackish to saline) that developed on upper reach of a brook-like drainage that had formed by a combination of fresh water from surface runoff of a mountain range and salt water inflowing from Great Salt Lake. At this upper elevation of the brackish or salt (whichever) marsh the bulrush or tule, common threesquare (S. pungens), was the sole aquatic range plant. Grass (mostly dormant and light tan-color) in the foreground was desert saltgrass (Distichlis stricta= D. spicata var. stricta= D. spicata). Desert saltgrass and Utah samphire (Salicornia utahensis) formed a semidesert grassland immediately adjacent to the marsh. Foreground vegetation was the marsh-end of this semidesert grassland, the treatment of which was in the chapter, Semidesert Grassland (Great Basin). Vegetation in background was on terminus of an alluvial fan from the mountain range. Background vegetation was a form of Great Basin Desert composed mostly of black greasewood (Sarcobatus vermiculatus) and viscid or Douglas rabbitbrush (Chrysothamnus viscidflorus). Tooele County, Utah. June, threesquare bulrush was in anthesis. |
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127. Rangeman's oasis in a salt desert - A tule marsh of common threesquare or threesquare bulrush formed a consociation that was a brackish or saline marsh comprised of salt water inflowing from Great Salt Lake and some fresh water (both snowmelt and surface runoff of rain) from the neighboring mountain range. In local areas common reed (Phragmites australis= A. communis) formed colonies that, in lingo of Landscape Ecology, were patches in a matrix of threesquare tule. A colony or patch of common reed was conspicuous in the second slide (right foreground). This colony of common reed was featured in the next slide. Marshes such as this one that develop in deserts are "meccas" for wildlife. These range wetlands are especially critical to birds such as passerines (perching birds of small to medium size whose with feet are capable of grasping due to the backward- directed first toe) like redwing blackbird (Agelaius pnoeniceus). Obviously marshes are critical habitat for waterfowl (ducks, geese, wading or shore birds). Herbaceous-vegetation wetlands in deserts provide unique habitats for numerous rodents (and whatever critters feed on them). Forage value of these brackish or saline marshes for livestock and big game was obvious, especially for hay (as was elaborated on above). Pale-green grass in foreground of both slides was the end of a desert saltgrass-Utah samphire semidesert grassland. (This was covered in Semidesert Grassland, Great Basin, chapter.) Tooele County, Utah. June, anthesis for threesquare tule. FRES No. 41 (Wet Grasslands Ecosystem). K-42 (Tule Marshes). Scirpus pungens Alliance (Bourgeron et al., 1994, 29 August, 1994). No SRM rangeland cover type for Great Basin Wetlands: would have to be Great Basin variant of SRM 217 (Wetlands). Great Basin Interior Marshland 242.4 of Brown et al. (1998, 45) who somehow left out what should be Bulrush Series (for tule marsh) and Saltgrass Series (for perimeter of marsh).Central Basin and Range- Salt Deserts Ecoregion, 13a (Woods et al., 2001). |
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128. A contrast in grass- The colony of common reed introduced in the immediately preceding slide was featured in this photograph. This colony was surrounded by threesquare bulrush on three sides and along one side by a population of desert saltgrass that was the edge of a saltgrass-dominated semidesert grassland. Common reed produces viable grain (note last year's panicles), but undoubtedly most local reproduction is asexual by the abundant rhizomes and stolons of this thicket-producing, native festucoid grass. Common reed has traditionally been regarded as being the most widely distributed angiosperm on Earth. In fact, of all vascular plants it is probable that only bracken fern (Pteridium aquilinum) has a greater geographic range than common reed. Tooele County, Utah. June; mid-growth stage of common reed, hard-dough stage of saltgrass. Part of the brackish (or salt) marsh units cited in immediately preceding caption. |
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129. Just tulin' around- View of a stand of common threesquare. This tule or bulrush forms nearly exclusive marshs in the salt desert shrub surrounding Great Salt Lake. These herbacaeous, aquatic, range plant communities are comprised almost entirely of dense populations of shoots of this strongly rhizomatous species. Tooele County, Utah. June, anthesis in threesquare. |
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130. Three tips of threesquare (Scirpus pungens)- Threesquare is the most common and widely distributed tule or bulrush in marshes around Great Salt Lake. It was the only Scirpus species recognized as forming floristic alliances or associations in Utah according to criteria of the National Vegetation Classification System (Bourgeron et al, 29 August, 1994). Details of the inflorescence and the prominent triangular-shape culm were provided in standard works like A Utah Flora (Welsh et al, 1993, p.775). Unfortunately, some earlier references "lumped" plants now recognized as S. pungens in with the similar but recognizably different species, Olney's threesquare (S. olneyi= S. americanus). Such was the case with the master work, Flora of Utah and Nevada (Tidestrom, 1925, p. 100-101). Tooele County, Utah. June. |
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131. Wetlands and cattle in the desert- A natural flood meadow (alialine or brackish) had been augmented by a simple system of flood irrigation which exapnded the area of a Baltic wire rush (Juncus balticus)- black creeper sedge (Carex praegracilis) marsh that surrounded a slighter higher--therefore, drier--area of land on which inland or desert saltgrass formed an isolated semidesert grassland. Cows and calves were used to harvest the rich range bounty made possible by semi-natural irrigation. Species composition of the rush-sedge marsh was comparatively simple yet remarkably productive, at least of biomass. Wire rush is anything but platable even to graminoid-preferring cattle. But if cows have no choice... Consider how many acres of dry (arid) salt desert shrub or even naturalized range of introduced species like crested wheatgrass (Agropyron cristatum, A. desertorum) would be needed to produce the biomass of plants and animals on one acre of this in-the-middle-of-the-desert wetland. Surrounding range (background) was primarily winterfat (Eurotia lanata= Ceratoides lanata) shrubland or dwarf scrub, Indian ricegrass (Oryzopsis hymenoides= Stipa hymenoides) semidesert grassland, and winterfat-Indian ricegrass dwarf scrub. The winterfat scrubland was treated in the chapter, Great Basin Desert (Great Basin Winterfat) while semidesert grasslands, including those made up of desert saltgrass, were covered in the chapter of that name (under Great Basin Semidesert Grassland). Snake Valley, Millard County, Utah. June. Ecosystem, range type, biotic community, ecoregion, etc. of this rangeland was cited in the immediately succeeding caption. |
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132. Wire rush marsh- Closer view of a large alkaline or brackish (or saline) marsh dominated by Baltic wire rush with black creeper or silver sedge as associate species. "Slivers" of desert saltgrass semidesert grassland were visible in midground (left margin across field of view) and background. Snake Valley, Millard County, Utah. June. FRES No. 41 (Wet Grassland Ecosystem) No Kuchler unit for rush and/or sedge marsh. No Society for Range Management rangeland cover type for Great Basin Wetlands so either add one or consider this a variant of Wetlands (SRM 217). Brown et al. (1998. p. 45) gave Sedge Series 242.41 of Great Basin Interior Marshland 242.4, but they did not provide--as they did for several marshland units-- a Rush Series which is what this wetland range vegetation was.Thus Rush Series 242.42 based of classifiction of Brown et al. (1998, p. 45). Bourgeron et al. (29 August, 1994) recognized a Juncus balticus association and a Distichlis spicata Phase within that association (both units were under a Juncus balticus Alliance) which covered this entire wetland range ecosystem. Juncus balticus (Seasonally Flooded) Herbaceous Vegetation (Nevada Natural Heritage Program, 26 September, 2003). Central Basin and Range- island of Wetlands Ecosystem, 13g (Woods et al., 2001). |
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133. Stream of life- A simple, crudely dug ditch (and a small one at that) efficiently re-distributed "extra" surface water in this valley basin to a larger area thereby increasing size of a Baltic wire rush-black creeper sedge marsh and desert saltgrass-dominated grassland. This expanded natural wetland of marsh and moist semidesert grassland provided abundant forage for a sizable herd of cows and calves. Most Intermountain cow-calf operations depend on a diversity of ranges, pastures, and harvested forages. Plants along the irrigation ditch were predominantely wire rush. Closely cropped grass on either side of the ditch (especially along right margin of photograph) was desert saltgrass. Snake Valley;, Millard County, Utah. June. |
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134. Every public (or private) works project needs an inspector- A white-nosed cow inspected grass, sedge, and rush at the pasture end of a small and simple ditch that brought natural surface water to a farther part of the valley. This man-augmented natural flood irrigation increased to considerable size a wetland made up of two range plant communities: 1) wire rush-black creeper sedge marsh and 2) desert saltgrass grassland. (The almost or sorta black baldy cow was also inspecting the photographer. She did not seem overly impressed. However, she did pay quite a bit more attention to him than many college students in his Principles of Range Mangment course.) Snake Valley, Millard County, Utah. June. |
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135. Source of all life- The receiving upper (higher) edge of a natural flood meadow was getting diverted surface water that increased the areas of two natural range communities: 1) wire rush-black creeper sedge marsh and 2) desert saltgrass semidesert grassland. All living things are roughly nine-tenths water, and this extra water was producing far more plant and animal life per area of rangeland than the surrounding xeric Indian ricegrass-grassland and winterfat-shrubland ranges. Together these different range cover types increased wildlife habitat, biodiversity, ranching opportunities, and tourist diversions. One key feature in stewardship of ranges is that management is usually extensive rather than intensive. The major husbandry imput on native grazing lands is grazing management. Management practices that require relatively high inputs of money, labor, knowledge craft, seed, fertilizer, and water (as in irrigation) are usually not done because they are not practical. Practicality is judged in terms of profit or, at least, breakeven cost-effectiveness. Irrigation is usually about the last production practice one would expect to be used on range. The example provided here illustrated an exception, but "an exception that proved the rule". When inputs that are usually intensive (hence, expensive) can be applied extensively (ie. without "too much" initial outlay of cash or with minimal maintenance, labor, or skill) it is sound management to use them. The augmented flooding of this range wetland demonstrated this ranching reality. Snake Valley , Millard County, Utah. June. |
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136. Two reps at the marsh- A "photo-quadrant" of the alkali marsh presented above portrayed two families of grasslike range plants. Baltic wire rush represented the Juncaceae while black creeper or silver sedge carried the banner for the Cyperaceae. This professor periodically used such examples of range wetlands (this one in a desert nonetheless) to point out to students the occurrence and importance of grasslike range plants (sedges, tules, rushes, burr-reeds, cattails). If students payed even a little less attention than the spotted-nosed cow they might have learned this lesson. (Won't bet the cow on it.) Snake Valley, Millard County, Utah. June. |
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137. Inflorescence of Baltic wire rush (Juncus balticus)- Inflorescence of wire rush with fruit in soft-dough stage. The open flower of wire rush that was growing on a saline or alkali flood medow in Motana was shown below. Wire rush has usually been regarded as the most widely distributed and major member of the Juncaceae across the North American Western Range. By the way, two outstanding references for Juncus of the Rocky Mountains and Intermountain Region are Herman (1975) and Hurd et al. (1994). Snake Valley, Millard County, Utah. June. |
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138. Fruit-bearing inflorescence of black creeper or silver sedge (Cyperus praegracilis)- This member of the Cyperaceae was the associate species on the Baltic wire rush-black creeper alkali marsh just described. The carices have long-been a "bear-cat" group of range plants for rangemen. Fortunately the Forest Service "rode to the rescue" by providing two outstanding references for the sedges of the Intermountain West (Hermann, 1970; Hurd et al, 1998). Snake Valley, Millard County, Utah. June. |
| Note: a good summary treatment of Intermountain wetlands was that of West (in Barbour and Billings, 2000, ps. 277-279). |
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139. Salt
or alkali meadow (salt marsh)- This saline, seasonally flooded habitat
supports a salt or alkali (depending on interpretation) marsh community
comprised of two consociations: 1) alkali cordgrass (Spartina
gracilis) in foreground and 2) Baltic or wire rush (Juncus balticus) in background (with cattle). This is a seasonally
or ephemerally wet meadow flooded in the spring by snowmelt. Perhaps
it could be interpreted as an overall mesic (neither dry nor wet meadow)
or, alternatively, it could viewed as a spring wet meadow and a late
season dry meadow, the latter soil condition being exacerbated by
high salt accumulation. Note that cattle are grazing the wire rush,
a species usually or often thought of as low in palatability. (A wise
acre once observed that the first law of animal nutrition is that
given the opportunity an animal will eat, and whatever is there if
need be.) Soil Conservation Service vegetation mapping unit #44 for
Foothills and Mountains in Montana, Saline Lowland Range Site (Ross
and Hunter, 1976, p. 43). Deer Lodge County, Montana. June. |
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140. Saline
flood meadow- This is another view of the same alkali meadow or salt
marsh seen in the preceding slide. Wire rush forms a consociation
in the foreground with alkali cordgrass as the associate species.
The lighter green line of plants in the background is common cattail
(Typha latifolia). Note surrounding hills
in background from which water from melting snowpack (in a typical—
non-drought— year) floods this valley. Deer Lodge
County, Montana. June. |
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| 141. Baltic or wire rush- Colony of Juncus balticus on a Rocky Mountain salt meadow that is flooded in spring by snow water. Deer Lodge County, Montana. June. |
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142.
Shoot and inflorescence of wire rush- Stamen, stigma, and perigium
are visible in this microlense shot. Specimen is growing on the alkali
flood meadow seen immediately above. Deer Lodge County, Montana. June.
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| 143. Alkali cordgrass- A colony of the rhizomatous Spartina
gracilis growing on the saline marsh viewed immediately above. Deer
Lodge County, Montana. June. |
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| 144. Inflorescence of alkali cordgrass- These spicate (spikelike)
racemes are in anthesis with stamen and stigma clearly visible (at least
before the slide was published as a j peg). Deer Lodge County, Montana.
June. |
meadow.jpg) |
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145.
Wet (subirrigated) meadow- The soil of this bottomland marsh gets
water by lateral capillary flow from the clear stream beside it. This
meadow community has been subjected to heavy grazing and as such is
dominated by rush and sedge species with grasses largely limited to
the introduced Kentucky bluegrass. As described by Hunter and Ross
(1976, ps. 28-29), this range site in climax condition is dominanted
by tufted hairgrass, American mannagrass (Glyceria
grandis), and reedgrasses like bluejoint (Calamagrostis canadensis) and northern
reedgrass (C. inexpansa).
The foothills adjacent to the meadow are foothills prairie dominated
by bluebunch wheatgrass (Agropyron spicatum) and Idaho fescue (Festuca
idahoensis), an outlier or island of Palouse Prairie. Powell County, Montana. June. |
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| 146. Sedge flood meadow- This wet— either ephemeral or permanent— meadow is a consociation of water sedge (Carex aquatilis) and was designated the Carex aquatilis Series of frequently flooded tall-sedge marshes or wet meadows on The Natural Vegetation of Montana Outline (Montana Narural Heritage Program, 1988). Missoula County, Montana. June. FRES No. 37 (Mountain Meadows Ecosystem) but no K-No. No specific SRM, but would be a Northern Rocky Mountains Cover Type equivalent of SRM 216 (Montane Meadows). Sedge Series in Rocky Mountain Montane Marshland biotic community of Brown et al. (1998). Middle Rockies- Bitterroot-Frenchtown Valley Ecoregion, 17s (Woods et al., 2002). |
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| 147. Water sedge- Missoula County, Montana. June. |
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148. Marsh in the mountains- A remarkably diverse range plant community of grasses, grasslike plants, and forbs formed a freshwater marsh around this natural pond or small lake in theWasatach Range of northern Utah. There were various local groups of range plant including an unidentified, not-blooming tule or bulrush (Scirpus sp.), Baltic wire rush, toad rush (Juncus bufonius), common spikerush (Eleocharis palustris), common reed, the naturalized Eurasian perennial grass, redtop (Agrostis alba), a species of pondweed (Potamogeton sp), and water plantain (Alisma plantago-aquatica). There were no woody plants in this wetland vegetation. Cattails were absent from this marsh. These two wide-angle views showed the different localized plant communities or assemblages that made up the general pond (small lake) marsh range vegetation. In foreground of first slide water plantain is the local dominant with pondweed floating directly behind it. Also visible in the first slide was common reed and the species of bulrush growing out of the shallow water in center of the lake. In the second slide, redtop dominated shore vegetation in the foreground followed by tules growing as an emergent species along with pondweed floating on water surface. Haven for ducks, sea gulls, and shore birds. Cache County, Utah. June. Range (terrestrial) vegetation was FRES No. 41 (Wet Grasslands Ecosystem). K-42 (Tule Marshes). For whatever reason the Society for Range Management (Shiflet, 1994) did not recognize a Wetland rangeland cover type for the Northern Rocky Mountains or, for that matter, for other than Pacific Southwest. Closest would be a Rocky Mountain variant of SRM 217 (Wetlands). Rocky Mountain Montane Marshland 242.8 (Brown et al. (1998, p. 45) for which a Bulrush Series was not given. Bourgeron et al.(29 August, 1994) cited an Eleocharis palustris association and a Scirpus americanus-Eleocharis palustris association for Utah. Eleocharis palustris on this marsh formed a plant community (by strict definition, a population). Central Basin and Range- Malad and Cache Valleys Ecoregion, 13i (Woods et al., 2001). |
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149. Awash with wetland in the Wasatch- View of range plant community on the upper shore of a small lake or pond in the Wasatch Range. Range plants included common reed (tallest plants, right margin), tule or bulrush (midground), common spikerush, and water plantain (latter two species in foreground). Cache County, Utah. June. FRES No. 41 (Wet Grasslands Ecosystem). K-42 (Tule Marshes). Other designations (mostly absence of designations/descriptions) were cited in the preceding caption. |
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150. Shore full of spikerush- Common spikerush formed a zone of range vegetation on upper shore of a lake or pound in the Wasatch Range. Common spikerush characteristically forms colonies of tufted clones arising from slender rhizomes. This was the situation on much of this lake shore. The tall forb growing amist spikerush was water plantain. Cache County, Utah. June. |
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151.Common spikerush (Eleocharis palustris)- First photograph showed a dense single-species stand of common spikerush that grew on the mid- to upper areas of a freshwater marsh situated in Wasatch Mountains of northern Utah. This member of the sedge family has slender rootstocks (rhizomes) from which sister clumps (clones) arise. This was visible by presence of numerous different-size tufts of shoots. Each of this bunches is the same genotype (genetic individual), but it was uncertain how many of these bunches belonged to the same original genotype. Second photograph emphasized the spikes or spikelike inflorescences of common spikerush. Plants were conspicuously in anthesis. Cache County, Utah. June, peak standing crop and full-flower. |
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152. Water plantain (Alisima plantago-aquatica)- This member of the Alismaceae (water-plantain family) was a conspicuous range forb in the freshwater marsh that had developed on a small shhallow lake or pond in the Wasatch Range. This species of aquatic or semi-aquatic forb is remarkable for its distribution on most of the major continental land masses of Earth: Eurasia, Africa, North America and South America. It was not known if livestock or wildlife eat any any part of this species. It apparently has not been reported as poisonous. Supposedly American Indians and frontiersmen eat the starch-filled roots of water plantain. But was there anything that these groups did not eat or, at least, try to? Neat plant: increased botanical diverstiy of the range. Cache County, Utah. June, full-bloom phenological stage. |
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Pacific Coastal Salt Marsh There are several tideland range communities comprising estuaries, coastal prairies, and other forms of wetlands along the coasts of North America. Some of these were presented sporadically throughout the present publication in affilitation with various biomes or other major (large-scale) plant communities. For example, the coastal marshes of the Gulf of Mexico were included with the Tallgrass Prairie (Grassland) due to the intimate (essentially inseperable even if distinguishable) ecological relationship of the coastal prairies and marshes. Coastal marshes of California were included under California Grasslands both because of the close proximity of marshes (coastal and inland) with Central Valley and Coast Range grasslands and due to the unique (higly man-modified) nature of most California grasslands. In the section that followed immediately below representatives of other Pacific coastal marshes were placed in this Meadow section because of both their uniqueness and the practical consideration that there did not seem to be any more logical place to stick them. Coastal marshes share many features with meadows, perhaps in particular alkali and saline flood meadows examples of which were given immediately above. Marshes can, of course, be either fresh-water, saline, or brackish. In the Mexican Gulf coastal grasslands area, these three can occur within relatively short distances of each other. Marshes can be influenced to various degrees by action of tides and salt water intrusion. The same is true along the Pacific Coast, but in some areas bays and sounds extend so far inland that saline and brackish marshes and tidal action occur at greater distances from the coast. Such range vegetation is correctly regarded as tideland plant communities even if they are not ocean-front communities. One of the best-- if somewhat limited-- treatments of such vegetation, including marshes, was that of Franklin and Dyrness (1973, ps. 294-296). General knowledge of coastal marshes must be gleaned from various sources because these range ecosystems have structure and function that are more directly related to geologic and oceanographic features than some of the older, larger, and more continental range ecosystems. The following terms and definitions taken from Allaby (1998) provided a starting place from which to study salt marshes, especially tidal salt marshes. "Estuary- a coastal body of water which has a free connection with the open sea and where fresh water, derived from land drainage, is mixed with sea water. Estuaries are often subject to tidal action, and where tidal activity is large, ebb and flood tidal currents tend to avoid each other forming separate channels... The action of tidal currents on the large amount of available sediment may give rise to a range of mobile bottom forms..." "Mudflat- An area of a coastline where fine-grained silt or sediment and clay is accumulating. Its development is favored by ample sediment, by sheltered conditions, and by the trapping effect of vegetation. It is an early stage in the development of a salt-marsh..." "Salt marsh- Vegetation often found on mud banks formed at river mouths, showing regular zonation reflecting the length of time different areas are inundated by tides. Sea water has a high salt content, which produces problems of osmotic pressure for the vegetation, so that only plants adapted to this environment (halophytes) can survive."
Mud flats are broad, flat expanses of land along the coast and coastal streams to the extent of tidal and/or bay (or sound) intrusion. This is often at the mouth of river confluence into the larger body fo water (eg. Hood Canal). Mud flats can include also, of course, such bodies of water as rivers and lakes. In essence, mud flats are formed by deposition of suspended sediment from water when the mud flat areas (or new areas) are inundated by water as result of wave and/or wind action. The fine particles of sediment settle out and are deposited when water recedes. In time, mud flats become land for emergent vegetation of the climax (mature) salt marsh vegetation. Coastal mud flats become inundated at high tide and exposed at low tide. The water table of such wetlands is always at or close to the surface substrate. In cases where the soil separates are sand rather than silt or clay, deposition on the flat is sand instead of the finner seperates and becomes a sand (vs. mud) flat. Mud flats are usually devoid of emergent vegetation but support eelgrass (Zoostera marina, Z. japonica) and benthic invertebrates. The emergent salt marsh is that part of the estuary that functions as range (native grazing land). This range plant community-- valuable for livestock, wildlife, and fish (including shell fish)-- is made up of species of Carex, Scirpus, Salicornia, Triglochin, and Distichlis. Algal associations include Ulva and Fucus species. In fact, such estuarine ecosystems are some of the most productive on Earth. This is true for those of the Puget Sound region. Presented below were examples of tidal salt marshs along Hood Canal of Puget Sound in the Puget Trough geologic and physiographic province (Franklin and Dyrness, 1973, p. 6). |
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153. Pacific salt marsh or estuary- Two views of a tidal salt marsh and small mudflats at confluence of Duckabush River and Hood Canal of Puget Sound. Vegetation in light green areas was a community consisting primarily Lyngbye's sedge (Carex lyngbyei) and associated carices. The grey-green is a community of seashore saltgrass (Distichlis spicata), pickleweed or Virginia glasswort (Salicornia virginica), and seaside arrowgrass (Triglochin maritimum). These two distinct communities comprise the range type regarded as salt marsh, one of several kinds of estuary. Kitsap County, Washington. June. FRES No. 41 (Wet Grasslands Ecosystem). No meaningful Kuchler unit. Variant of SRM 217 (Wetlands). Combination of Glasswort Series and Saltgrass Series within Oregonian (Pacific Coastal) Maritime Marshland biotic community or regional formation of Brown et al. (1998). Arrow grass-(glasswort) salt marsh association of Kagan et al. (2004). Puget Lowland- Central Puget Lowland Ecoregion, 2f (Pater et al., undated). |
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154. Pacific salt marsh or estuary- A tidal salt marsh and small mudflats formed at confluence of Hama Hama River and Hood Canal of Puget Sound. Zonation of marsh vegetation was pronounced. Grey-green "strips" and "patches" were comprised of seashore saltgrass, Virginia glasswort or pickleweed, and seaside arrowgrass. Vegetation in bright or light-green zones was composed of carices, primarily Lyngbye's sedge. Species of algae covered surface of mud in very localized spots. The shrub shoots visible in foreground were tall Oregon grape (Berberis aquifolium= Mahonia aquifolium). These plants were outside the saltmarsh and served as sentinels at the "frontier line" of saline edaphic conditions. They indicated just how sharp the delination between salt marsh and adjoining vegetation can be. Kitsap County, Washington. June. FRES No. 41 (Wet Grasslands Ecosystem). No meaningful Kuchler unit. Variant of SRM 217 (Wetlands). Combination of Glasswort Series and Saltgrass Series within Oregonian (Pacific Coastal) Maritime Marshland biotic community or regional formation of Brown et al. (1998). Arrow grass-(glasswort) salt marsh association of Kagan et al. (2004). Puget Lowland- Central Puget Lowland Ecoregion, 2f (Pater et al., undated). |
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155. Halophytic pals- Seashore saltgrass and seaside arrowgrass in saline soil at union of Duckabush River and Hood Canal of Puget Sound. Halophytes are those species of plants that have evolved adaptations (morphological, anatomical, or physiological) to saline habitats, especially those of saline soils and salt-laden air or inundating water. Halophyte (adjective, halophytic) is usually applied to terrestrial species and not aquatic plants such as those growing in oceans. Kitsap County, Washington. June. |
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156. Seaside arrowgrass (Triglochin maritimum)- Cast against the backdrop of a saltmarsh at confluence of Duckabush River and Hood Canal of Puget Sound was this "hale and hearty" specimen of seaside arrowgrass. This species is not a grass, but a member of a very small and restricted family Junginaceae, the arrow grass family. Triglochin is an interesting genus from a practical standpoint: its members are posionous range plants. Though arrowgrass is usually rather restricted even in areas where it grows and is not generally eaten by grazing animals, cases of arrowgrass poisoning have been widespread geographically in North America (Kingsbury, 1964, ps. 501-503). The poisonous principle is hydrogen cyanide from metabolism of cyanogenic glycosides (Kingsbury, 1964, ps. 501-503; Cheeke and Shull, 1985, p. 176; Fuller and McClintock, 1986, ps. 279-280). Recent work revealed that the toxin was primarily triglochinin, a tyrosine-based cyanogenic glycoside (Burrows and Tyrl, 2001, ps. 730-731). Quick review of these sources revealed that seaside arrowgrass has caused poisoning in cattle, sheep and even jackrabbits (Lepis spp.). As of this writting the definitive authority on arrowgrass toxicity and animal poisoning is the encyclopedic work of Burrows and Tyrl (2001, ps. 729-731). Salt marsh at confluence of Duckabush River and Hood Cannel of Puget Sound. Kitsap County, Washington. June. |
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| 157. Inflorescence of seaside arrowgrass- Salt marsh at confluence of Duckabush River and Hood Canel of Puget Sound, Washington. June. |
