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You are here >1Up Info > Wildlife, Animals, and Plants > Kuchler Potential Natural Vegetation Type > Southern Cordgrass Prairie
 

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KUCHLER TYPE DESCRIPTION

Kuchler Type: Southern cordgrass prairie
PHYSIOGRAPHY : Topography is mostly flat to sloping [4]. The type has many lakes, bayous, and canals and occurs along the Gulf Coast. There are many natural levees and tidal channels, but artificial levees and tidal channels have altered some of the natural topographic features [2]. CLIMATE : This area is characterized by mild winters and hot, humid summers [13]. Tides from the Gulf of Mexico influence many areas of the southern cordgrass prairie. Maximum tide fluctuation is 26 inches (66 cm), dropping to 2 to 3 inches (8 cm) per day. On the Louisiana coast the mean January temperature is 52 degrees Fahrenheit (11 deg C). Mean August temperature is 82 degrees Fahrenheit (28 deg C). Rainfall is highest in July and lowest in October, with an annual range of 58 to 66 inches (1,470-1,670 mm). The growing season is 317 days [2]. Hurricanes occur from June through November, with most occurring between August and October [13]. SOILS : Soils in this type are mostly Histosols or Mollisols [4]. Soil textures are silts, clays, and silt clays. The silts result from recent alluvial and marine deposits. Organic layer depths range from a few inches to 20 feet (6.3 m). Most sites are waterlogged [2]. VEGETATION : The southern cordgrass prairie is composed mostly of smooth cordgrass (Spartina alterniflora), which occurs in high salinity areas. Smooth cordgrass occurs with perennial glasswort (Sarcocornia perennis) in low tidal marshes where saltwater inundation is greatest [15]. In other saline areas some components of the southern cordgrass prairie include saltgrass (Distichlis spicata), marshhay cordgrass (Spartina patens), and black rush (J. roemerianus). In less saline and more brackish conditions, components include big cordgrass (Spartina cynosuroides), switchgrass (P. virgatum), and Olney threesquare (Scirpus americanus) [11]. Species that occur in freshwater or slightly brackish sites include bog rush (Juncus effusus), Jamaica sawgrass (Mariscus jamicensis), maidencane (Panicum hemitomon), panicum (P. repens), common reed (Phragmites australis), arrowhead (Sagittaria spp.), California bulrush (Scirpus californicus), softstem bulrush (S. validus), gulf cordgrass (Spartina spartinae), southern cattail (Typhus domingensis), and great cutgrass (Zizaniopsis miliacea) [6]. The southern cordgrass type has few if any forbs and shrubs [4]. WILDLIFE : The southern cordgrass prairie is home to many threatened and endangered species. Threatened species include the loggerhead turtle. Endangered species include the leatherback turtle, green sea turtle, hawksbill turtle, Kemp's ridley sea turtle, American alligator, whooping crane, Eskimo curlew, eastern brown pelican, Attwater's prairie chicken, bald eagle, Arctic peregrine falcon, Bachman's warbler, red-cockaded woodpecker, and the Texas red wolf [4,13]. Nonendangered species include raccoon, muskrat, white-tailed deer, many waterfowl species, passerine birds, osprey, hawks, and falcons [4]. ECOLOGICAL RELATIONSHIPS : Both water level and salinity influence species composition of smooth cordgrass stands [12]. These stands can tolerate saltwater inundation for as long as 20 hours per day. Cordgrass is dominant in the saline coastal marshes of Texas and Louisiana [2], and where salinity is between 3 and 5 percent and the water table averages 4 inches (10 cm) above ground [1]. In Louisiana smooth cordgrass often occurs in pure stands or with saltgrass and black rush associates. It also occurs as an understory to American mangrove (Rhizophora mangle), which sometimes displaces it [12]. Where saline conditions develop, smooth cordgrass invades shallow water and remains dominant unless these areas become aggraded by inorganic sediments. It invades freshwater marshes when these marshes are cut off from their freshwater sources and slowly become brackish. Smooth cordgrass also invades brackish ditches and ponds with silt or clay substrates. As organic matter builds up, it is replaced by marshhay cordgrass, saltgrass, and black rush [12]. Under droughty or dry conditions, saltgrass increases. As salinity decreases smooth cordgrass is first succeeded by Olney threesquare, which is followed by marshhay, cordgrass, common reed, and finally giant cordgrass. Black rush can increase following disturbance by fire or grazing in smooth cordgrass stands [1]. Fire may prevent succession to trees or woody vegetation in coastal marshes dominated by grasses, particularly in Florida mangrove ecosystems. Frost, however, may be more effective at controlling mangrove [14].

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Information Courtesy: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, Fire Sciences Laboratory. Fire Effects Information System

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