DISTRIBUTION AND OCCURRENCE
SPECIES: Agrostis exarata | Spike Bentgrass 



GENERAL DISTRIBUTION : 
Spike bentgrass is mostly a western grass.  It occurs from Manitoba,
South Dakota, Nebraska, Texas, and Mexico west to the Pacific states and
provinces, including Alaska [8,12,18].  Spike bentgrass is widely
distributed in the mountains of northern California and occurs on Santa
Cruz Island, off the coast of southern California [5].  Zifka [30]
discovered an adventive colony of spike bentgrass (Agrostis exarta var.
monolepis) in Rutland County, Vermont, in 1982.


ECOSYSTEMS : 
   FRES20  Douglas-fir
   FRES21  Ponderosa pine
   FRES23  Fir - spruce
   FRES26  Lodgepole pine
   FRES28  Western hardwoods
   FRES29  Sagebrush
   FRES34  Chaparral - mountain shrub
   FRES35  Pinyon - juniper
   FRES36  Mountain grasslands
   FRES37  Mountain meadows
   FRES38  Plains grasslands
   FRES41  Wet grasslands
   FRES44  Alpine


STATES : 
     AK  AZ  CA  CO  ID  HI  MT  NE  NV  NM
     OK  OR  SD  TX  UT  VT  WA  WY  AB  BC
     MB  SK  MEXICO


ADMINISTRATIVE UNITS : 
     BICA  CACH  CRLA  CRMO  DEVA  DENA
     DETO  DINO  GLBA  LAVO  MORA  NABR
     NOCA  OLYM  PINN  PORE  REDW  ROMO
     SAGU  TICA  WHIS  YELL


BLM PHYSIOGRAPHIC REGIONS : 
    1  Northern Pacific Border
    2  Cascade Mountains
    3  Southern Pacific Border
    4  Sierra Mountains
    5  Columbia Plateau
    6  Upper Basin and Range
    7  Lower Basin and Range
    8  Northern Rocky Mountains
    9  Middle Rocky Mountains
   10  Wyoming Basin
   11  Southern Rocky Mountains
   12  Colorado Plateau
   13  Rocky Mountain Piedmont
   14  Great Plains
   15  Black Hills Uplift
   16  Upper Missouri Basin and Broken Lands


KUCHLER PLANT ASSOCIATIONS : 
   K002  Cedar - hemlock - Douglas-fir forest
   K005  Mixed conifer forest
   K008  Lodgepole pine - subalpine forest
   K010  Ponderosa shrub forest
   K011  Western ponderosa forest
   K012  Douglas-fir forest
   K015  Western spruce - fir forest
   K016  Eastern ponderosa forest
   K017  Black Hills pine forest
   K018  Pine - Douglas-fir forest
   K020  Spruce - fir - Douglas-fir forest
   K022  Great Basin pine forest
   K023  Juniper - pinyon woodland
   K024  Juniper steppe woodland
   K026  Oregon oakwoods
   K030  California oakwoods
   K033  Chaparral
   K035  Coastal sagebrush
   K047  Fescue - oatgrass
   K049  Tule marshes
   K051  Wheatgrass - bluegrass
   K052  Alpine meadows and barren
   K055  Sagebrush steppe
   K056  Wheatgrass - needlegrass shrubsteppe
   K063  Foothills prairie
   K064  Grama - needlegrass - wheatgrass
   K065  Grama - buffalograss
   K066  Wheatgrass - needlegrass
   K068  Wheatgrass - grama - buffalograss


SAF COVER TYPES : 
    42  Bur oak
   201  White spruce
   203  Balsam poplar
   206  Engelmann spruce - subalpine fir
   209  Bristlecone pine
   210  Interior Douglas-fir
   216  Blue spruce
   217  Aspen
   218  Lodgepole pine
   219  Limber pine
   222  Black cottonwood - willow
   233  Oregon white oak
   235  Cottonwood - willow
   237  Interior ponderosa pine
   238  Western juniper
   239  Pinyon - juniper
   250  Blue oak - Digger pine
   252  Paper birch
   256  California mixed subalpine


SRM (RANGELAND) COVER TYPES : 
NO-ENTRY


HABITAT TYPES AND PLANT COMMUNITIES : 
Spike bentgrass occurs in a wide variety of habitat types including
pinyon-juniper (Pinus-Juniperus spp.), aspen (Populus spp.), fir-spruce
(Abies-Picea spp.), ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa), lodgepole pine (P.
contorta), subalpine forest, coastal sage scrub, meadow, alpine, and
tundra [3,5,19,27,28].

In Utah, spike bentgrass is a common grass in wet meadows and parklands
in mountain grassland communities and moist, semishaded sites in aspen
communities.  It is also is found in sagebrush (Artemisia spp.)
communities [29].

In the Black Hills of western South Dakota, spike bentgrass is a common
understory species in quaking aspen (Populus tremuloides) communities
[32].  

In northwestern Oregon, spike bentgrass is a component of the
Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) forest [17].  

Along montane forest river valleys in Colorado, spike bentgrass occurs
in cottonwood-willow (Populus-Salix spp.) and red-osier dogwood (Cornus
sericea) associations [2].

Spike bentgrass is a member of the pink mountain heather-white mountain
heather (Phyllodoce empetriformis-Cassiope mertensiana) meadow community
in northwestern Washington [3].  

In the annual grasslands of California, spike bentgrass is a member of
the fescue-oatgrass (Festuca-Danthonia) community [10].  In southern
California, it is also a member of coastal sage scrub, particularly the
purple sage (Salvia leucophylla) association [28].

Spike bentgrass occurs in tundra on the northeastern arctic slope of
Alaska [19].

The following publication lists spike bentgrass as a community dominant:

The chaparral vegetation of Santa Cruz Island, California [5]

Species not previously mentioned but commonly associated with spike
bentgrass in the Rocky Mountain states include American hazel (Corylus
americana), thinleaf alder (Alnus incana ssp. tenuifolia), Rocky
Mountain maple (Acer glabrum), common chokecherry (Prunus virginiana),
Saskatoon serviceberry (Amelanchier alnifolia), shinyleaf spiraea
(Spiraea lucida), silver buffaloberry (Shepherdia argentea), Kentucky
bluegrass (Poa pratense), bluejoint reedgrass (Calamagrostis
canadensis), beaked sedge (Carex rostrata), water sedge (C. aquatilis),
field horsetail (Equisetum arvense), hairy willowweed (Epilobium
ciliatum), Richardson geranium (Geranium richardsonii), smooth aster
(Aster laevis), cream peavine (Lathyrus ochroleucus), wild sarsaparilla
(Aralia nudicaulis), white clover (Trifolium repens), and
false-Solomon's-seal (Smilacina stellata) [2,32].

Species not previously mentioned but commonly associated with spike
bentgrass in California include California scrub oak (Quercus dumosa),
chamise (Adenostoma fasciculatum), toyon (Heteromeles arbutifolia),
hollyleaf cherry (Prunus ilicifolia), sugar sumac (Rhus ovata), tree
poppy (Dendromecon rigida), coyote brush (Baccharis pilularis), Catalina
bedstraw (Galium catalinense), southern bush monkeyflower (Mimulus
longiflorus), tufted hairgrass (Deschampsia cespitosa), nodding trisetum
(Trisetum cernuum), Geyer oniongrass (Melica geyeri), soft chess (Bromus
mollis), red brome (B. rubens), wild oat (Avena fatua), foxtail barley
(Critestion jubatum), naked sedge (Calamagrostis nutkaensis), and
prairie junegrass (Koeleria macrantha) [5,10].

Related categories for Species: Agrostis exarata | Spike Bentgrass