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Wildlife, Animals, and Plants
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Introductory
SPECIES: Carex heliophila | Sun Sedge
ABBREVIATION :
CARHEL
SYNONYMS :
Carex pensylvanica Lam. var. digyna Boeck.
SCS PLANT CODE :
CAHE5
COMMON NAMES :
sun sedge
TAXONOMY :
The currently accepted scientific name of sun sedge is Carex heliophila
MacKenz [11,13].
LIFE FORM :
Graminoid
FEDERAL LEGAL STATUS :
No special status
OTHER STATUS :
NO-ENTRY
COMPILED BY AND DATE :
Kathy Ahlenslager March 1988
LAST REVISED BY AND DATE :
NO-ENTRY
AUTHORSHIP AND CITATION :
Ahlenslager, Kathy. 1988. Carex heliophila. In: Remainder of Citation
DISTRIBUTION AND OCCURRENCE
SPECIES: Carex heliophila | Sun Sedge
GENERAL DISTRIBUTION :
Sun sedge's range extends from Ontario to Alberta, south to Ohio,
Missouri, Kansas, and New Mexico. Sun sedge also occurs in New York
[11].
ECOSYSTEMS :
FRES20 Douglas-fir
FRES21 Ponderosa pine
FRES29 Sagebrush
FRES34 Chaparral - mountain shrub
FRES35 Pinyon - juniper
FRES36 Mountain grasslands
FRES38 Plains grasslands
FRES39 Prairie
STATES :
CO IL IN IA KS MI MN MO MT NE
NM NY ND OH SD WI WY AB MB ON
SK
ADMINISTRATIVE UNITS :
BADL BICA DETO FLFO GRSA MEVE
PIPE ROMO THRO WICA YELL
BLM PHYSIOGRAPHIC REGIONS :
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 :
K012 Douglas-fir forest
K016 Eastern ponderosa forest
K023 Juniper - pinyon woodland
K037 Mountain-mahogany - oak scrub
K038 Great Basin sagebrush
K055 Sagebrush steppe
K056 Wheatgrass - needlegrass shrubsteppe
K063 Foothills prairie
K064 Grama - needlegrass - wheatgrass
K065 Grama - buffalograss
K066 Wheatgrass - needlegrass
K067 Wheatgrass - bluestem - needlegrass
K070 Sandsage - bluestem prairie
K074 Bluestem prairie
K081 Oak savanna
SAF COVER TYPES :
NO-ENTRY
SRM (RANGELAND) COVER TYPES :
NO-ENTRY
HABITAT TYPES AND PLANT COMMUNITIES :
Sun sedge is a codominant or indicator species in many habitat types in
ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa) forests and plains grasslands. It is a
codominant with buffalograss (Buchloe dactyloides), oatgrass (Danthonia
parryi), blue grama (Bouteloua gracilis), Gambel oak (Quercus gambelii),
creeping juniper (Juniperus horizontalis), mountain-mahogany
(Cercocarpus montanus), Idaho fescue (Festuca idahoensis), and
needle-and-thread (Stipa comata).
VALUE AND USE
SPECIES: Carex heliophila | Sun Sedge
WOOD PRODUCTS VALUE :
NO-ENTRY
IMPORTANCE TO LIVESTOCK AND WILDLIFE :
Sun sedge is an important forage at the beginning of the grazing season
and after summer rains [13]. It provides abundant early forage,
especially in the drier areas of prairie grasslands [21]. In South
Dakota and Wyoming, the ponderosa pine/sun sedge habitat type is used as
a spring-fall range for livestock and spring-summer range for large
mammals [13].
At Wind Cave National Park, South Dakota, a grazing study showed that
sun sedge increased in response to grazing by prairie dogs for the first
3 years after introduction of the prairie dogs. This increase may have
been the result of sun sedge's tolerance to grazing combined with the
decreased abundance of mid-sized grass competitors [4].
PALATABILITY :
Sun sedge is rated 50 to 80 percent palatable to livestock [13]. The
palatability of sun sedge to livestock and wildlife species in several
western states has been rated as follows [8]:
CO MT ND WY
Cattle Fair Fair Good Fair
Sheep Fair Fair Good Fair
Horses Good Good Good Good
Pronghorn ---- ---- Fair ----
Mule deer ---- ---- Fair ----
White-tailed deer ---- ---- Poor ----
NUTRITIONAL VALUE :
Compared with other graminoids, sun sedge is rated fair in energy value
and protein value [8].
COVER VALUE :
The degree to which sun sedge provides environmental protection in North
Dakota during one or more seasons is rated as fair for pronghorn but
poor for white-tailed deer [8].
VALUE FOR REHABILITATION OF DISTURBED SITES :
Sun sedge was rated for several factors relating to its use in
rehabilitation work in several western states [8]:
CO MT ND WY
Potential biomass Low Low Low Low
production
Erosion control potential Medium Medium Medium Low
Establishment requirements ---- ---- High Low
Short-term revegetation ---- Low Low Low
potential
Long-term revegetation ---- Low Medium Medium
potential
OTHER USES AND VALUES :
NO-ENTRY
MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS :
The presence of wildlife affects the production of sun sedge [3]. There
is also evidence that heavy grazing in areas with sun sedge may reduce
the production of this species [14].
The impact of prairie dog activity was studied in a mixed-grass prairie
community in southwestern South Dakota. Over time plant species
diversity decreased. Sun sedge was one of the "decreasers" [3].
BOTANICAL AND ECOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS
SPECIES: Carex heliophila | Sun Sedge
GENERAL BOTANICAL CHARACTERISTICS :
Sun sedge is a low-growing, strongly rhizomatous, cool-season,
nonmychorrhizal, native perennial. Plants grow from slender rootstocks
and form tufts or bunches. Culms (stems) range up to 11 inches (3 dm)
in height [8,11,13,21].
RAUNKIAER LIFE FORM :
Geophyte
REGENERATION PROCESSES :
Although sun sedge produces seeds, most regeneration is through
well-developed, creeping rhizomes [11].
SITE CHARACTERISTICS :
Sun sedge occurs in prairies, pastures, plains, and hills from 4,000 to
9,000 feet (1,200-2,600 m) in elevation [11,13]. It usually is a minor
component of prairie vegetation. On dry ridges, sun sedge may comprise
5 to 10 percent of the cover, but in some areas it may comprise
approximately 30 to 50 percent of the plants present [11]. Elevational
ranges in three western states vary as follows [1]:
from 4,400 to 9,500 feet (1,300-2,800 m) in CO
3,700 to 6,200 feet (1,100-1,800 m) in MT
3,400 to 8,500 feet (1,000-2,500 m) in WY
Sun sedge is found in openings in ponderosa pine forests with sandy loam
to sandy clay soils with pH's ranging from 6.0 to 7.6 [14]. The growth
of sun sedge on soils from several western states is rated as follows
[8]:
CO MT ND WY
Gravel Fair Fair Fair Good
Sand Fair Good Good Good
Sandy loam Good Good Good Good
Loam Good Good Good Good
Clay loam Fair Fair Fair Fair
Clay Poor Poor Poor Poor
Dense clay Poor Poor Poor Poor
SUCCESSIONAL STATUS :
Obligate climax species
Sun sedge is a climax species in many habitat types [1,5,14].
SEASONAL DEVELOPMENT :
Sun sedge is a cool-season species that begins flowering in April in
Montana and in June in North Dakota and Wyoming. Blooming ends in July
[8]. Fruits mature in late May or in June. After this time plants are
more or less covered by grasses [21].
FIRE ECOLOGY
SPECIES: Carex heliophila | Sun Sedge
FIRE ECOLOGY OR ADAPTATIONS :
Sedges tolerate fire very well. Fire probably stimulates plants of this
rhizomatous species to initiate new shoots at primodial regions of the
root system. Although summer grass fires harm warm-season species, they
favor cool-season ones like sun sedge.
POSTFIRE REGENERATION STRATEGY :
Rhizomatous herb, rhizome in soil
FIRE EFFECTS
SPECIES: Carex heliophila | Sun Sedge
IMMEDIATE FIRE EFFECT ON PLANT :
Sedges generally tolerate fire very well. The season of a fire has the
greatest effect on these plants [22]. Fires usually consume dry
vegetation to ground level. Because sun sedge is relatively leafy,
quite a bit of heat may be transferred to belowground plant parts [22].
DISCUSSION AND QUALIFICATION OF FIRE EFFECT :
NO-ENTRY
PLANT RESPONSE TO FIRE :
In central Alberta annual early spring burns for 25 to 30 years resulted
in an increase in sun sedge [2]. However, a study of the effect of
spring burning on vegetation in Kansas pastures showed that even though
the number of sun sedge plants increased after burning, they decreased
postfire years 3 and 4. At the same time, the number of plants
increased somewhat on unburned areas [12].
On a mesic mixed prairie in western North Dakota with average annual
precipitation of 16 inches (41 cm), the effects of three wildfires (May,
August, and September) were studied. After a hot, late May fire the
frequency of plants was the same or higher as that before the fire,
while a fire in late summer harmed plants [9,20].
Since mowing and grazing, as well as fire, defoliate plants, the effects
of mowing and grazing are discussed here also. A 3-year study on a
mixed-grass prairie in southwestern North Dakota showed a greater
increase in sun sedge and threadleaf sedge (Carex filifolia) in an
exclosure than on adjacent grazed plots. Upland sedges are considered
to be increasers; however the results of this study contradict this.
Thus, the reaction of upland sedges to grazing should be reevaluated
[3].
On the eastern edge of the badlands of South Dakota in the Pine Ridge
Indian Reservation near Wanblee, species composition of a relict
mixed-grass prairie on one mesa was compared with that of two mesas
which were grazed and mowed. The dominant species on the protected mesa
included bluebunch wheatgrass (Pseudorogneria spicata), needleleaf sedge
(Carex eleocharis), sun sedge, threadleaf sedge, blue grama, and
needle-and-thread [7].
The protected area produced a mixed-grass association dominated by
bluebunch wheatgrass and dry-land sedges, whereas combined mowing and
grazing resulted in a short-grass association dominated by blue grama
grass. The results of this study show that mowing and grazing greatly
reduce the amount of sedges [16].
The relationship between prescribed fire and plains rough fescue
(Festuca scabrella) and western porcupine grass (Stipa spartea)
communities in the aspen parkland of central Alberta was studied. This
fire-climax grassland is well adapted to fire. With settlement in the
early 1900's and the cessation of fires, trees and shrubs invaded the
prairie. Annual early spring burns for 25 to 30 years eliminated a few
species, increased the diversity of herbaceous species, and maintained
forest cover at the same levels as presettlement. During this period
sun sedge increased on the burned areas. Annual burning created a drier
microenvironment than normally found on the fescue prairie and favored
sun sedge [2,16].
DISCUSSION AND QUALIFICATION OF PLANT RESPONSE :
NO-ENTRY
FIRE MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS :
NO-ENTRY
REFERENCES
SPECIES: Carex heliophila | Sun Sedge
REFERENCES :
1. Alexander, Robert R. 1986. Classification of the forest vegetation of
Wyoming. Res. Note RM-466. Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Department of
Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Forest and Range Experiment
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2. Anderson, Howard G.; Bailey, Arthur W. 1980. Effects of annual burning
on grassland in the aspen parkland of east-central Alberta. Canadian
Journal of Botany. 58: 985-996. [3499]
3. Archer, Steven R. 1983. Plant community structure, competitive
interactions and water relations as influenced by herbivores. Fort
Collins, CO: Colorado State University. 114 p. Dissertation. [338]
4. Archer, Steve; Garrett, M. G.; Detling, James K. 1987. Rates of
vegetation change associated with prairie dog (Cynomys ludovicianus)
grazing in North American mixed-grass prairie. Vegetatio. 72: 159-166.
[2864]
5. Baker, William L. 1984. A preliminary classification of the natural
vegetation of Colorado. Great Basin Naturalist. 44(4): 647-676. [380]
6. Bernard, Stephen R.; Brown, Kenneth F. 1977. Distribution of mammals,
reptiles, and amphibians by BLM physiographic regions and A.W. Kuchler's
associations for the eleven western states. Tech. Note 301. Denver, CO:
U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management. 169 p.
[434]
7. Brand, M. D.; Goetz, H. 1978. Secondary succession of a mixed grass
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ecosystems. Agric. Handb. 475. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of
Agriculture, Forest Service. 68 p. [998]
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and Colorado Basin. Agric. Handb. 374. Washington, DC: U.S. Department
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Black Hills National Forest of South Dakota and Wyoming: a habitat type
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grassland mesas in the Badlands of South Dakota. Ecology. 23: 438-445.
[4000]
17. Lyon, L. Jack; Stickney, Peter F. 1976. Early vegetal succession
following large northern Rocky Mountain wildfires. In: Proceedings, Tall
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based on soils and climate. Bozeman, MT: U.S. Department of Agriculture,
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22. Wright, Henry A. 1978. Use of fire to manage grasslands of the Great
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and southern Canada. New York: John Wiley & Sons. 501 p. [2620]
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U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management. 169 p.
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Index
Related categories for Species: Carex heliophila
| Sun Sedge
|
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