• GENERAL BOTANICAL CHARACTERISTICS
• RAUNKIAER LIFE FORM
• REGENERATION PROCESSES
• SITE CHARACTERISTICS
• SUCCESSIONAL STATUS
• SEASONAL DEVELOPMENT

GENERAL BOTANICAL CHARACTERISTICS:

Poverty oatgrass is a cool-season, native, perennial bunchgrass. Roots are fibrous without rhizomes or stolons, and most of the foliage occurs as a crowed basal clump of leaves. Curved or twisted leaves are 4 to 6 inches (10-15 cm) long and persist with age. The inflorescence is a constricted panicle containing 2 to 13 spikelets. Both male and female flower parts appear on each individual. Florets that cross-fertilize (chasmogamous) are located on the aerial panicle and contain more pollen grains than the unopened, self-fertilized florets (cleistogamous) that are located inside 1 or more of the leaf sheaths throughout their development. Floret lemmas have twisted awns with long, stiff hairs, both of which aid in dispersal [11,22].

Research in a pine-hardwood forest in Michigan found that poverty oatgrass has a population half-life of 2.2 years [42].

RAUNKIAER [37] LIFE FORM:

Chamaephyte

REGENERATION PROCESSES:

Poverty oatgrass reproduces by seed and by tillering [11]. Its production of cleistogamous flowers and chasmogamous flowers makes this species highly self-compatible and often dominant in favorable growing conditions. Chasmogamous florets are more abundant than self-fertile florets. Cleistogamous florets occur most frequently in plants growing on disturbed, grazed, wooded, and mountainous areas [9]. The presence of both flower types in varying proportions yields 2 different reproductive strategies. However, seed production through self-pollination in closed florets is most common [35].

While conducting a study on poverty oatgrass reproduction, Clay [9] observed that healthy plants set seed in all 200 of observed florets of both flower types. Pronounced twisted and pubescent awns aid in seed dispersal. Maximum germination of seeds was investigated by Toole [51]. Seeds taken from the Shenandoah National Forest in Virginia germinated best when temperatures were alternated between room temperature and 95 degrees Fahrenheit (35 ^oC). A 71% sulfuric acid treatment weakened the seed coat, facilitating germination. Prechilling the seeds at 37 degrees Fahrenheit (3 ^oC) before room temperature germination with a potassium nitrate treatment was also effective. 

Seeds of poverty oatgrass are highly dormant but germinate readily on exposed mineral soil. Even if the aboveground population no longer exists, seeds may remain in soil for decades before a disturbance such as fire initiates another population [43].

SITE CHARACTERISTICS:

Poverty oatgrass most commonly inhabits low fertility, sandy or rocky, well-drained soils of old fields, pastures, roadsides, and woodland margins characterized by low soil moisture [11,14,15,22,28]. Poverty oatgrass also inhabits clearcuts, burns, and trampled ground of flat and mountainous areas throughout much of the eastern United States [10]. Poverty oatgrass tends to inhabit shallow A horizons overlying substrates such as limestone, marble rock, sandstone, granite, siltstone, clay, and chert [7,23,26,36].

SUCCESSIONAL STATUS:

Poverty oatgrass is a secondary successor of burned and/or cut sites, old fields, and old pastureland [14,15,19,38,47]. It is a common pioneer on northeastern coastal sandplains and old domestic sheep pastures [14]. Its ability to colonize after disturbance is attributed to long periods of seed dormancy  [31]. Optimally growing in high light, conditions are most favorable for poverty oatgrass during early years of succession [42]. As competition for light and other resources increases, poverty oatgrass populations decrease [3]. Individuals appearing in mid-late successional stages of natural reforestation allocate most resources to reproductive efforts in order to continue the population [43].

Some barren and alvar ecosystems are kept in early succession by repeated fires [7,46]. Smith and Sparling [46] found poverty oatgrass was a persistent member of jack pine (Pinus banksiana) barrens maintained by frequent fire. A prairie and savanna restoration study conducted in central Wisconsin showed marked increases in poverty oatgrass populations with increased prescribed burning [4]. However, it should be noted that some grasslands dominated by poverty oatgrass might be drought-dependent, not fire-dependent [7].

SEASONAL DEVELOPMENT:

In the southern and eastern United States, poverty oatgrass begins active growth in early spring. Flowers develop and bloom from late spring to early June. Seed maturation and shattering closely follow pollination. Poverty oatgrass is commonly dormant during the hot summer months. A period of vegetative growth may occur when temperatures decrease in early fall. In Canada, seasonal development occurs a few weeks later as a result of temperature and photoperiod restrictions [11,28].

Related categories for SPECIES: Danthonia spicata | Poverty Oatgrass