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CEGL004191 Spartina alterniflora South Atlantic Salt Marsh
Type Concept Sentence: No Data Available
Common (Translated Scientific) Name: Smooth Cordgrass South Atlantic Salt Marsh
Colloquial Name: Southern Atlantic Coast Salt Marsh
Hierarchy Level: Association
Type Concept: This vegetation includes various tidal marshes dominated by Spartina alterniflora, from Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, south to the Atlantic Coast of the Florida peninsula. The hydrology is usually regularly tidally flooded. Spartina alterniflora is limited to the low marsh zone by moderate salinity; it can withstand longer submergence than other salt marsh grasses, but still requires periodic exposure of the substrate. It also requires moderately high levels of iron (7-15 ppm). This community is commonly known as "low salt marsh," occurring as a tall grassland strongly dominated by Spartina alterniflora. There is little variation in vascular plant species composition across the range. Spartina alterniflora occurs in nearly pure stands, occasionally with other low-statured species.
Diagnostic Characteristics: No Data Available
Rationale for Nominal Species or Physiognomic Features: No Data Available
Classification Comments: No Data Available
Similar NVC Types: No Data Available
note: No Data Available
Physiognomy and Structure: No Data Available
Floristics: This community is commonly known as "low salt marsh," occurring as tall grassland strongly dominated by Spartina alterniflora. There is little variation in vascular plant species composition across the range. Spartina alterniflora occurs in nearly pure stands, occasionally with other low-statured species. Salicornia sp. can be quite common mixed in with the Spartina, often becoming more apparent later in the growing season. Limonium carolinianum is another characteristic herb, but only as scattered individuals. More detailed information is needed on the composition of this vegetation and how it differs floristically from its northern equivalent, ~Spartina alterniflora / (Ascophyllum nodosum) Acadian/Virginian Zone Salt Marsh (CEGL004192)$$.
Dynamics: These marshes are long-persistent and are typically quite stable, although they respond to dynamic coastal processes, including routine sediment deposition and erosion, and the more catastrophic impacts of hurricanes and other storms (such as sand deposition by barrier island overwash). On the bay side of barrier islands and peninsulas, tidal sedimentation, combined with rising sea level, causes a rise in the marsh surface and landward migration of the marsh (Schafale and Weakley 1990).
Environmental Description: This vegetation is found along the margins of sounds and estuaries, backs of barrier islands, and old flood tide delates near closed inlets (Schafale and Weakley 1990). These are areas with diurnal salt tides. The hydrology is estuarine, tidally flooded, and euhaline (30-40 ppt). This range is consistent with the "Carolinian Province" of Cowardin et al. (1979).
Geographic Range: This vegetation ranges from Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, south to the Atlantic Coast of the Florida peninsula (Cowardin 1979). The northern limit corresponds with the southern limit of the Virginian province of the American Atlantic Temperate Region, a transitional area harboring animal species of both southern and northern affinities.
Nations: US
States/Provinces: FL, GA, NC, SC
Plot Analysis Summary:
http://vegbank.org/natureserve/ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.683265
Confidence Level: Moderate
Confidence Level Comments: No Data Available
Grank: G5
Greasons: No Data Available
| Type | Name | Database Code | Classification Code |
|---|---|---|---|
| Class | 2 Shrub & Herb Vegetation Class | C02 | 2 |
| Subclass | 2.C Shrub & Herb Wetland Subclass | S44 | 2.C |
| Formation | 2.C.5 Salt Marsh Formation | F035 | 2.C.5 |
| Division | 2.C.5.Nb North American Atlantic & Gulf Coastal Salt Marsh Division | D034 | 2.C.5.Nb |
| Macrogroup | 2.C.5.Nb.1 North American Atlantic & Gulf Coastal Salt Marsh Macrogroup | M079 | 2.C.5.Nb.1 |
| Group | 2.C.5.Nb.1.a Smooth Cordgrass Low Salt Marsh Group | G122 | 2.C.5.Nb.1.a |
| Alliance | A4497 Smooth Cordgrass South Atlantic-Gulf Low Salt Marsh Alliance | A4497 | 2.C.5.Nb.1.a |
| Association | CEGL004191 Smooth Cordgrass South Atlantic Salt Marsh | CEGL004191 | 2.C.5.Nb.1.a |
Concept Lineage: No Data Available
Predecessors: No Data Available
Obsolete Names: No Data Available
Obsolete Parents: No Data Available
Synonomy: = Spartina alterniflora Carolinian Zone Herbaceous Vegetation (McManamay 2017b)
- FNA Editorial Committee [Flora of North America Editorial Committee], editors. 2003. Flora of North America, north of Mexico. Volume 4. Magnoliophyta: Caryophyllidae, part 1. Oxford University Press, New York. 559 pp.
- GNHP [Georgia Natural Heritage Program]. 2018. Unpublished data. Georgia Natural Heritage Program, Wildlife Resources Division, Georgia Department of Natural Resources, Social Circle.
- Govus, T. E. 1998. Fort Pulaski National Monument Inventory. Final report. Purchase Order # 1443PX509097564. Prepared for National Park Service, Southeast Region, Atlanta, GA. 33 pp. plus appendices and maps.
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- Nelson, J. B. 1986. The natural communities of South Carolina: Initial classification and description. South Carolina Wildlife and Marine Resources Department, Division of Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries, Columbia, SC. 55 pp.
- Peet, R. K., T. R. Wentworth, M. P. Schafale, and A.S. Weakley. No date. Unpublished data of the North Carolina Vegetation Survey. University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.
- Schafale, M. P. 2012. Classification of the natural communities of North Carolina, 4th Approximation. North Carolina Department of Environment, Health, and Natural Resources, Division of Parks and Recreation, Natural Heritage Program, Raleigh.
- Schafale, M. P., and A. S. Weakley. 1990. Classification of the natural communities of North Carolina. Third approximation. North Carolina Department of Environment, Health, and Natural Resources, Division of Parks and Recreation, Natural Heritage Program, Raleigh. 325 pp.
- Southeastern Ecology Working Group of NatureServe. No date. International Ecological Classification Standard: International Vegetation Classification. Terrestrial Vegetation. NatureServe, Durham, NC.
- Weakley, A. S. 2007. Flora of the Carolinas, Virginia, Georgia, and surrounding areas. Unpublished working draft of 11 January 2007. University of North Carolina Herbarium (NCU), North Carolina Botanical Garden, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. [http://www.herbarium.unc.edu/flora.htm]