Print Report

CEGL004308 Salicornia (depressa, bigelovii, maritima) - Spartina alterniflora Salt Marsh

Type Concept Sentence: No Data Available

Common (Translated Scientific) Name: (Virginia Glasswort, Dwarf Saltwort, Slender Grasswort) - Smooth Cordgrass Salt Marsh

Colloquial Name: Salt Panne (Salicornia Type)

Hierarchy Level:  Association

Type Concept: This association represents tidally flooded hypersaline flats or very shallow depressions (pannes) dominated by succulents and other halophytic herbs, including Salicornia depressa, Salicornia bigelovii, Salicornia maritima, and stunted Spartina alterniflora, that occur in salt marshes of the Atlantic coast. Vegetation of this association tends to develop in shallow depressions within high or salt marshes where drainage is poor. The depressions are regularly to irregularly flooded by high tides, but as the water evaporates during low tide, the salinity concentration increases forming "salt pannes." Formation of the pannes may result from ice-scouring, rafting flotsam, peat compaction, mosquito ditch levees, or erosion of tidal creek banks, which create small, sparsely vegetated to unvegetated impoundments. Bare peat and/or mucky soils are prevalent (up to 85% bare soils). Total vegetative cover is variable in pannes, from near total absence of vascular plants to a dense cover of Salicornia depressa, Salicornia bigelovii, Salicornia maritima, or Spartina alterniflora (short form). Common associates include Limonium carolinianum, Plantago maritima var. juncoides, Triglochin maritima, Spartina patens, Suaeda maritima, and Atriplex spp. Borrichia frutescens can be an occasional component in Virginia. Algal mats are characteristically present, visible even in densely vegetated pannes. Blue-green algae are an important component of these mats, in some cases contributing significantly more biomass to the community than do vascular species. Diagnostic species include Salicornia bigelovii and Salicornia depressa.

Diagnostic Characteristics: No Data Available

Rationale for Nominal Species or Physiognomic Features: No Data Available

Classification Comments: This community occurs in coastal salt marshes from Nova Scotia to the Carolinas and possibly Georgia, north of the range of Batis maritima. Salt pannes can potentially be classified based on morphology, salinity gradients, or substrate (Godfrey et al. 1978), which may elucidate further variation.

Similar NVC Types: No Data Available
note: No Data Available
Physiognomy and Structure: No Data Available

Floristics: This association includes tidally flooded hypersaline flats or very shallow depressions (pannes) dominated by succulents and other halophytic herbs. Total vegetative cover is quite variable in pannes, from near total absence of vascular plants to a dense cover of Salicornia depressa (= Salicornia virginica), Salicornia bigelovii, Salicornia maritima, Sarcocornia pacifica, or Spartina alterniflora (short form). Common associates include Limonium carolinianum, Plantago maritima var. juncoides, Triglochin maritima, Spartina patens, Suaeda maritima, and Atriplex spp. Algal mats are characteristically present, visible even in densely vegetated pannes. Borrichia frutescens can be an occasional component in Virginia. Blue-green algae are an important component of these mats, in some cases contributing significantly more biomass to the community than do vascular species. The following algae were noted to occur in association with Spartina alterniflora in the littoral zone of a Massachusetts salt marsh: Oscillatoria subuliformis, Oscillatoria amphibia, Lyngbea spp., Microcoleus chthonoplastes, Nodularia harveyana, Hydrocoleum lyngbyaceum, and Symploca spp. (Webber 1967).

Dynamics:  Salt pannes are part of the shifting mosaic of plant communities of the salt marsh complex. They tend to occur more frequently on the high marsh, but are present in the low marsh as well. Pannes are variable in shape and likely variable in origin. Formation can result from ice scouring or rafting flotsam that scrapes away or smothers existing vegetation, or from peat compaction, mosquito ditch levees, or tidal creek bank erosion that blocks or impedes drainage. Lack of vegetation decreases local sedimentation, which also maintains lower micro-relief (Redfield 1972). Evaporation from these poorly drained shallow depressions leads to hypersaline conditions (Bertness et al. 1992, Niering and Warren 1980). Gradients of salinity and standing water depth and duration correlate to vegetative cover and composition. The lowest portions of pannes tend to be wetter and more saline and can have little or no vegetation. As duration of wetness and salinity decreases across the micro-relief, forb-dominated species assemblages tend to dominate followed by mixed graminoid-forb assemblages at the outer, higher edges (Redfield 1972). Pannes can be ephemeral features on the marsh, and vegetation cover and composition can vary from year to year. Unvegetated, soft-bottomed pannes generally have plentiful worm and crab burrows (Godfrey et al. 1978).
Environmental Description:  Vegetation of this association tends to develop in shallow depressions in salt marshes where drainage is poor. It tends to occur more frequently on the high marsh but occurs within low marsh as well. Pannes form in depressions that range from 2-30 cm lower than the elevation of the marsh. The depressions are regularly to irregularly flooded by tides, and as the water evaporates during low tide, the salinity concentration increases forming "salt pannes." Substrate is soft, silty muck or peat of variable density. Habitats occupied by this vegetation may be highly ephemeral and constantly shifting on the landscape as existing depressions fill with sediments and new depressions form elsewhere.
Geographic Range: This association occurs along the Mid- and North Atlantic Coast from the Canadian maritime provinces south to North Carolina and possibly South Carolina and Georgia.

Nations: CA,US

States/Provinces:  CT, DE, GA?, MA, MD, ME, NB, NC, NH, NJ, NS, NY, QC?, RI, SC?, VA


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.b Saltwort species - Swampfire species - Gulf Cordgrass Tidal Flat & Panne Group G123 2.C.5.Nb.1.b
Alliance A4487 <i>Salicornia depressa - Salicornia maritima</i> Intertidal Salt Flat Alliance A4487 2.C.5.Nb.1.b
Association CEGL004308 (Virginia Glasswort, Dwarf Saltwort, Slender Grasswort) - Smooth Cordgrass Salt Marsh CEGL004308 2.C.5.Nb.1.b
Concept Lineage: duplicate concept of both 6369 and 4308

Predecessors: No Data Available

Obsolete Names: No Data Available

Obsolete Parents: No Data Available
Synonomy: = Salicornia (virginica, bigelovii, maritima) - Spartina alterniflora Herbaceous Vegetation (McManamay 2017b)
= Salicornia (virginica, bigelovii, maritima) - Spartina alterniflora Herbaceous Vegetation (Fleming et al. 2007b)
= Salicornia - Bassia salt flat (Harvill 1965) [Virginia.]
= Salicornia maritima - Spartina alterniflora community (Metzler and Barrett 2006)
= Salicornia virginica Tidal Dwarf-Shrubland (Coulling 2002)
= Salicornia tidal flat (Clovis 1968) [Virginia.]
= Salicornietum ambiguae (Conard 1935) [New York.]
= Sarcocornia perennis - (Distichlis spicata, Spartina alterniflora) Dwarf-shrubland (Bartgis 1986)
= Spartina alterniflora / Salicornia europaea community (Clancy 1993b) [Delaware.]
= Pan (Nichols 1920) [Connecticut.]
= Panne (Good 1965) [New Jersey.]
= Panne marsh (Baumann 1978b) [Virginia.]
= Pans (Hill 1986) [Assateague Island.]
= Pans (Higgins et al. 1971) [Assateague Island.]
= Salt Flat (Schafale and Weakley 1990)
? Salt Marsh (Rawinski 1984a) [formerly Southern New England and Gulf of Maine Salt Marshes.]
= Salt pan (Klotz 1986) [Virginia.]
= Salt panne (Clancy 1993b) [Delaware.]
= Salt panne (Miller and Egler 1950) [Connecticut.]
= Salt panne (Reschke 1990) [New York.]
= Stunted Spartina alterniflora community (Miller and Egler 1950) [Connecticut.]
Concept Author(s): L.A. Sneddon and A. Berdine

Author of Description: S.L. Neid, L.A. Sneddon and A.S. Weakley

Acknowledgements: No Data Available

Version Date: 09-06-13
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