Print Report
M309 Southeastern Coastal Plain Patch Prairie Macrogroup
Type Concept Sentence: This vegetation group encompasses the medium-scale perennial grassland, "barrens" and prairie-like vegetation of the inner coastal plains of the southeastern United States, including the Atlantic and Gulf coastal plains from Georgia to Texas, and the intervening Mississippi River Alluvial Plain of Arkansas.
Common (Translated Scientific) Name: Southeastern Coastal Plain Patch Prairie Macrogroup
Colloquial Name: Southeastern Coastal Plain Patch Prairie
Hierarchy Level: Macrogroup
Type Concept: This vegetation group encompasses the medium-scale grassland, "barrens" and prairie-like vegetation of the inner coastal plains of the southeastern United States, including the Atlantic and Gulf coastal plains from Georgia to Texas, and the intervening Mississippi River Alluvial Plain of Arkansas. These communities are dominated by perennial grasses, with some scattered trees and shrubs, particularly in examples which have not experienced recent disturbance. High-quality examples would support a dense herbaceous layer dominated by tall grasses such as Sorghastrum nutans and Schizachyrium scoparium. Other frequent graminoid taxa include Andropogon glomeratus, Andropogon virginicus, Bouteloua curtipendula, Carex cherokeensis, Paspalum floridanum, and Schizachyrium scoparium. In depressions and drainages, Andropogon gerardii and/or Panicum virgatum will have greater importance and Tripsacum dactyloides may be present. At this more mesic end of the continuum, woody plant succession may occur at a more rapid rate than in drier areas.
The most extensive and noteworthy examples of this grassland vegetation are known from specific areas where particular substrates or specific edaphic conditions favor its development and maintenance. This includes the chalky Cretaceous "Black Belt" of Alabama and Mississippi (and related areas in Georgia), calcareous or saline clay-influenced areas of the Gulf coastal plains of Louisiana and Texas, and silty or loess-influenced plains of western Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Mississippi. These are all Cretaceous and younger substrates, in contrast to prairie-like vegetation on older (e.g., Mississippian) limestones in the Interior Low Plateau. In the presettlement landscape and throughout the nineteenth century, the combination of grazing (first by native ungulates and then by free-ranging cattle into the mid-twentieth century) and fire (from lightning and/or Native Americans), combined with the unusual edaphic conditions, kept these areas relatively free of woody vegetation. Many current stands suffer from a lack of disturbance that would inhibit woody plant succession. With range enclosure and an increasing lack of fire during the twentieth century, the dynamics of the landscape have changed, and the coverage of fire-intolerant woody species has increased. This grassland vegetation is now reduced to patches, or its flora persists in pastures which are under more continuous grazing pressure than the former processes would have allowed.
The most extensive and noteworthy examples of this grassland vegetation are known from specific areas where particular substrates or specific edaphic conditions favor its development and maintenance. This includes the chalky Cretaceous "Black Belt" of Alabama and Mississippi (and related areas in Georgia), calcareous or saline clay-influenced areas of the Gulf coastal plains of Louisiana and Texas, and silty or loess-influenced plains of western Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Mississippi. These are all Cretaceous and younger substrates, in contrast to prairie-like vegetation on older (e.g., Mississippian) limestones in the Interior Low Plateau. In the presettlement landscape and throughout the nineteenth century, the combination of grazing (first by native ungulates and then by free-ranging cattle into the mid-twentieth century) and fire (from lightning and/or Native Americans), combined with the unusual edaphic conditions, kept these areas relatively free of woody vegetation. Many current stands suffer from a lack of disturbance that would inhibit woody plant succession. With range enclosure and an increasing lack of fire during the twentieth century, the dynamics of the landscape have changed, and the coverage of fire-intolerant woody species has increased. This grassland vegetation is now reduced to patches, or its flora persists in pastures which are under more continuous grazing pressure than the former processes would have allowed.
Diagnostic Characteristics: These are perennial grasslands of the coastal plains, found on a variety of soil types, many of which have unusual edaphic features (e.g., droughtiness, impeded drainage, salinity). The primary dominant grasses in examples of this macrogroup include Schizachyrium scoparium and Sorghastrum nutans, as well as Andropogon virginicus, Panicum spp., and Sporobolus spp. Other more mesic grasses, including Andropogon gerardii, Tripsacum dactyloides, and Panicum virgatum, are found in mesic and wet phases. These dominant species are wide-ranging and their distributions are not restricted to the coastal plains. Andropogon glomeratus is listed as a nominal as an indicator of a southern coastal plain affinity. There are some plant species with more southern affinities that are present in some associations, including Allium canadense var. mobilense, Packera tampicana, Marshallia caespitosa, and Nemastylis geminiflora, but most of the component species are either widespread of have western affinities. Some proposed factors which have functioned to maintain the openness of these vegetation types include the distinctive soils and resulting stresses to vegetation, as well as fire and grazing.
Rationale for Nominal Species or Physiognomic Features: No Data Available
Classification Comments: This macrogroup concept is preliminary and needs further review. It includes a variety of grassland associations ranging from relatively dry to wet-mesic, occurring in a variety of areas across the inner coastal plains physiographic province.
Similar NVC Types: No Data Available
note: No Data Available
Physiognomy and Structure: This vegetation is primarily dominated by perennial grasses, but some examples may have scattered to patchy trees and shrubs, depending on management or time since last fire. Most examples occur on circumneutral soils, or other unusual substrates (e.g., clay, gravels, etc.).
Floristics: The typical perennial grasses that dominate examples of this vegetation include Andropogon gerardii, Schizachyrium scoparium, and Sorghastrum nutans. In addition, Andropogon glomeratus will be present in many examples, this grass has a more southern distribution relative to the others and serves as a somewhat geographically diagnostic species. Moist to wetter swales or zones may be embedded within and among the typical stands; in these areas, Andropogon gerardii and/or Panicum virgatum will have greater importance (DeSelm and Murdock 1993), and Tripsacum dactyloides may be present. Other plants in stands of this group vary across this broad region. There are several subregional types and variability among these which is expressed in the associations. Typical trees (whose cover may be sparse) include Carya illinoinensis, Carya myristiciformis, Juniperus virginiana var. virginiana, Maclura pomifera (within its native range), Quercus muehlenbergii, Quercus shumardii, Quercus pagoda, Quercus sinuata, and Quercus stellata. In the Jackson Purchase barrens, Quercus marilandica, Quercus stellata, and Quercus velutina are among the most frequent trees (Bryant and Martin 1988). Some typical shrubs and small trees include Cercis canadensis var. canadensis, Crataegus spp., Diospyros virginiana, Forestiera ligustrina, Frangula caroliniana, Ilex decidua, Prunus angustifolia, Rhus aromatica, Rhus copallinum, Rosa setigera, Sideroxylon lycioides, Symphoricarpos orbiculatus, and Ulmus alata. Other grasses and graminoids may include Bouteloua curtipendula, Carex cherokeensis, Carex microdonta, Fimbristylis puberula var. puberula, Leersia virginica, Muhlenbergia capillaris, Panicum anceps, Panicum flexile, and Sporobolus compositus. Forbs (which vary across the broad geographic range) may include widespread taxa such as Desmodium ciliare, Echinacea pallida, Echinacea purpurea, Liatris aspera, Liatris squarrosa, Liatris squarrulosa, Lythrum alatum, Manfreda virginica, Ratibida pinnata, Silphium integrifolium, Silphium laciniatum, Silphium terebinthinaceum, Silphium trifoliatum var. latifolium, Solidago auriculata, Symphyotrichum dumosum (= Aster dumosus), Symphyotrichum patens (= Aster patens), and Symphyotrichum lanceolatum var. lanceolatum (= Aster lanceolatus). Some plant species with more southern affinities that are present in some associations include Allium canadense var. mobilense, Packera tampicana, Marshallia caespitosa, and Nemastylis geminiflora. Some taxa of western affinities that may be present include Acacia angustissima, Dalea candida, Dalea compacta var. compacta, Dalea purpurea, Desmanthus illinoensis, Dracopis amplexicaulis, Euphorbia bicolor, Eustoma exaltatum ssp. russellianum (= Eustoma russellianum), Grindelia lanceolata, Indigofera miniata (= Indigofera miniata var. leptosepala), Neptunia lutea, Onosmodium bejariense var. occidentale (= Onosmodium occidentale), Palafoxia reverchonii, Rudbeckia missouriensis, Stenosiphon linifolius, Thelesperma filifolium, and Zigadenus nuttallii.
Dynamics: In western Tennessee and Kentucky (the "Jackson Purchase" or "Jackson Plain" barrens), a number of early reports mentioned extensive prairies and emphasized the importance of annual fires in maintaining these grasslands (Bryant and Martin 1988). Scattered groves of fire-tolerant oaks were likely interspersed among these grasslands (M. Evans pers. comm.). With fire suppression, groves of trees rapidly expanded and largely replaced the prairies. In the Black Belt (and in other areas as well), the presence of Juniperus virginiana-dominated zones may represent invasion by this species in the absence of sufficiently frequent or intense fire (DeSelm and Murdock 1993). Fire-return time is variable (and speculative in some cases), but fires were probably frequent (potentially on a two- to five-year return interval), originating from lightning or human ignition origin, and are thought to have occurred in late summer to early autumn prior to European settlement. Under current conditions, individual prairie openings or barrens are small and isolated from one another but were formerly more extensive prior to European settlement, forming a more extensive mosaic of grassland and woodlands under frequent fire regimes. Some proposed factors which have functioned to maintain the openness of this vegetation following the reduction of fire frequency include the droughty soils (with clay, chalk, gravel) and resulting stresses to vegetation, as well as some occasional fire. Fralish et al. (1999) noted that both post oak and chestnut oak woodlands are essentially the result of fire suppression in the barrens and historic savannas. In some areas, where the soils are particularly harsh (droughty, nutrient-poor, and/or rocky), stands may retain an open aspect in the absence of fire. Some of the extant examples are largely dependent on contemporary management regimes.
Environmental Description: The most extensive and noteworthy examples are known from specific areas where particular substrates or edaphic conditions favor the development and maintenance of this grassland vegetation. This includes the chalky Cretaceous "Black Belt" of Alabama and Mississippi (and related areas in Georgia), calcareous or saline clay-influenced areas of the Gulf coastal plains of Louisiana and Texas, and well-drained, gravelly, thin-soil plains of western Tennessee and Kentucky, as well as related areas in Texas, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Mississippi. Climate: Climate varies somewhat across the coastal plains, but the Black Belt area has an average annual precipitation of 130-140 cm and a frost-free period of 200-250 days.
Soil/substrate/hydrology: Examples are found on edaphically distinctive substrates, including the chalky Cretaceous "Black Belt" soils of Alabama and Mississippi (and related areas in Georgia), calcareous or saline clay-influenced areas of the Gulf coastal plains of Louisiana and Texas, and the thin-soil, well-drained, and gravelly plains of western Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Mississippi. The Black Belt region derives its name from the nearly black, rich topsoil that developed over Selma chalk, and has long been noted as a distinct topographic region in the state of Mississippi (Lowe 1921). The Black Belt associations generally occur on Cretaceous-age chalk, marl and calcareous clay. This includes calcareous soils of the Sumter, Binnsville, and Demopolis series, described as beds of marly clay over Selma chalk (including the Demopolis and Mooreville formations). The soils of the Jackson Prairie openings are presently mapped as the Maytag Series, a fine montmorillonitic, thermic Entic Chromudert. This deep, slowly permeable soil has formed in residuum weathered from marl of chalk of the Blackland Prairies (Wieland 1995). The soils of some examples in the Upper West Gulf Coastal Plain of Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Texas include relatively deep soils with circumneutral surface pH, as well as on chalk deposits, and thin soils over limestone outcrops with rock fragments. In Louisiana and Texas, examples are documented from the Fleming geologic formation, but are also known from the Cook Mountain Formation, the Jackson Group, as well as the Morse Clay Calcareous Prairie of the northwestern part of Louisiana and northeastern Texas. The examples in the Jackson Purchase region of Kentucky and adjacent Tennessee are found on soils that are predominantly thin, well-drained, and gravelly. This group likely did not develop on the deeper loess soils of the region. The former barrens were on flat to gently rolling lands just to the dry side of the moisture gradient (Bryant and Held 2001).
Soil/substrate/hydrology: Examples are found on edaphically distinctive substrates, including the chalky Cretaceous "Black Belt" soils of Alabama and Mississippi (and related areas in Georgia), calcareous or saline clay-influenced areas of the Gulf coastal plains of Louisiana and Texas, and the thin-soil, well-drained, and gravelly plains of western Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Mississippi. The Black Belt region derives its name from the nearly black, rich topsoil that developed over Selma chalk, and has long been noted as a distinct topographic region in the state of Mississippi (Lowe 1921). The Black Belt associations generally occur on Cretaceous-age chalk, marl and calcareous clay. This includes calcareous soils of the Sumter, Binnsville, and Demopolis series, described as beds of marly clay over Selma chalk (including the Demopolis and Mooreville formations). The soils of the Jackson Prairie openings are presently mapped as the Maytag Series, a fine montmorillonitic, thermic Entic Chromudert. This deep, slowly permeable soil has formed in residuum weathered from marl of chalk of the Blackland Prairies (Wieland 1995). The soils of some examples in the Upper West Gulf Coastal Plain of Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Texas include relatively deep soils with circumneutral surface pH, as well as on chalk deposits, and thin soils over limestone outcrops with rock fragments. In Louisiana and Texas, examples are documented from the Fleming geologic formation, but are also known from the Cook Mountain Formation, the Jackson Group, as well as the Morse Clay Calcareous Prairie of the northwestern part of Louisiana and northeastern Texas. The examples in the Jackson Purchase region of Kentucky and adjacent Tennessee are found on soils that are predominantly thin, well-drained, and gravelly. This group likely did not develop on the deeper loess soils of the region. The former barrens were on flat to gently rolling lands just to the dry side of the moisture gradient (Bryant and Held 2001).
Geographic Range: Examples are known from several distinct areas in the coastal plains of the southeastern United States. In particular, these include (but are not limited to) the Jackson Purchase area of western Kentucky (primarily Graves County and parts of Calloway County), extending into limited areas of adjacent Tennessee; a relatively small natural region of the Upper West Gulf Coastal Plain of Arkansas and adjacent Oklahoma; and another relatively small natural region of Louisiana and Texas. The Black Belt Prairie component is primarily restricted to the Black Belt (Subsection 231Ba) (Keys et al. 1995) or Blackland Prairie area (EPA Ecoregion 65a) and Flatwoods/Blackland Prairie Margins area (EPA Ecoregion 65b) of Griffith et al. (2001). This region is primarily in Alabama and Mississippi, ranging north in a depauperate form to southern Tennessee (McNairy County) (DeSelm 1989b). The Jackson Prairie component of this group is found in a relatively small natural region of Mississippi, known as the Jackson Hills Subsection 231Bj of Keys et al. (1995) and the Jackson Prairie Ecoregion 65r of EPA (2004). There is also a recently recognized component found in limited parts of Georgia (e.g., on both sides of the Ocmulgee River on the Fort Valley Plateau of Bleckley, Houston, Peach, and Twiggs counties) (Echols 2007). There are also outlying occurrences southward in the Chunnenuggee Hills and Red Hills (both of these parts of the Southern Hilly Coastal Plain, EPA Ecoregion 65d)), and Buhrstone/Lime Hills (EPA Ecoregion 65q) of southern Alabama (Washington, Wilcox, Monroe, and Clark counties). There are some limited examples in EPA Ecoregion 65i (Fall Line Hills; e.g., Jones Bluff in Alabama). Examples of the Grand Prairie vegetation occur on the oldest land surfaces in the Mississippi River Alluvial Valley and the highest land surface in the river-deposited portions of the ecoregion (Ecoregion 73 of EPA; section 234 of Keys et al. 1995) (T. Foti pers. comm.).
Nations: US
States/Provinces: AL, AR, GA, KY, LA, MS, OK, TN, TX
Plot Analysis Summary:
http://vegbank.org/natureserve/ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.860638
Confidence Level: Moderate
Confidence Level Comments: No Data Available
Grank: GNR
Greasons: No Data Available
| Type | Name | Database Code | Classification Code |
|---|---|---|---|
| Class | 2 Shrub & Herb Vegetation Class | C02 | 2 |
| Subclass | 2.B Temperate & Boreal Grassland & Shrubland Subclass | S18 | 2.B |
| Formation | 2.B.2 Temperate Grassland & Shrubland Formation | F012 | 2.B.2 |
| Division | 2.B.2.Nh Southeastern North American Grassland & Shrubland Division | D102 | 2.B.2.Nh |
| Macrogroup | 2.B.2.Nh.2 Southeastern Coastal Plain Patch Prairie Macrogroup | M309 | 2.B.2.Nh.2 |
| Group | 2.B.2.Nh.2.a Little Bluestem - Switchgrass - Bushy Bluestem Patch Prairie Group | G175 | 2.B.2.Nh.2.a |
Concept Lineage: No Data Available
Predecessors: No Data Available
Obsolete Names: No Data Available
Obsolete Parents: No Data Available
Synonomy: > Black Belt (DeSelm and Murdock 1993)
> Grand Prairie (DeSelm and Murdock 1993)
> Jackson Prairie (DeSelm and Murdock 1993)
> Kentucky Barrens (DeSelm and Murdock 1993)
> Grand Prairie (DeSelm and Murdock 1993)
> Jackson Prairie (DeSelm and Murdock 1993)
> Kentucky Barrens (DeSelm and Murdock 1993)
- Bryant, W. S., and M. E. Held. 2001. An ordination of the plant communities of the Jackson Purchase Region of Kentucky. Pages 11-18 in: Contributed Papers: Session I: Botany. Austin Peay State University, Clarksville, TN. [http://www.apsu.edu/field_biology/center/sym2001/botany.htm]
- Bryant, W. S., and W. H. Martin. 1988. Vegetation of the Jackson Purchase of Kentucky based on the 1820 general land office survey. Pages 264-276 in: D. H. Snyder, editor. Proceedings of the first annual symposium on the natural history of lower Tennessee and Cumberland river valleys. Austin Peay State University, Clarksville, TN. 328 pp.
- Davis, D. H. 1923. The geography of the Jackson Purchase. Kentucky Geologic Survey, Frankfort.
- DeSelm, H. R. 1989b. The barrens of West Tennessee. Pages 3-27 in: A. F. Scott, editor. Proceedings of the contributed paper session, second annual symposium on the natural history of Lower Tennessee and Cumberland River Valleys. Center for Field Biology of Land Between the Lakes, Austin Peay State University, Clarksville, TN.
- DeSelm, H. R., and N. Murdock. 1993. Grass-dominated communities. Pages 87-141 in: W. H. Martin, S. G. Boyce, and A. C. Echternacht, editors. Biodiversity of the southeastern United States: Upland terrestrial communities. John Wiley and Sons, New York.
- EPA [Environmental Protection Agency]. 2004. Level III and IV Ecoregions of EPA Region 4. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, National Health and Environmental Effects Research Laboratory, Western Ecology Division, Corvallis, OR. Scale 1:2,000,000.
- Echols, S. L., Jr. 2007. Vascular flora of the remnant blackland prairies and associated vegetation of Georgia. M.S. thesis, University of Georgia, Athens. 119 pp.
- Evans, Marc. Personal communication. Ecologist. Kentucky Natural Heritage Program, Kentucky State Nature Preserves Commission, Frankfort.
- Faber-Langendoen, D., J. Drake, S. Gawler, M. Hall, C. Josse, G. Kittel, S. Menard, C. Nordman, M. Pyne, M. Reid, L. Sneddon, K. Schulz, J. Teague, M. Russo, K. Snow, and P. Comer, editors. 2010-2019a. Divisions, Macrogroups and Groups for the Revised U.S. National Vegetation Classification. NatureServe, Arlington, VA. plus appendices. [in preparation]
- Foti, Tom. Personal communication. Ecologist [retired]. Arkansas Natural Heritage Commission, Little Rock.
- Fralish, J. S., S. B. Franklin, and D. D. Close. 1999. Open woodland communities of southern Illinois, western Kentucky, and middle Tennessee. Pages 171-189 in: R. C. Anderson, J. S. Fralish, and J. M. Baskin, editors. Savannas, Barrens, and Rock Outcrop Plant Communities of North America. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, MA.
- Griffith, G. E., J. M. Omernik, J. A. Comstock, S. Lawrence, G. Martin, A. Goddard, V. J. Hulcher, and T. Foster. 2001. Ecoregions of Alabama and Georgia. (Two-sided color poster with map, descriptive text, summary tables, and photographs). U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, VA. Scale 1:1,700,000.
- Hardeman, W. D. 1966. Geologic map of Tennessee. West sheet.
- Jones, S. B. 1971. A virgin prairie and a virgin loblolly pine stand in central Mississippi. Castanea 36:223-225.
- Keys, J. E., Jr., C. A. Carpenter, S. L. Hooks, F. G. Koenig, W. H. McNab, W. E. Russell, and M-L. Smith. 1995. Ecological units of the eastern United States - first approximation (map and booklet of map unit tables). Presentation scale 1:3,500,000, colored. USDA Forest Service, Atlanta, GA.
- Lowe, E. N. 1921. Topographic and floristic regions in Mississippi. Pages 29-57 in: E. N. Lowe. Plants of Mississippi: A list of flowering plants and ferns. Mississippi State Geologic Survey Bulletin No. 17.
- Newton, M. B. 1972. Atlas of Louisiana: A guide for students. Miscellaneous publication 72-1. Louisiana State University School of Geoscience, Baton Rouge.
- Tanner, W. F. 1960. Florida coastal classification. Gulf Coast Association of Geological Societies Transactions 10:259-266.
- Wieland, R. G. 1995. Jackson Prairie openings, clay barrens of the Gulf Coastal Plain. Unpublished document. Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Parks, Museum of Natural Science, Natural Heritage Program, Jackson. 49 pp.
- Wieland, Ron G. Personal communication. Ecologist, Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Parks, Mississippi Museum of Natural Science, Mississippi Natural Heritage Program, Jackson.