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G770 Spartina pectinata - Calamagrostis canadensis - Carex spp. Midwest Wet Prairie, Wet Meadow & Shrub Swamp Group
Type Concept Sentence: This herbaceous group is found in the central midwestern United States and Canada on wet-mesic to wet sites dominated by medium to tall graminoids, generally 1-2 m tall. Dominant species include Andropogon gerardii, Calamagrostis canadensis, Carex aquatilis, Carex lacustris, Carex stricta, Panicum virgatum, and Spartina pectinata.
Common (Translated Scientific) Name: Prairie Cordgrass - Bluejoint - Sedge species Midwest Wet Prairie, Wet Meadow & Shrub Swamp Group
Colloquial Name: Midwest Wet Prairie, Wet Meadow & Shrub Swamp
Hierarchy Level: Group
Type Concept: This herbaceous group is found on wet-mesic to wet sites dominated by medium to tall graminoids, generally 1-2 m tall. Dominant species include Andropogon gerardii, Calamagrostis canadensis, Panicum virgatum, and Spartina pectinata. Some stands are affected by saline groundwater and have other species such as Calamagrostis stricta, Carex praegracilis, and Carex sartwellii. A wide variety of forbs can be found in this group and some can be very common in some places. Shrubs are absent to sparse in most stands but some can have significant cover of Betula pumila, Salix petiolaris, Salix discolor, and Spiraea tomentosa, though still with a wet-prairie herbaceous layer. This group is found on flat or very gently sloping sites. It can occur on silt, loam, clay, or fine sands but all sites are flooded or saturated for a few to several weeks in most years.
Diagnostic Characteristics: This group is characterized by graminoid-dominated wet and wet-mesic prairies found in the tallgrass and southern Great Lakes regions of the Midwest and Canada. Dominants usually include Andropogon gerardii, Calamagrostis canadensis, Carex spp., Panicum virgatum, and Spartina pectinata. Shrubs are usually absent to uncommon but some stands can have a prominent shrub layer of Betula pumila, Salix petiolaris, Salix discolor, and Spiraea tomentosa with a similar herbaceous layer to non-shrub-dominated sites.
Rationale for Nominal Species or Physiognomic Features: No Data Available
Classification Comments: This group can be very similar to ~Laurentian-Acadian Wet Meadow & Shrub Swamp Group (G904)$$ in the central and western Great Lakes area. Each group can have stands dominated by Calamagrostis canadensis, Carex lacustris, and Carex stricta. Differential species are not well known but could include Carex atherodes and Carex sartwellii for G770 and Carex utriculata and Carex vesicaria for G904. Stands in the central and western Great Lakes area lacking good differential species and dominated by Calamagrostis canadensis, Carex lacustris, and Carex stricta may need to be placed in a group based on their geographic location. Stands in Province 212 go to G904 and stands in Province 222 go to G770 (Cleland et al. 2007).
Similar NVC Types: No Data Available
note: No Data Available
Physiognomy and Structure: Sites have a moderate to dense cover of medium to tall (1-2 m) graminoids. Shrubs are uncommon in most stands but can be abundant in some. These shrubs tend to be around 2 m tall.
Floristics: This group is usually dominated by graminoids Andropogon gerardii, Calamagrostis canadensis, Panicum virgatum, Spartina pectinata, and a variety of wetland Carex spp. Common Carices include Carex aquatilis, Carex atherodes, Carex lacustris, Carex pellita, Carex stricta, and Carex vulpinoidea. More saline sites have Carex praegracilis and Carex sartwellii. Seeps in the Great Plains typically have Schoenoplectus pungens, Schoenoplectus tabernaemontani, Typha latifolia, and Carices, such as Carex emoryi, Carex hystericina, Carex lurida, and Carex pellita. A wide variety of forbs can occur and they can be abundant on some sites. Typical forbs include Asclepias incarnata, Apocynum cannabinum, Campanula aparinoides, Comarum palustre, Epilobium leptophyllum, Eutrochium maculatum (= Eupatorium maculatum), Eupatorium perfoliatum, Helianthus grosseserratus, Impatiens capensis, Iris versicolor, Lythrum alatum, Polygonum amphibium, Pycnanthemum virginianum, Symphyotrichum ericoides (= Aster ericoides), Symphyotrichum lanceolatum, Symphyotrichum novae-angliae (= Aster novae-angliae), and Thalictrum dasycarpum. Shrubs are usually uncommon but some sites can have abundant Betula pumila, Salix petiolaris, Salix discolor, and Spiraea tomentosa.
Dynamics: Stands are flooded or saturated for at least a few weeks each year and can remain saturated for most of the growing season in some stands. Prolonged changes in hydrologic regime, either wetter or drier, often result in a change to a different group (emergent marshes if a wetter regime and mesic prairie if a drier regime). Fires, usually spreading from adjacent uplands, can move through examples of this group periodically, removing plant litter and woody species. These fires are more common in the grassland-dominated landscapes of the tallgrass prairie region and less common in forested landscapes such as southern Wisconsin and central Minnesota.
Environmental Description: This group occurs in shallow depressions and along the edges of deeper wetlands or where groundwater seeps to the surface. Soils are often fine-textured but they can be sandy where there is a shallow water table or where a sub-surface layer of more impermeable soil allows water to remain close to the surface for longer periods.
Geographic Range: This group is found across much of the tallgrass and southern Great Lakes region from northwestern Minnesota and eastern North Dakota south to eastern Oklahoma east to central Ohio and southern Ontario.
Nations: CA,US
States/Provinces: AR, IA, IL, IN, KS, KY?, MB, MI, MN, MO, ND, NE, OH, OK, ON, QC?, SD, SK, WI
Plot Analysis Summary:
http://vegbank.org/natureserve/ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.894450
Confidence Level: Moderate
Confidence Level Comments: No Data Available
Grank: GNR
Greasons: No Data Available
Concept Lineage: G112 split into G770, G771 & G773 (DFL 7-16-13).
Predecessors: No Data Available
Obsolete Names: No Data Available
Obsolete Parents: No Data Available
Synonomy: No Data Available
- Cleland, D. T., J. A. Freeouf, J. E. Keys, Jr., G. J. Nowacki, C. Carpenter, and W. H. McNab. 2007. Ecological subregions: Sections and subsections for the conterminous United States. A. M. Sloan, cartographer. General Technical Report WO-76. USDA Forest Service, Washington, DC. [1:3,500,000] [CD-ROM].
- Curtis, J. T. 1959. The vegetation of Wisconsin: An ordination of plant communities. Reprinted in 1987. University of Wisconsin Press, Madison. 657 pp.
- 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]