Print Report

A4071 Salicornia rubra Wet Meadow Alliance

Type Concept Sentence: This alliance is dominated by Salicornia rubra, sometimes with little else present. It is found throughout the northern Great Plains and into the Great Basin on highly alkaline wetlands or the margins of alkaline lakes where total vegetation cover ranges from low to moderate.

Common (Translated Scientific) Name: Red Swampfire Wet Meadow Alliance

Colloquial Name: Great Plains Swampfire Saline Wet Meadow

Hierarchy Level:  Alliance

Type Concept: This alliance is found throughout the northern Great Plains and into the Great Basin. Total vegetation cover ranges from open to moderate. Salicornia rubra may make up to 100% of the vegetation cover within these areas. Other species which may be found associated with Salicornia rubra include Chenopodium rubrum, Distichlis spicata, Hordeum jubatum, Puccinellia nuttalliana, Suaeda calceoliformis, and Triglochin maritima. It occurs on highly alkaline wetlands or the margins of alkaline lakes. It often borders intermittent open water or is found on the exposed mud of alkali flats. Stands are found in shallow, broad depressions with poor drainage and high salt concentrations and on extensive mudflats of alkaline deltaic sediments. Most soils are clay to silty loam and may have salt encrustations on the surface after drying out in midsummer. The surface soil has an average salt concentration of 4.8%. Water often collects on the surface in the spring or after heavy rains, but by midsummer the soil can be dry to moist. Total vegetation cover is sparse to moderate with exposed soil. The harsh conditions provided by the saline soil, spring flooding, and summer drought limit the number of species capable of growing in this alliance. Stands that have more stable water tables can have moderate diversity.

Diagnostic Characteristics: Strongly alkaline sites dominated by Salicornia rubra characterize this alliance. Open saline mudflats with scattered Salicornia rubra are included in this alliance.

Rationale for Nominal Species or Physiognomic Features: No Data Available

Classification Comments: This alliance ranges across the northern Great Plains into the Great Basin. The environmental setting and dominant species appear consistent across the range but, given the broad range of this alliance, it should be considered for division if more information becomes available. Because of the harsh environmental conditions in which this alliance occurs, it is relatively unique. Stands often grade into ~Distichlis spicata - Hordeum jubatum Wet Meadow Alliance (A1341)$$.

Similar NVC Types: No Data Available
note: No Data Available
Physiognomy and Structure: This alliance is characterized by succulent annuals. The forb layer is typically dominated by one species with up to 100% cover. A graminoid layer may be present but with low cover. Woody species are typically not present.

Floristics: Total vegetation cover is sparse to moderate with exposed soil common. The harsh conditions provided by the saline soil, spring flooding, and summer drought limit the number of species capable of growing in this alliance. Stands that have more stable water tables can have moderate diversity. Salicornia rubra, an annual forb, dominates stands of this alliance and often forms a monoculture on extremely alkaline mudflat areas. Dodd and Coupland (1966) found that it made up to 88-100% of the vegetative cover in stands. Other species that are often found are Chenopodium rubrum, Distichlis spicata, Hordeum jubatum, Puccinellia nuttalliana, Suaeda calceoliformis, and Triglochin maritima.

Dynamics:  These vegetation types have a wide distribution in the Great Plains and Rocky Mountain regions, but often occur in small stands at the bottom of hypersaline basins, having very specific habitat needs (Ungar 1974). Hypersaline wetland basins which support the alliance have been impacted by water diversion, livestock grazing, and land conversion in many places. Saline wetlands in the Great Plains and upper Midwest have been described as especially vulnerable to habitat fragmentation and loss due to increasing population and agricultural development (Gersib and Steinauer 1991). The maintenance of stands requires protection of hydrological processes such as seasonal inundation, evaporative dry-down, and mineral accumulation, as well as preservation of suitable habitat.
Environmental Description:  Plant associations within this alliance are found in saline depressions in the western United States and northern Great Plains and north into the Boreal Plains of Alberta on extensive mudflats of alkaline deltaic sediments. Elevations range from 700 to 2200 m. These vegetation types occur in shallow, broad depressions with poor drainage and high salt concentrations (Ungar 1970, Walker and Coupland 1970) and have also been documented on the broad mudflats exposed after seasonal flooding. Stands are found in exposed mud of alkali flats of saline wetland depressions during the dry or drawdown phase. Stands can also be found in the peripheral shallow-marsh zone of subsaline semipermanent ponds and lakes (Stewart and Kantrud 1971). In some areas, the major source of salinity is groundwater discharge (Dodd and Coupland 1966). These communities require moist to wet hypersaline soils which are seasonally flooded. Most soils are clay to silty loam and may have salt encrustations on the surface after drying out in midsummer (Dodd and Coupland 1966). Ungar (1970) found the surface soil to have average salt concentrations of 4.8% and pH levels that average 8.4. Water often collects on the surface in the spring or after heavy rains, but by midsummer the soil can be dry to moist.
Geographic Range: This community is associated with highly alkaline wetlands or lakes in the northern Great Plains and Great Basin of the United States and adjacent Canada, north into the Boreal Plains, ranging from western Minnesota to Saskatchewan and Alberta, south to Colorado and possibly Nevada and California.

Nations: CA,US

States/Provinces:  AB, CA?, CO, MB, MN, MT, ND, NV?, SD, SK, WY


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.C Shrub & Herb Wetland Subclass S44 2.C
Formation 2.C.5 Salt Marsh Formation F035 2.C.5
Division 2.C.5.Na North American Great Plains Saline Marsh Division D033 2.C.5.Na
Macrogroup 2.C.5.Na.1 Great Plains Saline Wet Meadow & Marsh Macrogroup M077 2.C.5.Na.1
Group 2.C.5.Na.1.a Saltgrass - Foxtail Barley - Western Wheatgrass Great Plains Saline Wet Meadow & Marsh Group G324 2.C.5.Na.1.a
Alliance A4071 Red Swampfire Wet Meadow Alliance A4071 2.C.5.Na.1.a
Association CEGL001999 Red Swampfire Salt Flat CEGL001999 2.C.5.Na.1.a
Association CEGL002581 Northern Tallgrass Saline Mudflats Sparse Vegetation CEGL002581 2.C.5.Na.1.a
Concept Lineage: This alliance contains one association from old A.1818 and one from old A.1878.

Predecessors: No Data Available

Obsolete Names: No Data Available

Obsolete Parents: No Data Available
Synonomy: ? Salicornia - Suaeda Community (Hadley and Buccos 1967)
? Salicornia rubra Community (Ungar 1970)
? Salicornia rubra Community (Dodd and Coupland 1966)
? Extreme Saline Wet Meadow (Walker and Coupland 1970)
>< Saline Complex (Redmann 1972)
Concept Author(s): J. Drake, in Faber-Langendoen et al. (2013)

Author of Description: J. Drake

Acknowledgements: No Data Available

Version Date: 01-08-14
  • Dodd, J. D., and R. T. Coupland. 1966. Vegetation of saline areas in Saskatchewan. Ecology 47(6):958-968.
  • Faber-Langendoen, D., J. Drake, M. Hall, G. Kittel, S. Menard, C. Nordman, M. Pyne, M. Reid, M. Russo, K. Schulz, L. Sneddon, K. Snow, and J. Teague. 2013-2019b. Screening alliances for induction into the U.S. National Vegetation Classification: Part 1 - Alliance concept review. NatureServe, Arlington, VA.
  • Gersib, R. A., and G. Steinauer. 1991. A biological inventory and general assessment of eastern Nebraska saline wetlands in Lancaster and southern Saunders counties. Transactions of the Nebraska Academy of Sciences, Volume VIII:37-44.
  • Hadley, E. B., and R. P. Buccos. 1967. Plant community composition and net primary production within a native eastern North Dakota prairie. The American Midland Naturalist 77:116-127.
  • Hansen, P., K. Boggs, and R. Pfister. 1991. Classification and management of riparian and wetland sites in Montana. Unpublished draft version prepared for Montana Riparian Association, Montana Forest and Conservation Experiment Station, School of Forestry, University of Montana, Missoula. 478 pp.
  • Redmann, R. E. 1972. Plant communities and soils of an eastern North Dakota prairie. Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club 99(2):65-76.
  • Stewart, R. E., and H. A. Kantrud. 1971. Classification of natural ponds and lakes in the glaciated prairie region. USDI Bureau of Sport Fisheries and Wildlife Resources, Publication 92. Washington, DC. 77 pp.
  • Ungar, I. A. 1970. Species-soil relationships on sulfate dominated soils of South Dakota. The American Midland Naturalist 83(2):343-357.
  • Ungar, I. A. 1972. The vegetation of inland saline marshes of North America, north of Mexico. Basic Problems and Methods in Phytosociology 14:397-411.
  • Ungar, I. A. 1974c. Halophyte communities of Park County, Colorado. Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club 101:145-152.
  • Walker, B. H., and R. T. Coupland. 1970. Herbaceous wetland vegetation in the aspen grove and grassland region of Saskatchewan. Canadian Journal of Botany 48:1861-1878.
  • Wallis, C. 1990. Reconnaissance survey of saline wetlands and springs in the grassland-parkland region of eastern Alberta. A report prepared by Cottonwood Consultants, Ltd., Calgary, for World Wildlife Fund Canada, Edmonton. 104 pp.