Index of Species Information
SPECIES: Spartina patens
Introductory
SPECIES: Spartina patens
AUTHORSHIP AND CITATION :
Walkup, Crystal J. 1991. Spartina patens. In: Fire Effects Information System, [Online].
U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station,
Fire Sciences Laboratory (Producer). Available:
https://www.fs.usda.gov/database/feis/plants/graminoid/spapat/all.html [].
ABBREVIATION :
SPAPAT
SYNONYMS :
NO-ENTRY
SCS PLANT CODE :
SPPA
COMMON NAMES :
saltmeadow cordgrass
couchgrass
marshhay
marshhay cordgrass
wiregrass
TAXONOMY :
The currently accepted scientific name for saltmeadow cordgrass is
Spartina patens (Aiton) Muhl. There are no recognized subspecies,
varieties, or forms [33].
LIFE FORM :
Graminoid
FEDERAL LEGAL STATUS :
No special status
OTHER STATUS :
NO-ENTRY
DISTRIBUTION AND OCCURRENCE
SPECIES: Spartina patens
GENERAL DISTRIBUTION :
Saltmeadow cordgrass is found along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts from
Newfoundland to Texas [9].
ECOSYSTEMS :
FRES13 Loblolly - shortleaf pine
FRES14 Oak - pine
FRES16 Oak - gum - cypress
FRES41 Wet grasslands
STATES :
AL DE FL GA ME MD MA MS NH NJ
NY NC PA RI SC TX VA NB NF NS
BLM PHYSIOGRAPHIC REGIONS :
NO-ENTRY
KUCHLER PLANT ASSOCIATIONS :
K073 Northern cordgrass prairie
K078 Southern cordgrass prairie
K090 Live oak - sea oats
K111 Oak - hickory - pine forest
K113 Southern floodplain forest
SAF COVER TYPES :
65 Pin oak - sweetgum
81 Loblolly pine
82 Loblolly pine - hardwood
89 Live oak
101 Baldcypress - tupelo
103 Water tupelo - swamp tupelo
104 Sweetbay - swamp tupelo - redbay
105 Tropical hardwoods
SRM (RANGELAND) COVER TYPES :
NO-ENTRY
HABITAT TYPES AND PLANT COMMUNITIES :
NO-ENTRY
MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS
SPECIES: Spartina patens
IMPORTANCE TO LIVESTOCK AND WILDLIFE :
Saltmarsh meadows, composed primarily of saltmeadow cordgrass, served as
a natural pasture for stock in pioneer days, and are currently grazed to
a limited extent [9]. They also provide important habitat for muskrats,
mink, otters, and alligators. Under climax conditions, vegetation
becomes too dense for waterfowl but provides homes for a host of song
birds and other wildlife species [1].
Nutria eat the rhizomes in late summer and winter [20]. Blue geese and
snow geese feed on new foliage early in the spring in burned marshes
[18]. Geese will only use smooth cordgrass pastures with new growth,
and some management is required (ie. burning) to maintain attractive
wild goose pastures [24]. The coarse stems provide a highly desirable
lodge-building material for muskrats [15].
PALATABILITY :
NO-ENTRY
NUTRITIONAL VALUE :
Immature plants of saltmeadow cordgrass provide moderate amounts of
digestible protein for livestock (6.9 to 7.3 percent), but as plants
mature, protein decreases, and the calcium/phosphorus ratio is high,
reducing phosphorus metabolism [23].
COVER VALUE :
Saltmeadow cordgrass provides nesting cover for waterfowl and song
birds, as well as protective cover for nutria, muskrats, mink, and
otters [27,30]. Muskrats are able to weather storm tides and high water
as a result of the protective cover offered by saltmeadow cordgrass and
other tall marsh vegetation [27].
VALUE FOR REHABILITATION OF DISTURBED SITES :
NO-ENTRY
OTHER USES AND VALUES :
Hay harvesting of marshes composed primarily of saltmeadow cordgrass was
formerly an important industry in the New England and Middle Atlantic
coastal marshes [30].
OTHER MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS :
Proper stocking of saltmeadow cordgrass pastures is required to avoid
increasing saltgrass (Distichlis spicata), an undesirable forage species
[1]. Nesting cover may be destroyed when these pastures are cut for hay
[30].
Saltmeadow cordgrass appears to be resistant to increases in carbon
dioxide levels in the atmosphere. Photosynthesis, nitrogen content, and
water use all remained unchanged in an experimental elevation of the
carbon dioxide level [21].
Cattle trample muskrat lodges and runways, causing muskrats to emigrate
to other marshes. For optimum muskrat production, cattle should be
fenced out of the marsh [18].
BOTANICAL AND ECOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS
SPECIES: Spartina patens
GENERAL BOTANICAL CHARACTERISTICS :
Saltmeadow cordgrass is a tufted, perennial, warm-season grass. Height
ranges from 1 to 5 feet (0.3 to 1.5 m). Growth is solitary or in small
clumps from widely spreading, slender, wiry rhizomes [9,28]. Root
aerenchyma develop in response to flooding in existing and newly
developed roots [4].
RAUNKIAER LIFE FORM :
Geophyte
REGENERATION PROCESSES :
Saltmeadow cordgrass reproduces both by seed and rhizomes. Flowers are
wind-pollinated [16]. High percent germination was obtained with a 65
to 95 degrees Fahrenheit (18 to 35 deg C) alternating diurnal
thermoperiod [22].
SITE CHARACTERISTICS :
Saltmeadow cordgrass grows in brackish marshes, low dunes, sand flats,
beaches, overwash areas, and high salt marshes [5,9,25,28]. Normal
annual precipitation averages 47 to 59 inches (119-150 cm). Two major
edaphic conditions are found where saltmeadow cordgrass dominates. One
occurs on peat deposits of varying depths. The other is mineral soil of
outwash material or soils deposited by tidal and wave action [1].
Saltmeadow cordgrass is found exclusively in brackish marshes in
Louisiana and is by far the most frequent and abundant grass, probably
constituting over 50 percent of the total marsh vegetation. Although it
dominates brackish marshes, it is very rare in saline marshes. Salt
content of the soil water where it grows ranges from 0.12 to 3.91
percent. However, its greatest abundance is reached where salinity and
water levels are lowest [26]. Saltmeadow cordgrass, needle rush (Juncus
roemerianus), and saltgrass are the 3 dominants in brackish marshes.
Saltmeadow cordgrass is the least tolerant of salt and is replaced by
the other two in strongly saline areas [27].
In New England salt marshes, the most predictable plant zonation occurs
at the mean high water line, separating the low and high marsh habitats.
Saltmeadow cordgrass dominates the seaward border of the high marsh
habitats. Smooth cordgrass (Spartina alterniflora) dominates the low
marsh habitats because it is more able to oxygenate its roots in reduced
soils than saltmeadow cordgrass. Black-grass (Juncus gerardii)
competitively excludes saltmeadow cordgrass from the terrestrial border
[3].
SUCCESSIONAL STATUS :
Facultative Seral Species
Saltmeadow cordgrass is dominant in the saltmeadow marsh, the third
stage of salt marsh succession. Olney threesquare (Scirpus americanus) is
codominant in the fresher portions. Needle rush is the most important
subdominant in the more saline areas. Saltgrass is a common secondary
species. Edaphic climaxes where saltmeadow cordgrass forms a heavy mat
of vegetation occur if the marsh is not burned frequently [18].
Root burns cause Olney bulrush and saltmarsh bulrush (Scirpus robustus)
temporarily to dominate saltmeadow cordgrass. The rushes have a deeper
root system, sprout more quickly following fire, and grow at a faster
rate than saltmeadow cordgrass. They remain dominant for 2 or 3 years
until saltmeadow cordgrass crowds them out [13].
SEASONAL DEVELOPMENT :
Flowering of saltmeadow cordgrass varies from June to September in the
Carolinas [9,28], May to October in Florida [7], and May to November in
Texas [16]. In Louisiana saltmeadow cordgrass blooms once in the spring
and once in the fall due to the long frost-free season [18].
FIRE ECOLOGY
SPECIES: Spartina patens
FIRE ECOLOGY OR ADAPTATIONS :
Saltmeadow marshes were burned historically by muskrat trappers to
facilitate trapping. Fires also occurred naturally from spontaneous
combustion and lightning strikes [32]. Burns conducted when the soil is
wet and wind absent cause little damage. But burns conducted in periods
of extended drought cause the peaty humus to burn severely, resulting in
the destruction of both active and dormant plant parts and a lowering of
the marsh level, reverting it to a more hydric community [27].
Saltmeadow cordgrass is adapted to light fires and sprouts from
rhizomes [17,27].
FIRE REGIMES :
Find fire regime information for the plant communities in which this
species may occur by entering the species name in the FEIS home page under
"Find Fire Regimes".
POSTFIRE REGENERATION STRATEGY :
Rhizomatous herb, rhizome in soil
FIRE EFFECTS
SPECIES: Spartina patens
IMMEDIATE FIRE EFFECT ON PLANT :
The immediate effect of fire on saltmeadow cordgrass is removal of
aboveground vegetation.
DISCUSSION AND QUALIFICATION OF FIRE EFFECT :
The Research Project Summary Vegetative response to fire exclusion and
prescribed fire rotation on 2 Maryland salt marshes provides information on
prescribed fire and postfire response of plant community species, including
saltmeadow cordgrass, that was not available when this species review was written.
PLANT RESPONSE TO FIRE :
Saltmeadow cordgrass will survive a cover burn [See Fire Management], but
the rhizomes of some plants will be destroyed by a root burn occurring
with a heavy accumulation of vegetation. Surviving rhizomes will not
sprout for 2 or more weeks following a root burn [13]. Saltmeadow
cordgrass is also temporarily disadvantaged by less intense fires.
Faster growing rushes (Scirpus spp.) overtake cordgrass in the first few
years following a fire [18,27].
DISCUSSION AND QUALIFICATION OF PLANT RESPONSE :
Culm regrowth following fire is generally slow, requiring 8 weeks to
reach preburn density. Air temperatures below 41 degrees Fahrenheit (5
deg C) greatly reduced culm production of saltmeadow cordgrass.
Photoperiod also affected culm development, with regrowth rate after
December 21 more than twice the rate prior to December 21 [6].
Following a July fire in Georgia saltmeadow cordgrass reached 70 to 100
percent cover 14 months after the burn and up to 140 percent cover by 26
months postburn. The fire had burned off all the soil organic matter
leaving only bare sand and graminoid clumps [8].
FIRE MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS :
Three classes of marsh fires are generally recognized: (1) Cover burns
are light burns designed to remove vegetation debris. They are
undertaken only when sufficient water is present to prevent damage to
plant root systems. Prescribed cover burns are usually conducted from
October 15 to March 1. (2) Root burns are hot fires which develop in a
relatively dry marsh. These fires alter the composition of the
vegetation. (3) Peat burns, the most drastic type of marsh fire, burn
holes in the marsh floor, providing additional water areas. Several
years accumulation of vegetation, a fairly deep peat layer, and drought
conditions which have dried out the peat are required to produce a peat
burn [17]. Cover burns are most often used for management since the
other two types are known to be destructive to the marsh habitat [12].
REFERENCES
SPECIES: Spartina patens
REFERENCES :
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