Milo Pyne
Friday, October 17, 2008 - 8:30-9:00
Native prairies, barrens, and glades are among the plant communities naturally dominated by herbaceous graminoid or grass-dominated vegetation. In the Southeastern United States, these native grasslands, while frequently being reduced to roadside remnants, occur across all major physiographic provinces, from the Coastal Plains to the Interior and Appalachian Highlands, in a wide range of ecological settings. We will provide an overview of these plant communities within the context of broadly defined categories recognized as distinct Ecological Systems in NatureServe’s scheme of ecological classification. Some of these Systems include Appalachian Shale Barrens, Alabama Ketona Glades, Cumberland Sandstone Glades, Arkansas Valley Prairies, Pennyroyal Karst Plain Prairie and Barrens, Cumberland Riverscour Grasslands, West Gulf Coastal Plain Catahoula Barrens, Everglades Sawgrass Marsh, Southern Appalachian Grass Balds, Southern Coastal Plain Blackland Prairies, as well as various Dune and Maritime Grasslands and Saline and Brackish Tidal Marshes. Our discussion will focus on the ecological setting, general floristic composition, dynamics and management, and variation among these grasslands, whose importance for conservation is far out of proportion to their percentage of the landscape. If time permits, we will discuss the conservation status of some of these communities.
Keywords: PRAIRIES, GLADES, GRASSLANDS, BARRENS, BALDS