Vegetation and Flora of the Sand Deposits of the Mississippi River Valley in Northwestern Illinois (original) (raw)
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Vascular Plant Communities of the Green River Lowlands in Northwestern Illinois
Illinois Natural History Survey Bulletin
A few high-quality prairies still exist in the sand deposits of the Green River Lowlands. The most extensive remnants are in the Green River State Wildlife Area, Lee County, Illinois. Three upland prairie communities were surveyed; a dry sand prairie dominated by Schizachyrium scoparium, Ambrosia psilostachya, and Amorpha canescens; a dry-mesic sand prairie dominated by Sorghastrum nutans, Schizachyrium scoparium, Antennaria plantaginifolia, and Liatris aspera; and a mesic sand prairie where Sorghastrum nutans and Andropogon gerardii were the dominant grasses, and Parthenium integrifolium, Fragaria virginiana, Liatris pycnostachya, and Euthamia gymnospermoides the common forbs. The lowlands, which included approximately 325 ha, were dominated by the exotic Phalaris arundinacea, but high-quality wet sand prairie, sedge meadow, and marsh communities existed. The wet sand prairies were dominated by Spartina pectinata, Helianthus grosseserratus, and Solidago canadensis; the sedge meadow...
Status of Endangered and Threatened Sand Area Species of the Illinois Flora
Bulletin, 2011
This study was undertaken to determine the distribution and habitat requirements of many of the endangered and threatened plant species associated with the sand deposits of Illinois. Approximately 70 species of endangered and threatened plants are known to grow in these deposits. The habitat fidelity and natural community types were determined for 40 of these species that are restricted to these glacial drift sand habitats. Plant community types, associated species, moisture requirements, and other data concerning each of the plant species were determined by reviewing the pertinent literature, searching the Illinois Department of Natural Resources Natural Heritage Database, through discussions with botanists and natural heritage biologists, examination of herbarium specimens, and our studies of the vegetation of the Illinois sand deposits. Throughout the course of these studies, most of the nature preserves, state parks, and identified natural areas in the sand regions were visited on numerous occasions and vegetation surveys undertaken. The information presented in this paper could allow rare plant conservation in Illinois to become more proactive by encouraging the selection of sites where in situ conservation efforts could be conducted by state, local, and nongovernmental organizations.
Floristic Study of Sand Prairie-Scrub Oak Nature Preserve, Mason County, Illinois
Castanea, 2008
Sand Prairie-Scrub Oak Nature Preserve, Mason County, Illinois, is a 590 ha preserve that contains extensive sand-prairie and sand forest communities. Quercus velutina (black oak) dominates the forests with importance values of 148 to 196 (200 possible), and 260 to 468 stem/ha. Other overstory species included Q. marilandica (blackjack oak), Carya ovata (black hickory), and C. tomentosa (mockernut hickory). Many oaks were multiplestemmed with 2-5 stems from near the base. The ground-layer vegetation was dominated by Eupatorium rugosum (white snakeroot), Carex pensylvanica (Pennsylvania sedge), Tradescantia ohiensis (smooth spiderwort), Parthenocissus quinquefolia (Virginia creeper), and Rubus pensylvanicus (Pennsylvania blackberry). The woody understory species were more common in areas that had not been subjected to recent burns.
Herbaceous Plant Succession at Sand Prairie-scrub Oak Nature Preserve, Mason County, Illinois
2008
Schizachyrium scoparium, a dominant species of mature dry sand prairies in Illinois, is not found in the early stages of old field succession. A 30-year-old abandoned field at Sand Prairie-Scrub Oak Nature Preserve, Mason County, Illinois, when surveyed in 2000, was dominated by Eragrostis trichodes [importance value (I.V.) of 97.4], with Strophostyles helvula (I.V. 43.7) and Monarda punctata (I.V. 16.9) ranking second and third in I.V. (possible 200), while Schizachyrium scoparium was absent. When the authors revisited this field in the summer of 2008 Schizachyrium scoparium had become the dominant grass (I.V. 66.8), Eragrostis trichodes had dropped to fifth in importance (I.V. 11.1), while Strophostyles helvoula maintained second (I.V. 33.3). Schizachyrium scoparium entered, and established dominance in the old field sometime after the 2000 survey. The reasons for these changes are not known, but may be related to the soil mycorrhizal community.
2009
The 7.8 km 2 Iroquois County Conservation Area in northeastern Illinois contains many of the plant communities found at this site during pre-settlement times. A sedge meadow, about 2.5 km 2 in size was dominated by Carex haydenii/stricta. The shrub sand prairie was dominated by Carex haydenii/stricta, but nearly 50 species encountered in the plots. In the wet-mesic sand prairies, Rubus hispidus, Euthamia graminifolia, Potentilla simplex and Sorghastrum nutans dominated, while in the dry-mesic sand prairies Rubus hispidus, Schizachyrium scoparium, Vaccinium angustifolium and Sorghastrum nutans were dominant. The ground layer vegetation of the sand flatwood communities was sparse with few species present, Vaccinium angustifolium and Carex haydenii being the most common. The sand savanna communities associated with the dunes had high species diversity. Here the ground layer vegetation varied, depending upon available moisture and shading. In the dry-mesic sand savanna Vaccinium angusti...
Vegetation of Forest and Savanna Communities on Glacial Sand Deposits in Northeastern Illinois
The Southwestern Naturalist, 2011
Pembroke Township, Kankakee County, Illinois, is part of an extensive glacial sand deposit. In this part of Illinois, some sand savannas retain much of their original natural character and they have high diversity; we detected 574 taxa of plants, including 11 state-listed endangered and threatened species. On five sites, we evaluated vegetation that varied from dry sand savanna to closed sand forest with Quercus velutina (black oak) dominating the overstory and Q. alba (white oak) the only other species of tree commonly encountered. Density of trees averaged 135.7 stems/ha, with an average basal area of 7.94 m 2 /ha on our five sites. Based on aerial photographs, the extent of woody overstory has more than doubled since 1939.
Plant community patterns on upland prairie in the eastern Nebraska sandhills
Agronomy--Faculty …, 2000
Topography is an important factor in determining vegetation patterns in grasslands. We collected frequency of occurrence data from transects on dune tops, south-facing slopes, north-facing slopes, and interdunal valleys in the eastern Sandhills of Nebraska to determine the effect of topographical position on plant species composition. We used canonical discriminant analysis to separate the four topographical positions based on frequency of occurrence of the 18 principal planttaxa. Topographic position played an important role in plant distribution on upland prairie with interdunal transects strongly separated from transects on other topographical positions. Bluegrasses (Poa L. spp.), switchgrass (Panicum virgatum L.), and white sage (Artemisia ludoviciana Nutt.) were highly associated with interdunal valleys. Little bluestem [Schizachyrium scoparium (Michx.)] and cool-season grasses, such as needlegrasses (Stipa L. spp.) and Junegrass [Koeleria pyramidata (Lam.) Beauv.], tended to be associated with north-facing slopes and warm-season grasses, such as prairie sandreed [Calamovilfa longifolia (Hook) Scrihn.] and sand bluestem (Andropogon hallii Hack.), tended to be associated with south-facing slopes. Sedges (Carex L. spp.), western ragweed (Ambrosia psilostachya DC.), and Scribner dichanthelium [Dichanthelium oligosanthes (Schult.) Gould var. scribnerianum (Nash)] were the most common taxa occurring over all topographic positions. Aspect proved to be an important factor in influencing vegetation distribution in the eastern Sandhills of Nebraska.