More info for the terms: association, cactus, constancy, cover, density, frequency, marsh, natural, presence, shrub, swamp
Saltgrass occurs in a wide range of habitat types and plant communities. In
northeastern tidal salt marshes, saltgrass is commonly associated with saltmeadow
cordgrass (Spartina patens), smooth cordgrass (S. alterniflora),
and saltmeadow rush (Juncus gerardi) [15,26,27,28,69,87]. In southeastern tidal
marshes, saltgrass is frequently found with glasswort (Salicornia spp.),
sawgrass (Cladium jamaicense), black rush (Juncus
roemerianus), and cordgrass (Spartina spp.) [98,120,166,295]. In western riparian
areas saltgrass is a common understory species of willow (Salix spp.) [50]. In deserts of the Southwest, saltgrass occurs with iodinebush (Allenrolfea occidentalis),
saltcedar (Tamarix ramosissima),
saltbush (Atriplex spp.), sagebrush (Artemisia spp.), and black
greasewood (Sarcobatus vermiculatus) [17,88,110,244]. In grasslands, saltgrass grows
with alkali sacaton (Sporobolus airoides),
brome (Bromus spp.), green needlegrass (Nassella viridula), western
wheatgrass (Pascopyrum smithii), Nuttall's alkaligrass (Puccinellia
nuttalliana), and blue grama (Bouteloua gracilis) [18,51,68,84,202].
Descriptions of saltgrass communities across North America follow.
North-central: Saltgrass occurs in coniferous,
deciduous, and mixed forest, grassland, lake, marsh, and riparian
communities.
Coniferous forest communities: Saltgrass is found on alkaline flats in
western North Dakota. The flats are surrounded by groves of limber pine (Pinus flexilis),
interior ponderosa pine (P. ponderosa var. scopulorum), Rocky
Mountain juniper (Juniperus scopulorum), common juniper (J.
communis), creeping juniper (J. horizontalis), and skunkbush sumac (Rhus
trilobata) [252].
Deciduous and mixed vegetation communities: Saltgrass and alkali
sacaton are dominant grasses in the eastern cottonwood (Populus
deltoides)-saltcedar-willow community found in
the Arkansas River floodplain of the Great Plains [128]
Grassland communities: Saltgrass is a minor species (2% and 1.5%
species composition) in dry valley and wet meadow habitat types, an important
species (8.6% species composition) in dry meadow habitat types, and a dominant species (45.8%
composition) in
saltgrass habitat types in the sandhills of Nebraska [115].
Saltgrass-foxtail barley-bluegrass (Hordeum jubatum-Poa spp.)
and saltgrass-foxtail barley communities are found on the 800-acre (325-ha)
Oakville Prairie, North Dakota [142]. Hanson and Whitman [146] list saltgrass
occurring with Nuttall's alkaligrass, western wheatgrass,
blue grama, and green needlegrass
in the grasslands of western North Dakota. Redmann [259] describes
saltgrass as a dominant species (88% cover) on wet and strongly saline soils
and a "subdominate" in foxtail barley stands on North Dakota prairies.
Saltgrass is a primary species on slightly brackish, moderately brackish,
brackish, and subsaline soils throughout the prairie potholes region of North
Dakota [154,300]. Saltgrass occurs in the little
bluestem-sideoats grama (Schizachyrium scoparium-Bouteloua
curtipendula) communities on chalkflat mixed prairies in Kansas [191].
Lake, marsh, and riparian communities: Saltgrass is
a dominant species in wet interdune areas of the Crescent Lake National Wildlife Refuge, Nebraska.
Common associates include Baltic rush (Juncus balticus), Olney
threesquare (Scirpus americanus), hardstem bulrush (S. acutus),
clustered field sedge (Carex praegracilis), spikerush (Eleocharis
spp.), and common cattail (Typha latifolia) [34].
Northeast: Salt marsh communities
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Saltgrass and saltgrass-saltmeadow cordgrass
communities are found in the Barn Island Wildlife Management Area, Baker's Cove,
and the Connecticut River estuary,
Connecticut [15,69] and Smith Cove [26,27], Rumstick Cove
[28], and Succotash salt marsh [87], Rhode
Island.
Northwest: Saltgrass occurs in lakeshore,
riparian, salt marsh, shrub-, and grassland communities.
Lakeshore and riparian communities: Saltgrass has an occurrence of 73%
along a 52-mile (83-km) stretch of the Snake River from the Swan Falls Dam to
the Idaho-Oregon border [83]. Saltgrass generally occurs in pure
stands with scattered patches of Nuttall's alkaligrass throughout riparian and
wetland sites in Montana [145].
Salt marsh communities: Virginia glasswort (Salicornia
virginica)-saltgrass communities are found on Sidney Island, British Columbia
[49], and Whidbey Island, Washington [196].
Shrub- and grassland communities: Saltgrass occurs in black
greasewood community types in central Montana. Basin big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata
var. tridentata), western wheatgrass (Pascopyrum
smithii), bluebunch wheatgrass (Pseudoroegneria spicata),
blue grama, and Sandberg bluegrass (Poa secunda) are
also common [18]. Saltgrass is a dominant species, with
overall frequency of 36%, on saline meadows in Alberta, Saskatchewan, and
Manitoba. Saltgrass occurrence is as high as 44% in southern Saskatchewan and as
low as 22% in southern Alberta [38]. Saltgrass is found on
the mixed prairies green needlegrass-western wheatgrass-grama (Bouteloua
spp.) association of the Canadian prairie provinces [51]. Saltgrass is a dominant
species on moist, highly saline areas on
shortgrass prairies of southern Alberta and southwestern Saskatchewan [59,84].
Saltgrass is a dominant species on saline sites with poor drainage in
northern Great Plains and Canadian prairie province salt marshes and salt
meadows. Saltgrass is dominant in the Nuttall's
alkaligrass-saltgrass, saltgrass, and the
saltgrass-wheatgrass communities [68,84,202]. A
vegetation analysis of range and cultivated grasslands conducted in 1991 and
1992 in southern Alberta found that saltgrass coverage ranged between 19.1% and
31%, respectively [153]. The saltgrass-black greasewood and saltgrass-basin wildrye
(Leymus cinereus) associations of the Columbia Plateau, Washington,
are noted for the alkaline soils [207]. On the Palouse
Prairie of Idaho and Washington, saltgrass-basin wildrye communities are found
on fine-textured saline soils [72].
Southeast: Saltgrass occurs in deciduous,
mixed forest, and salt marsh communities.
Deciduous and mixed forest communities: Saltgrass is a common
understory species of nonnative beach sheoak (Casuarina equisetifolia)
on alkaline soils throughout Florida [230].
Salt marsh communities: In a representative sample of the
U.S. Gulf of Mexico,
saltgrass is listed as a dominant species in coastal marshes [135]. Saltgrass is found in North Carolina coastal
salt marshes dominated by cordgrass, rush (Juncus spp.), and
glasswort species [1]. Saltgrass is dominant and widespread in Louisiana coastal salt marshes and a
minor species in intermediate and freshwater marshes. Average saltgrass
species composition in Louisiana coastal saline, brackish, intermediate, and freshwater
marshes is 14.27%, 13.32%, 0.36%, and 0.13%, respectively [55].
Saltgrass is dominant on salt pan at the Cumberland Island National
Seashore, Georgia [75]. Saltgrass, black rush, big cordgrass
(Spartina cynosuroides), and sawgrass are dominant plants in tidal
marshes along the coast of Mississippi [98]. Saltgrass, saltmeadow cordgrass,
and smooth cordgrass are dominant
species throughout the Chenier Plain of the Gulf of Mexico, which extends from
Vermillion Bay, Louisiana, to East Bay, Texas [120].
Saltgrass and black rush are dominant in salt marshes in the Big Cypress Swamp,
Florida [166]. Saltgrass and
saltmeadow cordgrass are dominant species on swales located on the barrier
island of Hog Island, Virginia [295]
Southwest: Saltgrass occurs in pinyon-juniper
woodland, deciduous and mixed-forest, desert shrub, riparian, lakeshore,
salt marsh, and grassland communities.
Woodland communities: A survey in a mature pinyon
pine-Utah juniper (Pinus edulis-Juniperus osteosperma)
community in Uintah County, Utah, found saltgrass in concentrations of 42 plants per 50 m²
in 1974 and 63 plants per 50 m² in 1984 [12]. Saltgrass occurs with a
low constancy (0.2%) in pinyon-juniper woodlands of the Great Basin [316].
Desert shrubland communities: Saltgrass is a common associate in the
saltbush-greasewood communities of the Chihuahuan, Sonoran, Mojave, and Great
Basin deserts of the United States [244]. Saltgrass is found
in almost pure stands on intermittently flooded grassland playas and
intermittent and ephemeral streams of the Chihuahuan Desert [260]. Saltgrass forms extensive populations in Death
Valley, California [6]. Saltgrass is common in
the Sonoran and Chihuahuan Deserts in creosotebush (Larrea tridentata)
communities. Other common grasses in creosotebush communities where saltgrass
occurs are black grama (Bouteloua eriopoda), low woolygrass (Dasycohloa
pulchella), and bush muhly (Muhlenbergia porteri) [151,229].
Saltgrass, Olney threesquare, Cooper's rush (Juncus cooperi),
boraxweed (Nitrophila occidentalis), yerba mansa (Anemopsis
californica), Fremont cottonwood (Populus
fremontii), Goodding's willow (S. gooddingii),
blue paloverde (Cercidium floridium), yellow paloverde (C.
microphyllum), and saguaro (Carnegia gigantea) are common
around desert springs in Death Valley, California [241] and the Sonoran Desert [258].
In the Tehachapi Mountains of California,
saltgrass and iodinebush are dominant species on
alkali soils [17].
Saltgrass is a dominant species on natural dunes 3 to 6 feet (1-2 m) high
formed where artesian springs emerge from the playa surface at Owens Lake,
California. At the center of the mounds saltgrass has a cover value of 70%,
decreasing to 30% at playa margins [71].
Rubber rabbitbrush (Chrysothamnus nauseosus) (10.03% cover) and saltgrass
(20.74% cover) are dominant species in Owens Valley, California [138].
By Mono Lake, California, saltgrass is commonly associated with black
greasewood [88,110]. Along the Mojave River
in Afton Canyon, California, saltgrass and saltcedar
codominate a primarily dry, meanderless river segment [97].
Other dominant species in the Afton Canyon area include screwbean mesquite
(Prosopis pubescens), California palm (Washingtonia filifera),
honey mesquite (P. glandulosa), Olney threesquare,
cattail (Typha spp.), and Virginia glasswort [203]. Saltgrass is associated with big saltbrush (Atriplex
lentiformis) at Point Mugu Lagoon and in Coachella Valley,
California [245]. Saltgrass is a dominant species in small, scattered, poorly drained
saline meadows in the Gila Valley, Arizona, Coachella Valley, California, and the Escalante Valley,
Utah [278,279].
Saltgrass is found throughout the big basin sagebrush (Artemisia
tridentata spp. tridentata) steppe in the Great Basin of the
intermountain West [236]. Saltgrass is an important species in the
saltbush-black greasewood community type in Utah [14]. In the lowland salt deserts of Nevada,
characteristically dominant species include saltgrass, black greasewood,
bluejoint reedgrass (Calamagrostis canadensis), fourwing saltbush (A. canescens),
and basin wildrye [315]. On the Eagle Valley playa, Nevada, saltgrass,
iodinebush, big saltbrush,
and black greasewood dominate fine-textured sand mounds [31].
On heavily grazed land in Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, Arizona,
saltgrass is a dominant ground cover species [23]. Saltgrass is widespread
throughout the White Sands National Monument, New Mexico [99]. The White Valley
in western Utah is described as a northern desert shrub biome. Within the White
Valley is a system of springs bordered by dense stands of sandbar willow (Salix exigua),
Baltic rush, Olney threesquare, and saltgrass [105]. Saltgrass (38% frequency)
is also a common associate in the black greasewood community type in semidesert
areas of southern Colorado [67,129].
Woodland, riparian, and lakeshore communities: Saltgrass and alkali sacaton
are the most common grasses in stands of screwbean mesquite and Fremont
cottonwood-Goodding willow forests along the Rio Grande River, New Mexico [50].
Saltgrass is an important associated species of the sand-verbena-silver burr
ragweed (Abronia spp.-Ambrosia chamissonis) community at the mouth
of the Ventura River, California. Other important associated species include
beach suncup (Camissonia cheiranthifolia ssp. suffruiticosa),
California croton (Croton californicus), seaside buckwheat (Eriogonum
latifolium), and chamisso bush lupine (Lupinus chamissonis) [73].
Boulder Creek in eastern Colorado is described as bottomland vegetation
dominated by saltgrass, smooth brome (Bromus inermis), and
intermediate wheatgrass (Thinopyrum intermedium) [114]. Saltgrass is the most common species on the Arkansas
River (100% presence and 52.5% average frequency) and South Platte River (100%
presence and 73.1% average frequency) floodplains in eastern Colorado [199].
Lonard and Judd [201] describe saltgrass as occurring at an
average frequency of 11.1% and 0.04% cover at the mouth of the Rio Grande River.
Saltgrass and alkali sacaton are the 2 most common grasses found in Rio Grande
River meadows [94,212]. Saltgrass is the dominant grass on the
Green River floodplain in the Uintah Mountains, Utah. Pammel [240]
describes saltgrass as so pervasive on the alkaline soils of the Green
River floodplain that it
excludes other vegetation. Saltgrass has 50%
constancy and 25.0% average frequency on the salt playas of Goshen
Bay, Utah [286].
Salt marsh communities: Saltgrass is a
dominant emergent species at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Utah [40].
An analysis of aquatic and semiaquatic vegetation surrounding Utah Lake, Utah,
found saltgrass was the most important and widespread species of 483
identified. Saltgrass, foxtail barley, and alkali
sacaton tend to dominate the higher dry areas. Of 5 vegetative zones at
Utah Lake, average percent cover of saltgrass ranged from 18.25% to 99.07%
[43,44]. Saltgrass is a dominant species in
spring-fed salt marshes at Fish Springs, Utah. Saltgrass has a frequency ranging
from 45% to 100% and a density of 4.5 to 58.9 plants/foot² [33].
Grassland communities: Saltgrass
occurs in isolated clumps within California annual
grasslands dominated by oat (Avena spp.),
brome, barley (Hordeum spp.), and sixweeks grass (Vulpia spp.) [16]. Saltgrass is a dominant species on the coastal terrace grassland prairies
of California [304]. Saltgrass meadows occupy over 500,000 acres (200,000 ha) of
the central Great Plains of Colorado and Wyoming. In a study of saltgrass
meadows and surrounding vegetation at the Central Plains Experimental Range,
Colorado, species composition averaged across transects found the following
magnitude of ground cover distribution over the 1979 to 1983 seasons: blue grama
> alkali sacaton > saltgrass > western
wheatgrass [36]. Saltgrass (82% frequency) and alkali
sacaton (58% frequency) are the 2 most important species of the dry meadow type
within shortgrass prairies of eastern Colorado and Wyoming. A study of
shortgrass prairie vegetation in 8 border counties of Colorado, New Mexico,
Oklahoma, and Texas found that while saltgrass had limited distribution, it was
dominant in several vegetation types [159]. In Colorado, saltgrass is frequently associated with
dense stands of Canada thistle (Cirsium arvense) [85,297].
Saltgrass is recognized as a dominant species in the following vegetation
classifications and locations:
United States
AZ:
Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument sideoats grama grassland [23]
Gila Valley mesquite woodland [278]
CA:
Coachella Valley alkali flats [278]
Death Valley alkali flats [6]
Tehachapi Mountains [17]
Owens Lake desert playa [71]
Afton Canyon [97]
San Francisco Bay salt marsh [296]
Coastal grasslands [304]
Point Reyes National Seashore tidal marsh [313]
Owens Valley [138]
CO:
Central Plains Experimental Range [36]
Dry meadows of the shortgrass prairies [67]
Upland areas of the Monte Vista National Wildlife Refuge [129]
CT:
Barn Island Wildlife Management Area tidal marshes [15]
Baker's Cove tidal marsh [65]
Connecticut River estuary [69]
FL:
Big Cypress Swamp [166]
GA:
Cumberland Island National Seashore tidal marshes [75]
ID:
Chilly Slough Wetland Conservation Area [349]
Palouse prairie alkali flats [72]
KS:
Quivira National Wildlife Refuge salt marsh [302]
LA:
Coastal salt marshes [55,220]
Sabine National Wildlife Refuge tidal marsh [96]
Lower Pearl River basin [336]
MS:
Tidal marshes [98]
St. Louis Bay Estuary tidal marsh [125]
NC:
Coastal salt marshes: [1]
ND:
Oakville Prairie [142]
Western grasslands [146]
Prairie potholes [300]
NE:
Crescent Lake National Wildlife Refuge
[34]
Sandhills saltgrass types [115]
Saline areas surrounding the city limits of Lincoln [323]
NJ:
Hog Island tidal marsh [342]
NV:
Eagle Valley playa [31]
RI:
Smith Cove tidal marsh [26,27,86]
Rumstick Cove tidal marsh [28,41]
Succotash salt marsh [87]
SD:
Stink and Bitter Lake [321]
TX:
Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge [169]
UT:
Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge [40]
Escalante Valley [279]
Utah Lake [43]
Spring-fed salt marshes [33]
Green River flood plain [240]
Goshen Bay [284,286]
VA:
Hog Island [295]
WA:
Whidbey Island salt marshes [196]
Columbia Plateau alkaline grasslands [207]
Palouse prairie alkali flats [72]
WY:
Dry meadows of the shortgrass prairies [67]
United States Regions
Chihuahuan Desert [260]
Great Basin Desert [244]
Gulf Coast salt marshes: [4,121,135]
Mojave Desert [244]
Northern Great Plains: Poorly drained saline sites [68]
Sonoran Desert [244]
Canadian Provinces
AB:
Saline areas of the shortgrass prairies [38,59]
Wood Buffalo National Park [273]
BC:
Sidney Island [49]
MB:
Saline meadows [38]
NT:
Wood Buffalo National Park [273]
SK:
Saline areas of the shortgrass prairies [38,59,84]
Canadian Regions
Prairie province salt marshes and salt meadows [202]
