Title: Classification of Vegetation Communities of Maryland

Classification of Vegetation Communities of Maryland: First Iteration

A Subset of the International Classification of Ecological
Communities: Terrestrial Vegetation of the United States
March 2004

V. HERBACEOUS VEGETATION
V.C.2.N.b. Permanently flooded-tidal temperate or subpolar hydromorphic rooted vegetation
V.C.2.N.b.4. RUPPIA MARITIMA PERMANENTLY FLOODED - TIDAL TEMPERATE HERBACEOUS ALLIANCE
Beaked Ditch-grass Permanently Flooded - Tidal Temperate Herbaceous Alliance


Concept: This alliance includes communities of submerged, rooted aquatic vegetation occurring in tidal creeks, pools, and coves with brackish waters. The substrate is often mud-bottomed but may also include sand. Characteristic species include Ruppia maritima, Vallisneria americana, and Stuckenia pectinata (= Potamogeton pectinatus). This is the most widely distributed seagrass alliance in eastern North America. It ranges around the entire Atlantic and Gulf coasts, from New England to Texas. This vegetation is patchily distributed along the Texas coast, where Ruppia maritima often occurs mixed with Halodule beaudettei. Ruppia maritima is the only seagrass capable of growing in freshwater and is therefore often found in the oligohaline to mesohaline upper reaches of estuaries and lower reaches of tidal creeks, bayous and rivers. Because it often behaves as an annual, the distribution and abundance of Ruppia maritima is often shifting both spatially and temporally.

Comments: Because floristic composition of occurrences of this alliance are similar, but the composition of other biota are thought to differ with geographic distribution, this alliance has been separated into several associations based on marine biogeographic provinces.

Range: This is the most widely distributed seagrass alliance in eastern North America. It ranges around the entire Atlantic and Gulf coasts, from New England to Texas. It is found in Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Texas, Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, and Virginia, and possibly Alabama (?), Georgia (?), and South Carolina (?).

States/Provinces: AL? CT DE FL GA? LA MA MD ME MS NC NH NJ NY RI SC? TX VA

TNC Ecoregions: 30:P, 31:C, 53:C, 55:C, 56:C, 57:C, 58:C, 62:C, 63:C

USFS Ecoregions: 212Db:CCP, 221Aa:CCP, 221Ab:CCC, 221Ac:CCC, 221Ad:CCC, 221Ae:CCP, 221Af:CCC, 221Ak:CCC, 221Ba:CCP, 231Fb:PPP, 232Aa:CCC, 232Ab:CCC, 232Ac:CCC, 232Br:CCC, 232Bx:CCC, 232Bz:CCC, 232Cb:CCP, 232Ce:CCP, 232Ch:CCC, 232Ci:CCP, 232Db:CCP, 232Dc:CCC, 232Dd:CCP, 232De:CCP, 232Eb:CPP, 232Ee:CPP, 232Gb:CPP, 255Da:CC?, 255Dc:CCC

Federal Lands: NPS (Acadia, Assateague Island); USFWS (Anahuac, Aransas, Big Boggy, Brazoria, Laguna Atascosa, McFaddin, Matagorda Island, San Bernard, St. Marks?)

Synonymy: Wigeon Grass Bed (Wieland 1994a); Wigeon Grass Bed (Wieland 1994b); Estuarine Subtidal: Saline/Brackish Flats (Swain and Kearsley 2001)

References: Kantrud 1991, Swain and Kearsley 2001, Wieland 1994a, Wieland 1994b

Authors: A.S. WEAKLEY, JT, Southeast Identifier: A.1769

RUPPIA MARITIMA ACADIAN/VIRGINIAN ZONE TEMPERATE HERBACEOUS VEGETATION
Beaked Ditch-grass Acadian/Virginian Zone Temperate Herbaceous Vegetation
Northern Atlantic Coast Beaked Ditch-grass Bed                                    G? (97-12-01)
Ecological Group (SCS;MCS):Atlantic Zone Tidal Aquatic Vegetation (201-10; n/a)

Concept: This brackish/saline tidal community of the central and northern Atlantic coast is dominated by Ruppia maritima. It occurs in large beds in estuarine bays as well as small patches within brackish tidal creeks. Substrates are sand or muck, and salinity is generally brackish. Ruppia maritima has a wide range of salinity tolerance and overlaps with other species, although generally not in the same locations. Common associates include Zannichellia palustris, Stuckenia pectinata (= Potamogeton pectinatus), and Potamogeton perfoliatus in brackish/fresh areas or Zostera marina as waters get deeper and more saline. There can also be a diverse array of macroalgae.

Comments: Ruppia maritima tends to occur in shallower and slightly less saline waters than Zostera marina (Orth and Moore 1988). The range of this type is consistent with the "Virginian Province" and "Acadian Province" of Cowardin et al. (1979).

Range: This association occurs along the mid- and north Atlantic coast from Maine to North Carolina.

States/Provinces: CT:S?, DE:S4?, MA:S4, MD:S?, ME:S3, NC?, NH:S?,S?, NJ:S3S4, NY:S3S4,S3S4, RI:S?,S?, VA:S?

TNC Ecoregions: 57:?, 58:C, 62:C, 63:C

USFS Ecoregions: 212Db:CCP, 221Aa:CCP, 221Ab:CCC, 221Ac:CCC, 221Ad:CCC, 221Ae:CCP, 221Af:CCC, 221Ak:CCC, 221Ba:CCP, 232Ac:CCC, 232Br:CCC, 232Bx:CCC, 232Bz:CCC, 232Ch:CCC

Federal Lands: NPS (Assateague Island) 204

Synonymy: Polyhaline subtidal aquatic bed (Breden 1989). in part, Ruppia Community (Moore et al. 2000), Southern New England & Gulf of Maine Saline/ Brackish Subtidal Estuarine Community (Rawinski 1984)

References: Bowman 2000, Breden 1989, Breden et al. 2001, Cowardin et al. 1979, Edinger et al. 2002, Enser 1999, Fleming 2001, Fleming et al. 2001, Gawler 2002, Metzler and Barrett 2001, Moore et al. 2000, Orth and Moore 1988, Rawinski 1984, Reschke 1990, Schafale and Weakley 1990, Sperduto 2000b, Swain and Kearsley 2001, Thayer et al. 1984

Authors: S.L. Neid, ECS Confidence: 2 Identifier: CEGL006167 

- Maryland Vegetation Classification Subset Report V.C. Hydromorphic rooted vegetation
Return to Table of Contents

View Next Topic

This Page Up-dated on April 27, 2010