Grassland Community Types of Badlands National Park, South Dakota

Butler, James; Batt, James

"Five potential plant communities were mapped for the North Unit of BADL and include the 1) Agropyron smithii (western wheatgrass) - Stipa comata (needle-and-thread) - Stipa viridula (green needlegrass) community, 2) Stipa comata - Agropyron smithii - Carex eleocharis (needleleaf sedge) community, 3) Agroyron smithii - Stipa comata - Carex filifolia (threadleaf sedge) community, 4) Stipa comata - Agropyron smithii community; and 5) ORELLA_BADLAND community. Agropyron smithii was the consistent dominant for all of the plant communities described. Delineating each potential plant community was, therefore, based upon the relative contribution of the major secondary species such as Stipa comata, S. viridula, Carex eleocharis, and C. filifolia. Much of the area has been impacted by livestock grazing in the past. Thus, the current successional status of the vegetation within the Park is part of a continuum from early seral to near climax condition. Ten community types were identified that represents the current vegetation type occupying a site. The term community type is used to designate a seral community other than the climax community. Graminoids were the largest contributor to vetetative cover on all sites, making up 84-98% of the total vegetation. Agropyron smithii was the greatest contributor to total cover. Secondary species recorded on the majority of stands were Bouteloua gracilis (blue grama), Carex filifolia, Stipa comata, Buchloe dactyloides (buffalograss), Carex eleocharis, Bouteloua curtipendula (sideoats grama), Festuca octoflora (six-weeks fescue), Stipa viridula, Sphaeralcea coccinea (scarlet globemallow),Opuntia polyacantha (prickly-pear cactus), Hedeoma hispidum (rough fa pennyroyal, and Lappula redowskii (stickseed)." (from document Abstract)

Grassland Community Types of Badlands National Park, South Dakota

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