Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Contributors
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- EASTERN/SOUTHEASTERN REGION
- CENTRAL/MIDWEST REGION
- 8 Dry Soil Oak Savanna in the Great Lakes Region
- 9 Deep-Soil Savannas and Barrens of the Midwestern United States
- 10 Open Woodland Communities of Southern Illinois, Western Kentucky, and Middle Tennessee
- 11 The Big Barrens Region of Kentucky and Tennessee
- 12 Cedar Glades of the Southeastern United States
- 13 Savanna, Barrens, and Glade Communities of the Ozark Plateaus Province
- 14 The Cross Timbers
- WESTERN/SOUTHWESTERN REGION
- NORTHERN REGION
- Index of Plants
- Index of Animals
- Topic Index
9 - Deep-Soil Savannas and Barrens of the Midwestern United States
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 21 October 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Contributors
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- EASTERN/SOUTHEASTERN REGION
- CENTRAL/MIDWEST REGION
- 8 Dry Soil Oak Savanna in the Great Lakes Region
- 9 Deep-Soil Savannas and Barrens of the Midwestern United States
- 10 Open Woodland Communities of Southern Illinois, Western Kentucky, and Middle Tennessee
- 11 The Big Barrens Region of Kentucky and Tennessee
- 12 Cedar Glades of the Southeastern United States
- 13 Savanna, Barrens, and Glade Communities of the Ozark Plateaus Province
- 14 The Cross Timbers
- WESTERN/SOUTHWESTERN REGION
- NORTHERN REGION
- Index of Plants
- Index of Animals
- Topic Index
Summary
Introduction
Eastern Prairie–Forest Transition
Midwestern savannas occupied a transitional area between eastern deciduous forest and tallgrass prairie. These savannas were part of the eastern prairie–forest transition (Curtis 1959; Anderson 1983; Nuzzo 1986) that extended as a broad arc along the eastern edge of the northern mixed and tallgrass prairies from the Canadian provinces of Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba southward into Texas (Figure 9.1). We discuss deep-soil savannas (also called black soil, mesic, and tallgrass savannas and barrens) that occurred in the glaciated landscapes of Minnesota, southern Michigan and Wisconsin, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois. These deep-soil savannas occurred on sites with fine-textured soils, where growth of trees was not severely limited by edaphic factors. Savannas with shallow soil profiles over bedrock, and those with sandy soil with low fertility and water-holding capacity, are considered in other chapters (see Chapters 8 and 21). Essentially all of the original Midwest, mesic, deep-soil savanna vegetation was lost to fire protection and agricultural activities, including overgrazing (Curtis 1959; Nuzzo 1986). These savannas are among the rarest natural vegetation types in the world.
Savannas of the Midwest occupied the eastern edge of a large, triangular-shaped grassland that extended from the Rocky Mountains into the Midwest (Risser et al. 1981; Anderson 1990). The grassland narrowed eastward, producing the well-known prairie peninsula (Transeau 1935).
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1999
- 14
- Cited by