Missouri Natural Areas Newsletter 2020, Volume 20, Number 1

2020·3.4 MB·English

by  Missouri Department of Conservation, Missouri Natural Areas Committee

MISSOURI 2020
Natural Areas
Volume 20, Number 1
N E W S L E T T E R
“…identifying, designating, managing and restoring the best remaining examples of natural communities
and geological sites encompassing the full spectrum of Missouri’s natural heritage”

Editor’s Note
Missouri’s Botanical Diversity
N ative plant communities are among the nity in Missouri has somehow witnessed anthro-
defining facets of a terrestrial natural pogenic and natural forces throughout history,
community, and their integrity serves as whether fire, grazing, windstorms, ice storms,
one bellwether for designated natural areas. One and other disturbances. The Age of Extraction
can judge the native quality of a given terrestrial following European settlement undoubtedly
community based on the plant community and changed the face of Missouri’s plant communi-
lack of degradation, most often associated with ties, in many cases completely destroying them,
an intact soil profile. Every native plant commu- as is the case with so many of our presettlement
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A typical vegetation sampling frame along a transect in the Ha Ha Tonka Oak Woodland Natural Area. Among the more stable
systems in Missouri, Ha Ha Tonka State Park’s woodlands remain highly diverse and managed with a regularly occurring dormant
season prescribed fire regime. The heterogeneous mix of forbs, grasses and sedges in the 2,995 acre natural area represents what many
ecologists consider a high quality site.
NATURAL AREAS FEATURED IN THIS ISSUE
prairie landscapes. Resiliency of native
plant communities can only go so far.
Brickyard Hill Loess Mound
While no native plant community is
Coakley Hollow Fen
“pristine” in Missouri, we are fortunate to
St. Francois Mountains
harbor 192 designated natural areas, with
some, such as Brickyard Hill Loess Mound Stellata
Natural Area (featured in this issue), expand- Cash Swamp
ing thanks to careful active management and
fortuitous land acquisition. As ecologists, land-
owners, and Missouri citizens charged with
protecting our remaining native landscapes
for future generations, it is incumbent that CONTENTS
careful management techniques are employed
Missouri’s Botanical Diversity
not only on natural areas. The threats to Allison Vaughn .............................................................1
On the Nature of Being
native quality are ubiquitous, whether inva-
Justin Thomas .............................................................3
sive species encroachment, animal overpopu-
Too Much of Good Thing: Nutrient Excesses
lation, changing weather patterns, and limited in Missouri’s Natural Communities
Andrew Braun ............................................................8
management resources. Mitigation requires
Canary in the Prairie:
careful, but deliberate, active management.
Saving Mead’s Milkweed from Feral Hogs
In this issue of the Missouri Natural Areas Ron Colatskie ..........................................................17
Factors Affecting the Viability of Mead’s Milkweed
Newsletter, we’ll hear from botanists through-
Christine E. Edwards, Shannon M. Skarha,
out Missouri who will discuss threats to our
Matthew A. Albrecht ................................................22
native plant communities, the latest science The Diversity of the Loess Hills of Missouri
Steve Buback ............................................................28
and research in the field of genetics, and larger
It’s the Small Things that Matter:
concepts like the need for stability through man-
Cryptogam Conservation and Natural Areas
agement. This edition will also feature articles Douglas Ladd ...........................................................33
Finding Positivity and Perspective
on some of our rare plant communities, those
Nathan Aaron .........................................................40
that exist in Missouri at the edge of range in
NATURAL AREA NEWS
our situation in America. In Natural Area News,
Designation of the Stellata NA ...................................44
read on about the recent natural area designa-
Cindy Hall retires from Ozark Caverns .........................45
tion at St. Joe State Park, largely recognized Cash Swamp Natural Area Expansion ........................46
for its off-road vehicle trails, but home to high Calendar of Events .....................................................46
quality woodlands and glades. Several of the
The Missouri Natural Areas Newsletter is an annual journal published by the
articles in this newsletter include open-ended Missouri Natural Areas Committee, whose mission is identifying, designating,
managing and restoring the best remaining examples of natural communities
questions or offer room for discussion, creating
and geological sites encompassing the full spectrum of Missouri’s natural her-
a path for dialogue and the exchange of ideas itage. The Missouri Natural Areas Commit-
tee consists of the Missouri Department of
to help all of us better protect our native plant Natural Resources, the Missouri Depart-
ment of Conservation, the U.S. Forest
and terrestrial natural communities. I hope you
Service, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
enjoy this issue about botany as we enter the Service, the National Park Service
and the Nature Conservancy.
cold, dark spells of the winter months ahead.
— Allison J. Vaughn, editor
Allison J. Vaughn is the Natural Areas Coordinator with the Missouri
Department of Natural Resources.
Contact: [email protected]
2 Missouri Natural Areas Newsletter • Vol. 20, No. 1, 2020
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The complex color palette and textures emerging from the backlit leaves of Tripsacum dactyloides (Eastern Gamagrass) in early Autumn.
On the Nature of Being
by Justin Thomas
T o proactively, and progressively interact the directionality and ordered processes of sys-
with nature, the nature of it all, as man- tems, the inherent and deeply evolved patterns
agers of landscapes, researchers, and as of assembly coalesce into a functionally dynamic
informed citizens, we must fully open ourselves state we can barely fathom. The reverse of this
to its complexity and therein seek understand- is also informative, such that when we detect
ing. The degree that we grasp complexity and chaos, when we are cognizant of the signs, we
understanding is the degree to which we will suc- can track down the sources of problems and cor-
ceed in honoring it. One cannot simultaneously rect them. Yet we must also be acutely conscious
protect complexity and ignore it. After all, there that our interpretations are not actual reality
is a richly rounded, earthy, and simultaneously but mere constructs based on assumptions and
ripe, unripe, and overly ripe functionality moving methodologies that themselves are prone to error.
and shaping, poking and prodding, the nature As such, we must be a certain way in order to
of reality along its inevitable path of destiny. A understand and respond to certain things. How
destiny that is by its nature both directed and we are determines how we respond. This leaves
random — the influence of each being a matter us with the question: how do we need to be?
of relevant temporal and spatial scales. When we perceive ourselves as separate from
If when tinkering with systems we are not living systems we cannot understand them
aware of the ascendent qualities of collective because our perceived separateness is an illusion.
processes, chaos becomes a runaway train. When We must see our lives, our depth of concern, and
we acknowledge, understand, and truly honor our willingness to sacrifice our human wills as
Vol. 20, No. 1, 2020 • Missouri Natural Areas Newsletter 3
embedded features of living systems. Our honest themselves fluidly as functionality is generated
participation requires understanding and our by the spiralingly autocatalytic, the rapturously
understanding requires honest participation. emergent, and the miraculously ascendant qual-
Yet, too many of us merely entertain an under- ities of dynamically stable ecological systems at
standing of the processes that support functional temporal and spatial scales we have barely begun
dynamism. Others traditionally limit their per- to consider. It needs little more than patience,
spective to one conventional school of thought compassion, and understanding from us. It is
or another and are lost in translation. Though our inability to offer these concessions that clogs
we mean well, this lack of deep entanglement the functional gears of recovery and neuters the
denigrates the more than human world. efficacy of our management. It is our expecta-
We call it “the outside,” that which is other tions, based on our blind experience, blatant
than us, plaguing it with difference and us disconnect, and misappropriation of bias, that
with indifference — distancing ourselves from haunt us.
the formulae of life that constantly unfold in Just as the thermodynamically-driven evo-
wonderous and magical ways — not just around lution of individual lifeforms is generated and
us, but within us. We further hide much of this maintained by consistently rhythmic selective
conflict behind our festering sense of callous pressures over relative and multidimensional
helplessness — dispatches from the world of notes of time, the formation of natural com-
wounds. We dodge and deny those flare-ups of munities is insisted upon and codified by the
raw realty wherein we see just how truly abusive, predictable and inherently creative processes
dismissive, and broken the minds of modern that emerge and intertwine over even deeper
humans are and how that brokenness manifests time. The less we understand this, the farther
as the disturbance, devastation, and de-evolution into the dark recesses of simplicity and dispos-
of the sacred — the destabilization of the more sessed embeddedness we cast it and ourselves.
than human world that cradles us. We have cast Nature’s true complexity manifests in each par-
ourselves as the cursed in this self-imposed par- ticipant lifeform, their combined interactions,
adox of false dichotomies. The only fruitful way and beyond. These deeply creative processes
forward is to consciously transcend how we are drip with both history and destiny, history and
for how we need to be. destiny that hinge on the desire and intent for
We fear few things more than the onerous a peacefully knowable tomorrow. After all, evo-
goal of reshaping ourselves. Yet, we also claim lution is merely the predictive power of living
the ability to restore, recreate, and reimagine the information. Do we want something different?
natural process of natural areas — something we Are we not the same? This elaborately dancing
have vastly less control of than our own personal array of complex functionality is so much more
lives. We proceed as though all of nature were than we dare to fathom. Yet some believe that
brick and mortar — as if nature were merely these living processes condensed into a default
stone to be chipped and shaved by the barrage functionalism through chaos and disturbance —
of novel epiphanies we share on paper. In reality, that nature is more accident than intention. Yet,
the living processes of natural systems contort nothing could be more contrary to the evidence.
4 Missouri Natural Areas Newsletter • Vol. 20, No. 1, 2020
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Damaged ecological systems express chaos and dysfunction in many ways. Here, the common Liatris squarrossa var. hirsuta (left) is
hybridizing (middle) with the state rare Liatris mucronata (right) in response to rapidly altered stability. Understanding the ecological
complexities of breeding systems and how they behave under stable versus unnatural conditions requires an appreciation that transcends
conventional concepts of management.
Because tomorrow’s harmony has always been communicate this. No natural area will persist
a function of yesterday, we cannot so drastically without deeper understandings and more inter-
change the rules of the game now and expect per- meshed behaviors than we currently possess.
petual sustainability. We cannot simultaneously
The inherent ecological embeddedness of life-
claim to protect the living past’s right to tomor-
forms define communities by the orchestrated
row and deny its curve along the arc of destiny.
adaptations which extend well beyond the life-
Doing so generates chaos and discord. Even when
forms themselves. These community-based spa-
truth is a relative term, it depends on consistency.
tial-temporal engendered processes transcend
That consistency, that truth, is expressed in the
the mere coevolution of lifeforms and manifest
individual and collective behaviors of lifeforms
as concerted expressions and collective contribu-
and their roles in ecological processes governed
tions to a stable ecological dynamism. As such,
by complexity and stability. To change that, to
lifeforms are both co-creators and benefactor
ignore that, to not be fully cognizant, degrades
of process. This emergent, autocatalytic, and
it. From quantum entanglement to the Big Bang,
dialectic phenomenology of nature is the very
from the minutely uncertain to the universally
soul of ecology. It is time we accepted it as such
certain, there remains a prescient fact that life
requires repeatable patterns and the requisite and communicated our observations of it via
time and space to unfold them. Science’s ulti- this framework. Falling short of this, is missing
mate responsibility is to understand, honor, and the target altogether.
Vol. 20, No. 1, 2020 • Missouri Natural Areas Newsletter 5
One might argue that reality is not patterned versus a meteor impact. These are not phenom-
complexity, that nature is regularly battered by ena that need to be or should be emulated or
the ravages of the aleatoric, that nature is cruel magnified. The very nature of the unexpected is
and unpredictable, that nature picks winners that is it accidental not intentional. Prescribed
and losers, that if it could burn it would burn, chaos is oxymoronic, especially when the goal
that harvested forests are healthy forests, that is to understand processes and where under-
lifeforms are the random benefactors or victims standing is best achieved by a reduction of the
of dumb luck and vicious competition. Noth- stochastic — and lost in its conflation with order.
ing could be more mistaken, in light of what is The behaviors of ecologically untethered life-
demonstrably real. forms — weeds — that emerge from chaos attest
By definition, chaotic, aggressive, invasive, and to this small-scale and infrequency in nature.
destructive events degrade the stable complexity For plants, these behaviors include semelparity,
of deeply functional processes and are antitheti- profuse seed production, long distance seed dis-
cal to the vast majority of life. Though unpredict- persal, and long persisting seed banks. These are
able and temporary, competitive forces do occur, attributes of lifeforms that express in responses
but not at high enough historical frequencies to to damaged and destabilized systems because
dissuade stable trajectories at landscape scales. they are infrequent and unpredictable. These are
They are relative phenomena, not absolute phe- the ‘Hail Mary’ strategies of the gambler. They
nomena. This is one of the greater elements of are analogous to platelets in the blood in that
their grandeur. If they were absolute then the they have a singular and simple purpose (lack
stability upon which complex ecological systems complexity). Their deployment is rare, temporary,
rest, as described above, would not have arisen and in response to damage. They form the occa-
nor would they currently exist. More simply, sional scab needed in an otherwise vastly intact
ecologically damaging events by definition are and interwoven anatomy. Such plants represent
rare, scaled-down, and specialized in expression a mere ten percent of our native flora.
or the intricately assorted lifeforms and com- In contrast, 90 percent of our native flora,
munities we know today, whose niches define which historically constituted the vast majority
natural communities, would not have evolved of biomass, requires stable dynamism. These are
nor would they have persisted. You can’t have community contributors. They are interoparous,
both degradation and functional community produce few seeds, disperse seeds locally, are
complexity. Though both occur in nature, they long-lived, and have short-lived seed banks. Such
are antithetical. Each is the relative absence of plants and their analogous fauna are the normal
the other. state of being. They are the altitude and speed
Certainly chaos naturally plays a role in the at which the system cruises, in contrast to scab
processes of natural communities, but it is nat- producing events, which are analogous to devia-
urally restricted to very small and relatively fre- tions from the normal as well as outright systems
quent spatial scales, or exceedingly rare at large crashes. In short, scabs are important relative to
temporal and spatial scales — a tip-up mound damaged systems, but they are indicators of lost
6 Missouri Natural Areas Newsletter • Vol. 20, No. 1, 2020
functionality, of systems set adrift on the winds lifeforms but also the interplay of their stable
of chaos, not holistic natural community conti- dynamism. This is how we must see and how
nuity. Their expression is a sign of lost ecological we must be if we are to properly engage these
complexity and function, especially when they systems. Otherwise, we need to clearly define
become dominant landscape characteristics in where we are making concessions and define
response to a lack of human understanding. We what the ramifications of these concessions are.
are terribly far from a deep acceptance or innate Ignoring process is not an option. We cannot
understanding of these basic heuristics. simultaneously claim to protect delicate balances,
Functional ecological systems are not com- promote process, AND excuse our failings when
posed of disparate and isolated lifeforms but of chaos is gradually overwhelming the descending
processes consisting of and driven by lifeforms scales of cooperative ecological complexity and
— the lifeforms themselves also being processes. leaving nothing but simple, general, degraded,
Understanding these processes, at all scales, as orderless, and novel remains. A community that
best as we can, should be the precursor and pre- loses its complexity, loses its identity. We are no
requisite to ecological management. The success different. We cannot be healthier, more complex,
of ecological management must be measured by more resilient, more diverse, more inspired and
the manifestations of lifeforms as indicators of dynamic than the landscapes in which we live.
the underlying processes at play. This requires an
Justin Thomas is the Science Director of NatureCite
extensive knowledge of not only processes and Contact: [email protected]
A recent research project involving the relationships between soils, vegetation, and hydrology of Karst Fens in the Ozarks is raising many
questions about our perceptions of reference condition community types.
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Vol. 20, No. 1, 2020 • Missouri Natural Areas Newsletter 7
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Figure 1. Fireweed (Erechtities hieracifolius) growing near a dying post oak (Quercus stellata) in an otherwise undisturbed woodland.
Too Much of a Good Thing: Nutrient Excesses
in Missouri’s Natural Communities
by Andrew Braun
H istorical accounts (Schoolcraft 1821) and management have failed to explain the often
analysis of historic records and data contradictory, confusing, or simply negative
(Beilman and Brenner 1951, Schroeder (indicated by a decrease in conservative flora,
1981) suggest that Missouri was once dominated and often an increase in weedy flora) responses
by natural communities with an open character, to these disturbances seen in many ecological
that is, considerably fewer trees than seen today, restoration and maintenance efforts. One prairie
as well as more continuous cover of grasses and may be nearly shrubless and dominated by a
forbs. Disturbances such as fire, flooding, and stable mix of conservative herbaceous species,
grazing are assumed to have maintained this while another prairie a few miles away becomes
ecological state, and are used strategically today dominated by sumac and rough dogwood, with
to attain these structural states (Nelson 2010). increases in hardwood tree species cover. Opin-
Logging, mowing, herbicide and other applied ions range from “not enough disturbance” to
disturbances or stresses are also used in natural “the wrong type of disturbance” to “too much
community management. disturbance,” but clear explanatory ecological
Despite many successes, this perspective and mechanisms have proven difficult to come by.
the related approaches to natural community Concerns about atmospheric increases in carbon
8 Missouri Natural Areas Newsletter • Vol. 20, No. 1, 2020
dioxide or industrial and agricultural pollution cular plants dominate most terrestrial systems as
are certainly well-founded, but it seems that if primary producers. Plants have adapted to dif-
this were the overriding factor, all of our natural fering amounts of N with different strategies in
areas would be degraded, which is not the case. growth, reproduction, defense, and competition.
A review of literature and discussions with Instead of discussing nutrient dynamics in the
other ecologists have brought attention to the abstract, several examples that could realistically
role of nitrogen availability in terrestrial natural be found in the Missouri Ozarks or tallgrass
communities. Though much literature exists on
prairies will be discussed below.
ecological nutrient dynamics, it appears poorly
recognized in ecological management and mon- An Ozark Chert Woodland
itoring considerations. Many gaps in knowledge
A group generally adapted to low N situations
exist, and easy answers are nearly always insuffi-
is the heath family (Ericaceae), often found grow-
cient, but the perspective of nutrient limitation
ing in infertile conditions like sphagnum bogs
may be a promising, fresh way to examine how
or, in the case of Missouri’s lowbush blueberry
Missouri’s natural communities work. A review
(Vaccinium pallidum), cherty woodlands with very
of relevant literature and regionally-appropriate
little nutrient availability. Species adapted to low
syntheses and hypotheses hopefully prompts
N soils often grow relatively slowly, and maintain
further conversations and research. It is hoped
tissues like leaves (where a lot of scarce N is used)
that those conversations and research lead to a
for relatively long amounts of time. Species tak-
closer approximation of a true understanding of
ing up small amounts of N consequently produce
how our natural communities work and respond
tissues with small amounts of N, which returns
to management, so that their ecological integrity
small amounts of N to the soil upon death of
and complexity may be maintained in perpetuity.
that tissue, thus maintaining a relatively low
Nutrient Limitation amplitude of nitrogen cycling — a little up, a
little back down. Low N availability is comple-
Organisms require resources for growth and
mented by the relatively dry conditions in these
reproduction, some of which are scarce, and so
communities, leading to rather low productivity.
organisms and their populations do not grow
Other species found in dry, acidic woodlands,
indefinitely. This simple concept is well-known
like shortleaf pine (Pinus echinata), blackjack oak
as a foundational fact of ecology. In terrestrial
(Quercus marilandica), and little bluestem (Schizach-
systems, different soils, landscape positions, and
yrium scoparium) (Nelson 2010), are also adapted
climates clearly affect water and light availability.
to low-N situations and can be termed “low-N
Water and light are critical resources for plants,
as are soil nutrients, in particular nitrogen (N), species” (Perry et al. 2010). Assuming no increases
phosphorous, and potassium. In many natural in N, this community may continue on relatively
systems, N is the limiting nutrient — primary unchanged for a long time. The term used for
producers can only construct as much biomass these sorts of low-productivity, nutrient-lim-
as the combination of actual N availability and ited communities (more often used in aquatic
their own physiological mechanisms for putting systems, but no less appropriate for terrestrial
the N to use (nitrogen use efficiency) allows. Vas- systems (Rawinski 1992)) is “oligotrophic.”
Vol. 20, No. 1, 2020 • Missouri Natural Areas Newsletter 9
Nearby, a post oak (Quercus stellata) dies a nat- the dead tree (Perry et al. 2010). The local com-
ural death, succumbing to disease and stress. munity has become “eutrophic.” Many of these
Decades or even centuries of accumulated nutri- high-N species have adapted to the unpredict-
ents in the roots are released upon decomposi- ability of nutrient flushes by casting seeds far
tion, leading to a flush of nutrients. Additionally, and wide by wind or bird dispersal in the hopes
the tree is no longer dominating the local soil that at least some of them soon find themselves
nitrogen supply — a free-for-all ensues in the in a similarly fertile location. The seedbank of
space once controlled by the oak. The sudden the woodland is loaded with nitrophilic plant
opening of the canopy also increases light avail- seeds, waiting for the next nutrient flush.
ability. Seeds of fireweed (Erechtites hieracifolius), If you’ve taken a walk through a recent-
mare’s tail (Conyza canadensis), black raspberry ly-logged Ozark woodland, you’ve probably
(Rubus occidentalis), pokeweed (Phytolacca amer- noticed these same species present. Blackberries
icana), and other “weedy” species, sensing one (Rubus spp.), in particular, seem to do well in
or more of the shifts in resource availability, disturbed woodlands. Experiments in Minne-
germinate and grow (Figure 1). sota (Tilman 1987), Quebec (Jobidon 1993), and
In contrast to the low-N species, these plants West Virginia (Walter et al. 2016) have demon-
grow fast, incorporating as much as the nitro- strated a sharp increase in abundance of Rubus
gen flush into biomass as possible. Events like following N fertilization. Soil disturbance tends
this were historically small-scale, random, and to increase N availability by removing or dam-
ephemeral, so time is of the essence, especially aging the vascular tissue of resident plants, or
because N is easily washed away by precipitation. even inducing complete mortality of plants
High N availability leads to fast and tall growth, that would have otherwise taken up N, and by
but as neighboring vegetation is also taking disrupting the dynamics between living plants,
advantage of the nutrient flush, the possibility of dead plant tissue, soils, and microbes (Davis
becoming overtopped and shaded tends to select et al. 2000). More directly, cutting a tree, even
for plant species with a strategy of competing with no other soil disturbance, similarly reduces
for light, not nutrients. Vining plants, able to the tree’s ability to uptake N. With altered N
quickly clamber over their competitors, tend to pathways, an excess develops (Vitousek 1981).
be abundant in these sorts of situations. Mare’s During this time, accumulating N may induce
tail can be occasionally found in low-N situa- germination of Rubus and other nitrophilic
tions at an inch or two tall with a few flowers, species. Increased light availability also would
but here, with high resource availability and the favor nitrophilic species. It seems reasonable
trait of indeterminate growth, mare’s tail soaks to conclude that increases of Rubus in Ozark
up all it can, growing chest-high and producing woodlands indicate eutrophic conditions.
hundreds of flowers. Leaves and other tissues Many of the conservative plants found in
for these “high-N” or “nitrophilic” species are Ozark woodlands are adapted to oligotrophic
relatively “cheap” to make, and can be dropped or mesotrophic conditions, where competition
as soon as they are shaded out and of little use for nutrients is more important than competi-
in the struggle for light. When these species die, tion for light. Increasing N availability favors
their N-rich tissues are quickly decomposed and weedy plant assemblages that grow fast and tall
N is eventually returned to a plant-available state, and may outcompete conservative plants. Loss
increasing the amplitude of N-cycling around of conservative plants and a feedback loop of
10 Missouri Natural Areas Newsletter • Vol. 20, No. 1, 2020