The Vascular Flora of the Niobrara Valley Preserve and Adjacent Areas in Nebraska

Authors

Steven P. Churchill, The New York Botanical Garden
Craig C. Feeman, Kansas Biological Survey
Gail E. Kantak, Saginaw Valley State University

Date of this Version

1988

Comments

1988. Transactions of the Nebraska Academy of Sciences, XVI: 1-15. Copyright © 1988 Churchill, Freeman and Kantak

Abstract

The Niobrara Valley Preserve is a 219 km² area along the Niobrara River in north-central Nebraska. Five hundred eighty-one species of vascular plants, about one-third of the total known from Nebraska, are recorded from the Preserve. They are distributed among 332 genera in 105 families. The floristic richness of this area may be attributed to two major factors: 1) a unique surface and subsurface geology has produced hydrologic and pedologic conditions amenable to a variety of plant communities; 2) Pleistocene and post-Pleistocene climates were critical in determining the co-occurrence of diverse vegetation types in the Niobrara River Valley. Among the principal plant communities juxtaposed in this area are three grassland types (sandhills, mixed, and tallgrass prairies) and three forest types (ponderosa pine, paper-birch, and eastern deciduous).