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Southern Shawnee Hills
Ecoregion
in
IL
,
KY
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The Southern Shawnee Hills ecoregion is composed of hills that are mostly underlain by limestone and sandstone, and that are characterized by karst. Caves, sinkhole plains, sinkhole ponds, and springs occur, and are especially common in areas underlain by Mississippian Salem, St. Louis, and Ste. Genevieve limestones (Weibel and Panno, 1997). The Southern Shawnee Hills ecoregion is both physiographically and lithologically distinct from the neighboring, higher, more rugged Northern Shawnee Hills (71m). At the time of settlement, the Southern Shawnee Hills (71n) ecoregion was mostly forested, but, unlike Ecoregion 71m, limestone glades with dry prairies probably occurred (Schwegman, 1973, p. 27-28). The Southern Shawnee Hills (71n) ecoregion contains flora from the Appalachian Mountains, Great Plains, Mississippi Alluvial Plain, and Ozark Mountains (personal communication, 2005, Mike Retzer). Today, many limestone glades and extensive forest remain, mostly within the Shawnee National Forest. Pastureland, hayland, and some cropland also found in The Southern Shawnee Hills ecoregion, and are more common than in Ecoregion 71m. Dry upland forests contain blackjack oak, post oak, scarlet oak, pignut hickory, and white oak. Cool, shaded ravines are covered in mesic forests containing red oak, beech, and sugar maple (Schwegman, 1973, p. 27-28). Floodplain forests are found in bottomlands. Limestone glades are dominated by little bluestem and side-oats grama, and contain southern flora (Schwegman, 1973, p. 28). Streams are typically clear, and are often fed by cold springs; pools have rock bottoms, and riffles have gravelly bottoms (Smith, 1971, p. 7; Schwegman, 1973, p. 28). However, small intermittent streams that are not spring-fed also occur (Smith, 1971, p. 7).
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