Releve Virginia Division of Natural Heritage, see http://www.dcr.virginia.gov/natural_heritage/documents/nh_plotform_instructions.pdf
Overall Taxon Cover Values are Automatically Calculated?
no
Stem Observation Area
400
m²
Plot Quality Fields:
Plot Validation Level
(2) classification plot: sufficient for inclusion in a classification revision
Overall Plot Vegetation Fields:
Tree Height
30
m
Shrub Height
6
m
Field Height
1
m
Tree Cover
70
%
Shrub Cover
15
%
Field Cover
80
%
Nonvascular Cover
5
%
Misc Fields:
Observation Narrative
Plot is located in a groundwater-saturated stream bottom between an outcrop ledge with waterfall and trail. A small stream runs lengthwise through the sample, with groundwater discharge laterally from the base of a cliff to the west. To the east is a thin forest buffer and a cleared area that was formerly a quarry. The habitat is small and the stand young, but this vegetation is quite representative of seepage swamps in the northern Virginia Piedmont. Mean groundwater pH (6 samples) = 6.06. Mean groundwater temperature (deg. C, 6 samples) = 13.97.
Soil variable throughout sample area, with micaceous clay muck in seepage areas and fine, gravelly alluvium in stream channel. Clay loam on hummocks. ~2cm of loose leaf litter on hummocks.
Disturbance Data:
Disturbance Type
Disturbance Intensity
Disturbance Comment
unknown
Old quarry adjacent. Young trees-- logged in past. Evident deer herbivory on Impatiens capensis, Euonymus americanus, and Sambucus canadensis.