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
100
m²
Plot Quality Fields:
Plot Validation Level
(2) classification plot: sufficient for inclusion in a classification revision
Overall Plot Vegetation Fields:
Field Height
5
m
Field Cover
70
%
Misc Fields:
Observation Narrative
Several restrictions on plot location and design forced this unusual architecture and placement on the upstream side of transect #4 in order to capture vegetation dominated by Spartina cynosuroides. Location was constrained by an adjacent strand of Cephalanthus occidentalis and feeder to tidal channel dominated by Peltandra virginica and devoid of Spartina. The density of Spartina here is not as great as it appears to be upstream and farther in the interior of the marsh, but this plot should sufficiently characterize this vegetation type adjacent to transect #4. Early senescence of many species hinders accurate estimation of cover. Clumps of Carex stricta occupy hummocks 10-15 cm high, although this microtopography does not occur throughout the plot.
Wet, dark gray, mucky clayey silt, with some fibric organic matter; small clumps of evidently more oxidized material are scattered throughout the profile; soil grades imperceptibly into more organic-rich clay