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
29
m
Shrub Height
5
m
Field Height
1
m
Tree Cover
95
%
Shrub Cover
12
%
Field Cover
65
%
Nonvascular Cover
2
%
Misc Fields:
Observation Narrative
Plot captures a sugar maple - hickory stand on a submesic lower slope where extensive colluvial soils have accumulated. Soil samples collected from the site are fully base-saturated and have high calcium, magnesium, and manganese levels. The stand is compositionally unusual for the area and also unusual in that there is minimal herbivory by white-tailed deer and many forbs have significant cover, contributing to a fairly lush herb layer. Although the largest trees in the stand are northern red oaks, oak recruitment is virtually absent. Sugar maple, red maple, red hickory, and shagbark hickory have attained positions of co-dominance in the canopy and dominate the understory.