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
3
m
Tree Cover
90
%
Shrub Cover
20
%
Field Cover
8
%
Misc Fields:
Observation Narrative
This plot is representative of vegetation on the lower-lying parts of the broad, Jones Hole Swamp bottomland on either side of the Sussex / Prince George County line. The site is probably shallowly seasonally flooded for significant periods, but was dry on the survey date following weeks of summer drought. The vegetation is a somewhat unusual swamp forest co-dominated by Nyssa aquatica and Nyssa biflora but entirely lacking Taxodium distichum. Hydrophytic oaks (Quercus laurifolia, Q. lyrata), Fraxinus pennsylvanica, Ulmus americana, and Acer rubrum are also present, primarily in the sub-canopy. Fraxinus caroliniana dominates the shrub layer and herbs are rather sparse, at least in part due to obviously heavy herbivory by white-tailed deer. On slightly higher topography of the bottomland, vegetation grades to a mixed hydrophytic oak / sedge community (see plot PRIG009), then to a hydrophytic oak / Ilex opaca / Arundinaria community (see plot PRIG008) on the highest, rarely flooded terraces.
