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
33
m
Shrub Height
6
m
Field Height
3
m
Tree Cover
80
%
Shrub Cover
70
%
Field Cover
50
%
Misc Fields:
Observation Narrative
Plot captures a small stand of mixed hardwoods on an elevated, relictual alluvial terrace approximately 250 meters from the Rappahannock River. Although this habitat was no doubt cleared and utilized for agriculture in the past, it has been forested longer than most adjacent parts of the floodplain. A large beaver impoundment lies about 70 m north of the plot, in a backswamp swale of the floodplain proper. The overstory contains a mixture of species typical of floodplain forests and mesic uplands, but is dominated by Fagus grandifolia. The dense shrub layer is dominated by Asimina triloba and Lindera benzoin mostly 2-3 m tall. Although the habitat appears to lie above contemporary river flooding, classification of this stand is somewhat problematic. On the one hand, it has affinities with "rich" upland forests of the Coastal Plain ravines; on the other, it resembles Fagus-dominated forests of similar, but occasionally flooded river terraces along the Mattoponi and Pamunkey Rivers to the south.
