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
6
m
Field Height
5
m
Tree Cover
70
%
Shrub Cover
60
%
Field Cover
30
%
Nonvascular Cover
1
%
Misc Fields:
Observation Narrative
Site is a narrow, convex ridge spur between Copper Creek and the stream draining Hales Spring. The plot encompasses an area that runs 25 m along the ridge crest and 16 m down the NE side above the stream. Soils are weathered from underlying limestone and have exceedingly high calcium content. The forest on this slope is a nice, medium-age, dry-mesophytic stand of mixed oaks (Quercus alba, Q. shumardii, Q. muhlenbergii), with scattered overstory associates of Liriodendron tulipifera, Magnolia acuminata, Tilia americana var. heterophylla, and Juglans nigra. Oak recruitment is essentially absent, and Acer saccharum, Aesculus flava, Cercis canadensis, Cornus florida, Fraxinus americana, and Ulmus rubra are common in the understory. The herb layer contains seedlings / sprouts of Toxicodendron radicans and a rich assemblage of nutrient-demanding forbs and graminoids, both mesophytes and xerophytes. Overall species-richness (80 taxa per 400 sq. m.) is quite high.