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
18
m
Shrub Height
5
m
Field Height
5
m
Tree Cover
5
%
Shrub Cover
30
%
Field Cover
90
%
Nonvascular Cover
100
%
Misc Fields:
Observation Narrative
This plot is located in one of four patches of an extraordinary, open woodland bog covering about 1.7 hectares (4.1 acres) in aggregate along the North Fork Stony Creek. The bogs are located along the outer edge of the floodplain valley, where groundwater inputs from slope-base seeps maintain a permanently high water table. Soil consists of poorly decomposed peat, in places thin and quaking over the shallow water table. Deep, wet Sphagnum spp. cover the ground. Judging from the even-age cohorts of pitch pine throughout the area, and the presence of charred wood and charcoal, the entire site probably has a history of periodic fires during dry spells. The density of trees is variable, with a few semi-closed stands and mostly very open stands of stunted, small-diameter Pinus rigida, the largest of which are 45 to 70 years old (based on increment cores). This sample represents a savanna-like site with an open stand of pitch pine, with few shrubs and dense graminoids beneath. The peat mat here is rather strongly quaking and locally thin over the perched water table. Carex atlantica ssp. atlantica, Eriophorum virginicum, and Osmunda cinnamomea have the highest herb cover.
