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
2
m
Field Height
3
m
Tree Cover
85
%
Shrub Cover
70
%
Field Cover
70
%
Nonvascular Cover
40
%
Misc Fields:
Observation Narrative
Potts Mountain Pond, in saddle on summit of Potts Mountain. See also plot JNNF015. This plot captures the saturated forest in the shallower parts of the basin surrounding the open pond. Plot is located between main pond and a smaller, semi-open "wallow" to the south; swamp forest grades into red oak / heath forest on the adjacent slopes. The ground surface has rather pronounced hummock-and-hollow microtopography, with hollows covered by Sphagnum and hummocks covered by leaf littler. The forest is dominated by Nyssa sylvatica, with scattered Acer rubrum, Pinus strobus, and Quercus rubra also reaching the overstory. About half the plot has dense woody shrub cover, primarily taller Menziesia pilosa over low colonial Vaccinium erythrocarpum. Osmunda cinnamomea is the only abundant herb, especially in small openings and hollows between the shrub thickets;
0-4 cm: leaf litter or Sphagnum (the latter is deeper)
4+ cm: organic muck / root mat in some areas
Soil is mostly deep peat deposits and organic matter; sample collected from a depression where some sand was visible in the OM; however, sample is mostly organic. Sphagnum and leaf litter cover discrete areas of the plot.
