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
30
m
Shrub Height
6
m
Field Height
5
m
Tree Cover
90
%
Shrub Cover
20
%
Field Cover
45
%
Misc Fields:
Observation Narrative
This sample site is located at the lower end of a narrow tributary swamp of the Blackwater River, near where it empties into an extensive oxbow backswamp. The swamp has no clear stream channel and has characteristics of both a slough/backswamp and a non-alluvial bottom. It supports a medium-age forest of Nyssa biflora and Taxodium distichum, with the largest trees 80-100 cm DBH. The ground surface has extensive moss-covered root hummocks and tree bases, but the soil surface lacks moss cover. Taxodium knees are numerous but generally less than 1 m tall. Fraxinus pennsylvanica and Acer rubrum are the only other canopy trees, with the former and Fraxinus caroliniana most abundant in the understory. A moderately dense herb layer is dominated by Saururus cernuus. An extensive system of sandhills, now mostly cut-over and converted to pine plantations, is adjacent to this bottom on the east side. Nearby, a small side-swale supports dense, pocosin-like vegetation with Chamaecyparis thyoides (see plot SOQU002).
