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
32
m
Shrub Height
6
m
Field Height
5
m
Tree Cover
90
%
Shrub Cover
60
%
Field Cover
65
%
Nonvascular Cover
0.5
%
Misc Fields:
Observation Narrative
This plot was sampled in the wide floodplain of the Little Sandy River in a variable, young to fairly mature forest. Department of Forestry aged indicate that the stand originated in 1910, but most of the overstory trees appear to bes 50-80 years old and younger along the road. The floodplain has swales and depressions that are seasonally flooded, but overall the stand is temporarily flooded. The plot was placed in the middle of the floodplain and contains a narrow and shallow slough/swale along its eastern edge, with most of the plot occupying a moderately well-drained terrace. Except in the swale, vegetation is quite dense with shrub thickets of Lindera benzoin and tree saplings. Platanus occidentalis, Liquidambar styraciflua, and Liriodendron tulipifera dominate the canopy, with Acer rubrum dominating the sub-canopy. Species-richness is high, in part because of the wet slough inclusion.