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
28
m
Shrub Height
6
m
Field Height
8
m
Tree Cover
80
%
Shrub Cover
20
%
Field Cover
50
%
Misc Fields:
Observation Narrative
Plot location is a large depression / swale on the interior portion of Buggs Island in the Roanoke River. Many ditches in the area suggest that the overall floodplain may have been drained for agricultural at one time. The lack of large oaks in the swale suggests that the area was cleared, logged, or perhaps hydrologically altered by the ditching. Currently, the habitat is seasonally flooded, with water marks on trees 10-20 cm above the ground. Soil drainage is poor. The current forest is a successional stand dominated by Liquidambar styraciflua and some Fraxinus pennsylvanica, all mostly < 40 cm DBH. Considerable recruitment of sub-canopy Quercus phellos and Ulmus americana is present throughout. The herb layer is co-dominated by Saururus cernuus and several hydrophytic sedges.
