Overall Taxon Cover Values are Automatically Calculated?
no
Stem Observation Area
1000
m²
Plot Quality Fields:
Effort Level
Very thorough
Floristic Quality
High
Bryophyte Quality
Not examined
Lichen Quality
Not examined
Overall Plot Vegetation Fields:
--no data--
Misc Fields:
Observation Narrative
Pinus palustris-P.taeda-P. serotina-Sporobolus curtissii dominated woodlands occur in FMNF in a small area (perhaps 10 km2) in the vicinity of Jamestown. Much of this unique community has been lost to fire exclusion. The best remaining examples occur along Gumville Road where USFS has maintained a fairly frequent burn regime. This sample was taken from a stand that, for the most part, was clearcut, bracke-mounded and planted to longleaf shortly after Hurricane Hugo. However, a few peripheral areas were not harvested or soil-disturbed and retain at least some pre-hurricane canopy. Our sample plot was located along the northern edge of the stand, approximately 50 m south of the swamp forest along Savanna Creek. This section is part of a very gradual transition from mesic flatwoods in the center of the regeneration area through moister flatwoods/savanna, culminating in very wet Carex glaucescens, Carex striata, dominated vegetation along the edge of the swamp. We selected a plot dominated by Sporobolus but with a strong admixture of moist savanna dominant Muhlenbergia expansa and other savanna plants. We should emphasize that the plot is not, however, a mosaic of wet savanna and flatwoods, but is in fact a thorough mixing of these two elements at this particular point along the gradient. After examining the “Mid and South Atlantic Coastal Plain Review Subset” we have been unable to identify any existing NatureServe community that closely matches the sampled vegetation. Indeed our impression is that NatureServe is presently unaware of the presence of Sporobolus curtissii in the Carolinas. Hence we propose a new community “Pinus palustris-Pinus taeda-Pinus serotina / Sporobolus curtissii-Muhlenbergia expansa Woodland to be included within the Pinus palustris – Pinus serotina Saturated Woodland Alliance.
