NJ Natural Heritage Program, NJDEP Division of Parks and Forestry, Office of Natural Lands Management, 22 S. Clinton Ave, Plaza Bldg 4, Fl. 4, PO Box 404 Trenton, NJ, 08625-0404
Latitude and Longitude coordinates are taken from the SW plot corner.
Environment Fields:
Elevation
0
m
Elevation Range
3
m
Slope Aspect
(n/a, flat)
º
Slope Gradient
0
º
Topographic Position
Low level
Landscape Narrative
Local Topography: Hummocky
Soil Texture: Organic - muck, peat; Mineral - sand, loamy sand
Von Post scale of peat decomposition: H8
Soil Horizon Type: Mor
Physiographic Province: Outer Coastal Plain
Watershed: Barnegat Bay
Overall Taxon Cover Values are Automatically Calculated?
no
Plot Quality Fields:
Plot Validation Level
(1) occurrence plot: sufficient for determining type occurrence
Overall Plot Vegetation Fields:
Dominant Stratum
Herb
Growthform1 Type
Herbs
Growthform2 Type
Shrubs
Growthform3 Type
Dwarf-shrub
Misc Fields:
Observation Narrative
Community Type: sea level fen
Community Description: Disturbed site, probably created by clearing and filling seaward edge of an Acer-Nyssa-Chamaecyparis-Ilex opaca maritime forest. Fen is located on the inside of a "U" in the forest. Freshwater discharge comes from the low-lying forest to the north and south. Vegetation in upper (landward) part of the community resembles that of a Pine Barrens sphagnous bog, except for the presence of a few typical sea level fen species, like Pycnanthemum setosum. Community is evidently successional and is also invaded by Phragmites mixed with Scirpus americanus, Spartina, and Hibiscus moscheutos which grades into Spartina patens/Juncus gerardii salt marsh. Area will probably become a shrub wetland with time. Wide swaths are mowed adjacent to wood edge, following antenna wires. Topography is hummocky, and land slopes imperceptably uphill, going east (toward Barnegat Bay); surface wetness becomes more pronounced going uphill toward the salt marsh. Fen is dry. Wetland species that are present are dwarfed and in sorry shape, but water table is +/- 40 cm below the surface. Soil is well-decomposed peat over loamy sand, ranging in pH from 3.8 to 5.5.
