Intensive 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
1000
m²
Plot Quality Fields:
Plot Validation Level
(2) classification plot: sufficient for inclusion in a classification revision
Overall Plot Vegetation Fields:
Tree Height
12
m
Shrub Height
4
m
Field Height
5
m
Tree Cover
20
%
Shrub Cover
60
%
Field Cover
70
%
Nonvascular Cover
1
%
Misc Fields:
Observation Narrative
From flagged Juniperus virginiana (20 cm dbh): 2.7 m @ 306 deg to stake A.
2004-09-22: The largest and most heavily wooded barren on the south-facing slope of Buffalo Mountain. Very dry conditions prevail late in the growing season; extensive senescence of ground flora and early leaf fall of overstory trees (especially Fraxinus americana) have already occurred. Plot data belie the importance of Juniperus virginiana in this barren; this species is more abundant just downslope. Leaf litter obscures surface substrate; cover of rocks and cobbles may have been underestimated. The vegetation opens up to the west and downslope, with more warm-season grass cover. Data recording species richness at multiple spatial scales do not include large sterile grass culms, which likely represent Sorghastrum nutans or Andropogon gerardii.