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
Plot Quality Fields:
Plot Validation Level
(2) classification plot: sufficient for inclusion in a classification revision
Overall Plot Vegetation Fields:
Field Height
1
m
Field Cover
20
%
Nonvascular Cover
75
%
Misc Fields:
Observation Narrative
Plot limited to 5 m in width to avoid well-traveled trail on summit and to make plot less readily apparent. This plot captures one of the best patches of sparsely vegetated pavement barren vegetation with Minuartia groenlandica, Paronychia argyrocoma, and Saxifraga michauxii. Tom Rawinski's plot BUFF101 sampled similar vegetation, but on the more extensive outcrops to the northwest. It is with some hesitation that plot is placed so close to a frequently traveled route, but there seems to be no preferable alternative on this heavily
trampled summit, and at least this sheltered site is adjacent to an imposing and nearly impenetrable woodland of Quercus spp. and Rhododendron catawbiense. Soil in this stand is considerably more acidic, deficient in base cations, and abounding in aluminum than soils of lower elevations at Buffalo Mountain, which may reflect the effects of chronic acid precipitation.
Very dark brown, rocky, silty loam; soil apparently richer in organic matter than that collected in plot BUFF006P, which could be a function of extraction from a grass hummock
Disturbance Data:
Disturbance Type
Disturbance Intensity
Disturbance Comment
unknown
Soil chemistry data (chiefly concentrations of base cations and Al) suggest chronic acidification of soil as a result of acid precipitation. Feral goats may formerly have constituted source of moderate disturbance.