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
Plot Quality Fields:
Plot Validation Level
(2) classification plot: sufficient for inclusion in a classification revision
Overall Plot Vegetation Fields:
Tree Cover
30
%
Shrub Cover
30
%
Field Cover
50
%
Nonvascular Cover
30
%
Misc Fields:
Observation Narrative
This plot represents a community that is a mosaic of sandstone scree without vascular vegetation and small irregular islands of stunted oak - yellow pine / heath forest or in some places tall scrub. It is unclear whether this community represents an unidirectional succession from unvegetated scree to forest, or a reverse succession from forest to unvegetated scree driven by some combination of erosion and fire or perhaps an oscillating succession. There is clear evidence of fire. The diameters of the rings of Quercus montana coppice sprouts suggest a former higher density of large trees (and thus reverse succession), and mineral soil is absent within 40 cm of the surface in the unvegetated scree area (versus a mineral soil under 25 cm of scree and duff in the vegetated islands).
Plot located ca. 250 ft downslope and southeast of the summit of Jingling Rocks.
+4 - 0 - Oi
0 - 4 - Oe: rich brown; abundant fine roots and rotten wood
4 - 5 - charcoal
5 - (9) 25 - Oa: extremely channery-rich with abundant air space; organic matter gray-black, fluffy
25 - 40+ - A?:: channery with empty interstices or with interstices filled with yellow-brown loamy fine sand
Disturbance Data:
Disturbance Type
Disturbance Intensity
Disturbance Comment
unknown
Charcoal on downed wood. Charcoal abundant at interface of duff and channery. Most Quercus montana are sprouts from what were rather large trees, but the bolls of these trees are mostly missing. Therefore logging is a possibility, or perhaps they burned up.