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
Stem Observation Area
100
m²
Plot Quality Fields:
Plot Validation Level
(2) classification plot: sufficient for inclusion in a classification revision
Overall Plot Vegetation Fields:
--no data--
Misc Fields:
Observation Narrative
Plot location: north of the Coal Road where it comes close to a large pipeline ROW, east of Gum Springs Branch. Pond located ca. 300 m NW of BM 1893.
Rock Types Present: bedrock covered by a thick alluvial fan of metasedimentary materials.
The habitat is a large (ca. one acre), usually permanently flooded basin, one of the numerous Shenandoah Valley "sinkhole ponds" located along the foot of the Blue Ridge in Augusta and Rockbridge Counties. This pond was nearly drawn down after an exceptionally dry summer. Most of the pond is vegetated with a nearly continuous carpet (floating when inundated) of Proserpinaca palustris. The plot is situated along the east edge, where vegetation is slightly more diverse. According to Buhlmann, Mitchell & Smith (1999), this pond is usually flooded to a depth of ca. 1.0 m and has a soft, organic bottom > 20 cm deep.
