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:
Shrub Cover
15
%
Field Cover
90
%
Nonvascular Cover
70
%
Misc Fields:
Observation Narrative
The vegetation in this plot represents many wetland communities which occupy abandoned beaver ponds along high elevation stream heads on the Alleghany Mountain east slope. These communities usually are dominated by common bur reed (Sparganium americanum), woodland bulrush (Scirpus expansus), several sedges (Carex spp.) and grasses. Some areas may be dominated by scrub thickets of glade St. Johns wort (Hypericum densiflorum). The plot area, abandoned for quite some time, has been influenced by groundwater seepage from the base of an adjacent slope, as well as by overland flow. The upper soil horizon is deep, mucky peat consisting mainly of partially decomposed Sphagnum mosses. The robust and attractive American mannagrass (Glyceria grandis), rare in Virginia, is a prominent species in this habitat. In the absence of disturbance, this community type is temporary in nature; red spruce (Picea rubens) seedlings and saplings from nearby stands have become established on hummocks of the wetland, indicating a long term trend toward reestablishment of spruce dominated forest.