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:
--no data--
Misc Fields:
Observation Narrative
Plot location: Just east of an upland edge and of the mouth of a small tributary swamp, ca. 0.7 miles NW of the VA/ NC line where it crosses the Northwest River. Plot center marked with a 1" white PVC pipe.
NOTE: Very dry conditions throughout watershed and reginally on 8/30/95.
A fine mid-height graminoid marsh dominated by Schoenoplectus americanus and containing noteworthy populations of the rare plants Xyris iridifolia, Eriocaulon decangulare, and Ludwigia alata. Typha spp. Appear to be increasing here and in other nearby marshes.
NOTE: This plot was revisited on 9 July 1997 and Typha spp. Were found to have increased in cover from approximately 10% in 1995 to an estimated 75%. The ecological reasons for the rapid and massive increase of Typha in this marsh are unclear, but may be related to disturbance that fostered a lrage clone of Phragmites located across the small channel ca. 100m SE of the plot. Since the channel drains a tributary swamp that, in turn, drains an old agricultural field on the adjacent upland, the possibility that these changes are related to a nutrient pulse from slowly moving groundwater merits investigation.
