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
400
m²
Plot Quality Fields:
Plot Validation Level
(2) classification plot: sufficient for inclusion in a classification revision
Overall Plot Vegetation Fields:
Tree Height
30
m
Shrub Height
6
m
Field Height
1
m
Tree Cover
85
%
Shrub Cover
20
%
Field Cover
85
%
Nonvascular Cover
5
%
Misc Fields:
Observation Narrative
Plot captures a broad, permanently saturated ravine bottom and palustrine forest, located just above tidal influence at the mouth of a tributary ravine off College Run. Soils consist of sediments washed from adjacent slopes that have downcut into shell-laden sediments, and have very calcium content. The vegetation is a mixed forest with overstory co-dominance by Taxodium distichum, Acer rubrum, and Fraxinus pennsylvanica. Carex bromoides patch-dominates the herb layer on the better-drained hummocks, while Cicuta maculata, Bidens laevis, Impatiens capensis, and Saururus cernua are abundant in the hollows. This swamp forest suffered very little windthrow damage from Hurricane Isabel in 2003, despite very extensive damage on uplands nearby.