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
29
m
Shrub Height
4
m
Field Height
5
m
Tree Cover
75
%
Shrub Cover
20
%
Field Cover
5
%
Nonvascular Cover
40
%
Misc Fields:
Observation Narrative
Neither the site nor the configuration of this plot were ideal, but presented a rare opportunity to capture a Shenandoah National Park cove forest in which the overstory hemlocks were still largely intact. The plot is located on a very bouldery, convex fan between two streams at the bottom of Whiteoak Canyon. Although most of the understory hemlock on this interfluve was dead or dying, all of the larger hemlocks had > 50% of their needles and the great majority of their crowns, still intact. The largest tree in the plot, however, is a double-trunked beech (90 cm DBH) that recently had one of its major branches blown down. The extremely bouldery substrate greatly limits herbaceous plants, and made it difficult to extract soil samples.
Surficial litter variable over plot, 1-3 cm.
Mineral soil is limited to small interstitial deposits among boulders and stones, under 10-15 cm of dense humus and roots.
