Moist Loamy Rises and Flats

Description

On this site, this vegetation community ranges from an open overstory to a nearly closed canopy. Fire helps to establish and maintain a more open canopy, but, on this site, some locations with a frequent fire return interval maintain a nearly closed canopy of mixed pine and oak. This vegetation community on this site is exceptionally rare today, due mostly to landuse conversion to agriculture.

(Peat and Allard, 1993; Schafale and Weakley, 1990)

Dominant plant species

1. longleaf pine (Pinus palustris), tree

2. bluejack oak (Quercus incana), tree

3. blackjack oak (Quercus marilandica), tree

4. post oak (Quercus stellata), tree

5. inkberry (Ilex glabra), shrub

6. small black blueberry (Vaccinium tenellum), shrub

7. running oak (Quercus pumila), shrub

8. saw palmetto (Serenoa repens), shrub

9. Beyrich threeawn (Aristida beyrichiana), grass

10. pineland threeawn (Aristida stricta), grass

11. little bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium), grass

12. western brackenfern (Pteridium aquilinum), grass

Submodel

Description

Mixed hardwood forests are closed canopy forests dominated by deciduous hardwoods. These forests tend to occur at locations protected from fire. These forests are typically uneven aged with regeneration establishing in canopy gaps. Pines and shade tolerant hardwoods tend to occur in areas that have experienced disturbance.

(FNAI, 2010; Peat and Allard, 1993; Schafale and Weakley, 1990)

Dominant plant species

1. American beech (Fagus grandifolia), tree

2. white oak (Quercus alba), tree

3. sweetgum (Liquidambar styraciflua), tree

4. southern sugar maple (Acer floridanum), tree

5. pignut hickory (Carya glabra), tree

6. swamp chestnut oak (Quercus michauxii), tree

7. loblolly pine (Pinus taeda), tree

8. American holly (Ilex opaca), shrub

9. American hornbeam (Carpinus caroliniana), shrub

10. hophornbeam (Ostrya virginiana), shrub

11. flowering dogwood (Cornus florida), shrub

12. common sweetleaf (Symplocos tinctoria), shrub

13. sedge (Carex), grass

14. bursting-heart (Euonymus americanus), grass

15. partridgeberry (Mitchella repens), grass

Submodel

Submodel

Description

Restoration efforts might include revegetation and reintroduction of periodic fire. There is increased interest in restoration of longleaf pine and it's associated vegetation communities including the application of prescribed and controlled fire. However, it is unclear whether or not the full historical range of fire behavior and fire seasonality can be restored on the modern landscape, and the limited scope of modern fire application may impact full restoration to historical conditions.

Submodel

Description

Any community on this site that has become salinized by the impacts of salt water inundation or intrusion. Saltwater intrusion is the movement of saltwater into freshwater systems. The process occurs mostly by lateral flow into areas adjacent to coastal waters or ditch systems that connect saltwater bodies. These ditch systems are designed to drain freshwater off of a site, but sea level rise and extreme tidal events push saltwater up these ditch systems and expose more of the landscape to salinization processes. Salinization can also occur as storm surge and/or extreme high tides push saltwater over the top of these terrestrial freshwater systems.

Submodel