Natural Resources
Conservation Service
Ecological site F136XY310VA
Northern inner piedmont acidic upland forest, seasonally wet
Accessed: 04/25/2024
General information
Provisional. A provisional ecological site description has undergone quality control and quality assurance review. It contains a working state and transition model and enough information to identify the ecological site.
MLRA notes
Major Land Resource Area (MLRA): 136X–Southern Piedmont
This area is in North Carolina (29 percent), Georgia (27 percent), Virginia (21 percent), South Carolina (16 percent), and Alabama (7 percent). It makes up about 64,395 square miles (166,865 square kilometers). (Ag Bulletin 296)
The northeast-southwest trending Piedmont ecoregion comprises a transitional area between the mostly mountainous ecoregions of the Appalachians to the northwest and the relatively flat coastal plain to the southeast. It is a complex mosaic of Precambrian and Paleozoic metamorphic and igneous rocks with moderately dissected irregular plains and some hills. (EPA Ecoregions descriptions)
ADD APPROPRIATE ECOREGION DESCRIPTION(S)
Classification relationships
A PROVISIONAL ECOLOGICAL SITE is a conceptual grouping of soil map unit components within a Major Land Resource Area (MLRA) based on the similarities in response to management. Although there may be wide variability in the productivity of the soils grouped into a Provisional Site, the soil vegetation interactions as expressed in the State and Transition Model are similar and the management actions required to achieve objectives, whether maintaining the existing ecological state or managing for an alternative state, are similar. Provisional Sites are likely to be refined into more precise group during the process of meeting the APPROVED ECOLOGICAL SITE DESCRIPTION criteria.
This PROVISIONAL ECOLOGICAL SITE has been developed to meet the standards established in the National Ecological Site Handbook. The information associated with this ecological site does not meet the Approved Ecological Site Description Standard, but it has been through a Quality Control and Quality Assurance processes to assure consistency and completeness. Further investigations, reviews and correlations are necessary before it becomes an Approved Ecological Site Description.
Ecological site concept
Upland Acidic Piedmont Forest, Mesic Temperature Regime, moderately well drained occurs on relatively moist sites over the relatively infertile Udult soils that dominate much of the Piedmont. Schafale reports that this type consists of “mesic hardwood forests of acidic north slopes and other sheltered sites in the Piedmont.” He also suggests that “This community occupies protected low slopes in the acidic Piedmont where creeks have cut small draws or valleys.” The National Vegetation Classification (NVC) description reports that “examples of this association predominantly occur on steep but sheltered slopes adjacent to creeks or rivers in the Piedmont. They can occur further upslope, but occurrences are much more likely as one gets closer to streams.” Soils of this type generally have lower pH (4.4-5.0, versus 4.9-5.9), CEC (4.7-9.4 versus 10.2-17.3), percent base saturation (36-51 versus 46-76), and Calcium content (188-637 versus 649-1632 ppm) than soils of Type 2 (the MESIC BASIC PIEDMONT HARDWOOD FOREST). Soil attributes are essentially equivalent to those of Type 3, the DRY-MESIC ACIDIC PIEDMONT HARDWOOD FOR, which differs from Type 1 in occurring on drier and more topographically upland settings.
Table 1. Dominant plant species
| Tree |
(1) Fagus grandifolia |
|---|---|
| Shrub |
(1) Cercis canadensis |
| Herbaceous |
(1) Polystichum acrostichoides |
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