Natural Resources
Conservation Service
Ecological site F136XY810SC
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
This ecological site is thought to occur more often on north-facing slopes.
This association represents the more typical mesic mixed hardwood forest of the Piedmont from North Carolina to Georgia. The canopy of is dominated by mesophytic trees. The herb layer is often moderately dense and diverse, though it may be sparse under heavy shade. Exact composition varies locally with slope position and nature of soil.
Under natural conditions these forests are uneven-aged, with old trees present. Reproduction occurs primarily in canopy gaps. Rare, severe natural disturbances such as wind storms may allow pulses of increased regeneration and allow the less shade-tolerant species to remain in the community. However, Skeen, Carter, and Ragsdale (1980) argued that even the shade-intolerant Liriodendron could reproduce enough in gaps to persist in the climax Piedmont forests (Schafale and Weakley 1990).
The natural fire regime of the Piedmont is not known but fires certainly occurred periodically. Because Mesic Mixed Hardwood Forests generally occur in moist and topographically sheltered sites, they probably burned only rarely and with low intensity (Schafale and Weakley 1990).
Disturbed areas have increased amounts of pines and weedy hardwoods such as Liriodendron tulipifera and Liquidambar styraciflua. Many areas have been selectively cut many times and have increased importance of Fagus grandifolia and other noncommercial hardwoods relative to oaks (Schafale and Weakley 1990). Other areas that were disturbed in the distant past may be younger and, therefore, may have a higher proportion of oaks with beeches mainly in the understory.
Table 1. Dominant plant species
| Tree |
(1) Fagus grandifolia |
|---|---|
| Shrub |
(1) Polystichum acrostichoides |
| Herbaceous |
(1) Hexastylis virginica |
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