Terrestrial vegetation monitoring at Moores Creek National Battlefield: 2022 data summary

Abstract

Parks within the Southeast Coast Network (SECN) host a diverse assemblage of plants and terrestrial vegetation communities. Vegetation communities are dynamic entities whose species composition, abundance, distribution, and structure are influenced by environmental factors and impacted over time by natural and anthropogenic disturbances. Determining trends in vegetation communities over time and identifying plant stressors is vital to understanding the ecological health of terrestrial ecosystems within SECN parks. Moores Creek National Battlefield lies within the Middle Atlantic Coastal Plain ecoregion of North Carolina. The distribution and composition of forested habitats within the park are largely determined by former land-use patterns (including clearing land for agriculture and timber removal), as well as by localized edaphic conditions. Stressors and threats to vegetation resources are present within the park, many of which are related to large-scale land-use changes of the 19th and 20th centuries and adjacent land use. The year 2022 marked the first year of this monitoring effort at Moores Creek National Battlefield. Eleven vegetation plots were established throughout the park in June. Data collected in each plot included species richness across multiple spatial scales, species-specific cover and constancy, species-specific woody stem seedling/sapling counts and adult tree diameter at breast height (DBH), overall tree health, landform, soil, observed disturbance, and woody biomass estimates. Data were stratified across three dominant broadly defined habitats within the park: Coastal Plain Alluvial Wetlands, Coastal Plain Nonalluvial Wetlands, and Coastal Plain Open Upland Woodlands. Two hundred twenty-nine vascular plant taxa were detected during this monitoring effort, including 30 taxa not detected in previous lists.