Non-alluvial wetlands of the southern Appalachians Brenda Wichmann Thomas R. Wentworth Robert K. Peet Marjorie Boyer

Montane Non-alluvial Wetlands Called ‘bogs’ by locals WV south to GA A.S. Weakley 2007 Small (0.5 – 2.0 ha) Geographically Isolated

Landscape Position 1:12,000 1:12,000 Flat valley bottoms Poorly drained stream heads Flooding rare or non-existent Nutrient poor seepage High water table 1:12,000

Biodiversity Northern & Coastal Plain disjunct taxa Globally rare species (42 G1-G3; 2 E; 3FSC ) Global rare communities Threatened ecosystem Menyanthes trifoliata L. Pogonia ophioglossiodes (L.) Ker-GawlRynchospora alba (L.) Vahl

Vegetation mafic fens herbaceous bogs shrub bogs mosaic bogs

Very broad Based on cursorily inspection –Montane Bogs, Fens and Seeps Forested Bogs (4) Mafic & Calcareous Fens & Seeps (4) Sphagnum & Shrub Bogs & Seeps (11) Current US National Vegetation Classification types

Problem Understudied Compositional variation & relationship to environment is largely unknown Document range of compositional variation Determine relationship to physical environment Objective

64 plots from 40 Sites across 11 counties Tennessee Georgia South Carolina Virginia Study Area Study Area

Methods: CVS Protocol Permanent plots Multiple spatial scales Cover of each species Physiognomic structure Soil sample Other abiotic characters m 4

Results: Floristics 408 taxa in 88 families 13 Globally Rare (G1-G3) 29 NC Imperiled (S1, S2) 5 FSC 1 Endangered 8 County Records

Results: Sphagnum Sphagnum diversity is an important component of these communities 8 RARE Sphagnum spp. (53% rare NC)

Cluster Analysis Nonmetric Multidimentional Scaling (NMS) Organize plots according to similarity (or difference) in species composition Results: Community Analysis

RESULTS: Community Types Ordination diagram:  Each point = plot  Colored Cluster = groups of similar composition  Arrows = direction of max. increase Expected : Environmental gradients are important Mean abundance in 10 samples from spring 2002

Conclusions Vary with elevation, geography, and soil chemistry Insular communities with chance differences between sites making floristic classification at least challenging and imprecise Current NVC needs significant revision with at least 3 new types and refinement or elimination of 8 types Lots more work needed

Implications Quantitative documentation and analysis of compositional variation –Revision of current NVC types –Guide conservation decisions Baseline data –Restoration –Management

Acknowledgements Carolina Vegetation Survey NC Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) Caitlin Elam, Wade Wall, Forbes Boyle, Misty Franklin, Chris Liloia, Kirk Ross, Jerry Reece, Patrick McMillan, Dave Danley, Jeff Ott, Amanda Senft, Sarah Marcinko, and Kevin Dixon UNC Department of Biology NCSU Department of Botany