This folder contains the results of climate change vulnerability assessments of three habitats characteristic of the Appalachian LCC region.
This habitat was assessed in both the Cumberland - Southern Appalachian subregion and the Interior Low Plateau subregion. Results are in the first two tabs of the spreadsheet. A description of the habitat, and a list of associated species, is included in the description tab. The remaining tabs describe the individual factors and their definitions. These results are in the review stage. Please send comments to lesley_sneddon@natureserve.org.
This habitat is found primarily in the Interior Highlands of the Ozark, Ouachita, and Interior Low Plateau regions with scattered occurrences in northern Missouri. It occurs along moderate to steep slopes and steep valleys on primarily southerly to westerly facing slopes. Limestone and/or dolomite bedrock typify this system with shallow, moderately to well-drained soils interspersed with rocks. These soils often dry out during the summer and autumn, and then become saturated during the winter and spring. Fire is the primary natural dynamic, and prescribed fires help manage this system by restricting woody growth and maintaining the more open glade structure.
This habitat of upland hardwood-dominated forests occurs in the Interior Low Plateau region of the southeastern United States along ridgetops and slopes of various aspects. The floristic expression of different stands included in this habitat varies considerably with aspect and soil type. Included here are a variety of associations ranging along a moisture gradient from submesic to drier ones. The submesic to dry-mesic expressions tend to be found on midslopes with northerly to easterly aspects, and the drier ones on southerly to westerly aspects and on broad ridges. Parent material can range from calcareous to acidic with very shallow, well- to excessively well-drained soils in the drier expressions and moderately well-drained soils in the submesic to dry-mesic ones. The canopy closure of this system ranges from closed to somewhat open in the drier examples. Historically, these examples may have been more open under conditions of more frequent fire.
This spreadsheet provides the results of habitat assessments from five previous research projects. These include two projects in the Central Appalachian and Cumberland - Southern Appalachian portion of the LCC; habitat assessments completed in the North Carolina portion of the Cumberland - Southern Appalachian subregion; habitat assessments in the northeastern portion of the Central Appalachian subregion; and a draft assessment for a habitat in the Interior Low Plateau.
