Long Term Vegetation Plots
The establishment of permanent plots at Wormsloe to be used for a vegetation survey would not only document current conditions, but also permit repeated surveys to be conducted in the exact location over seasonal, annual and decadal periods. Long-term measurements of trends and trajectories in vegetation species and abundance are invaluable contributions to ecological, anthropological and archaeological studies being conducted at Wormsloe. Long-term vegetation data can be applied to environmental impacts of human activities (e.g., agriculture and logging) and storm events, wildlife habitat assessments, monitoring ecological effects of global climate change, rare species inventories, status of invasive plants and recreation of environmental histories, just to name a few.
A total of 33 long-term, vegetation plots were located within the Wormsloe property. Because the site is relatively small and uniform in terms of physical gradients, plots were stratified according to homogeneous patches o
f major vegetation communities visible on aerial photographs, experience gained from previous field visits and examination of historic land use maps. Seven plots were established in each of five land use legacy sites (i.e., 7 plowed, 7 pasture, 7 thinned forest, 7 long-term forest and 7 human habitation sites) that reflect major plant communities and are generally distributed throughout the Wormsloe property. A sampling design for data collection is being used to adequately represent herbaceous, shrub, and tree layers. Physical characteristics are being collected to generally describe each plot.
Lidar (Light Intensity and Ranging) remote sensing technology is being used to examine canopy structure within the vegetation plots. A primary question of interest is how do past land use legacies influence modern day forest structure. Click the dots on the above map to view photos taken at four cardinal directions and of the canopy as well as lidar point cloud canopy profiles. Note the differing point densities within each plot stratum and compare them to the photographs.