Pine - Oak / Heath Woodlands
This group contains species-poor, fire-influenced, mixed woodlands of xeric, exposed montane habitats. Communities in this group occur in the Appalachians from New York south to northern Georgia. Sites are typically located on convex, south to west facets of steep spur ridges, narrow rocky crests, and cliff tops. Pine - Oak / Heath woodlands are widespread throughout both the Ridge and Valley and Blue Ridge provinces in western Virginia. They occur at elevations from below 300 m (1,000 ft) to more than 1,200 m (4,000 ft) on various substrates, but most commonly on acidic, sedimentary and metasedimentary substrates, e.g., sandstone, quartzite, and shale. A few stands occur on Piedmont monadnocks and foothills. Soils are very infertile, shallow, and droughty. Thick, poorly decomposed duff layers, along with dead wood and inflammable shrubs, contribute to a strongly fire-prone habitat. Short-statured table-mountain pine (Pinus pungens) and/or pitch pine (Pinus rigida) are usually the dominants forming an open overstory, often with co-dominant chestnut oak (Quercus montana). Less important tree associates include scarlet oak (Quercus coccinea), Virginia pine (Pinus virginiana), blackjack oak (Quercus marilandica var. marilandica) and sassafras (Sassafras albidum). Except in the Piedmont stands, bear oak (Quercus ilicifolia) is often abundant in the shrub layer, along with various ericaceous species such as mountain-laurel (Kalmia latifolia) and black huckleberry (Gaylussacia baccata). Colonial shrubs usually pre-empt available microhabitats for most herbaceous species, but eastern bracken fern (Pteridium aquilinum ssp. latiusculum) and turkeybeard (Xerophyllum asphodeloides) are often competitive enough to achieve significant cover.
Periodic fire is an important ecological process that provides opportunities for regeneration of both pines and less competitive herbaceous species, while setting back successional encroachment of potential overstory oaks (especially chestnut oak). On cliffs and other very rocky sites, the vegetation is self-perpetuating due to extreme edaphic conditions. Fire reduction and the native insect pest, southern pine beetle (Dendroctonus frontalis) are the most serious threats to communities of this group, although historically, pine beetle-induced mortality followed by stand-replacing fire was a principal mechanism for pine regeneration. The globally rare variable sedge (Carex polymorpha), the state-rare northern pine snake (Pituophis melanoleucus melanoleucus) and several rare moths, all bear oak feeders, are locally associated with these woodlands. More common and conspicuous animals often found in these dry, rocky, semi-open habitats include the northern fence lizard (Sceloporus undulatus hyacinthinus) and the five-lined skink (Eumeces fasciatus).
A subset of northern and central Appalachian Pine-Oak / Heath communities that occurs on exposed, high-elevation summits of sedimentary ridges are sometimes referred to as montane or Appalachian "pine barrens." Although these communities are fire-influenced, the vegetation retains a dwarfed, shrubland (< 6 m [20 ft] tall) physiognomy even during long absences of fire due to extremely shallow, xeric soils and constant exposure to severe winds and ice. Only one occurrence of such a "pine barren" is documented in Virginia, covering about 60 ha (150 ac) on Warm Springs Mountain (Bath County), at elevations between 1,100 and 1,200 m (3,600 and 4,000 ft). Larger examples occur in nearby West Virginia at elevations from 1,200 to 1,375 m (4,000 to 4,500 ft) on the summit of North Fork Mountain (Pendleton County). The singular Virginia occurrence is characterized by dense, nearly impenetrable thickets of Catawba rhododendron (Rhododendron catawbiense), bear oak (Quercus ilicifolia), mountain laurel (Kalmia latifolia), black huckleberry (Gaylussacia baccata), and late lowbush blueberry (Vaccinium angustifolium), with scattered emergent (but still shrub-sized) pitch pines (Pinus rigida). The average height of the barrens vegetation varies from knee-high in years following intense burns to about 5 m (16 ft). Compositionally and environmentally, the Central Appalachian "pine barrens" can be considered part of the Pine - Oak / Heath Woodlands ecological group.
References: Fleming (2002a), Fleming (2002b), Fleming and Coulling (2001), Fleming and Moorhead (2000), Groeschl et al. (1992), Leahey et al. (2006), Martin et al. (1982), Olson and Hupp (1986), Rawinski et al. (1994), Rawinski et al. (1996).Click here for more photos of this ecological community group.
© DCR-DNH, Gary P. Fleming.This group is represented by 73 plot samples mostly from northwest and west-central Virginia (Fig. 1). Central Appalachian stands of this group have been extensively sampled and robustly classified through several regional analyses of plot data. Examples of this vegetation in southwestern Virginia, which represent a type with Southern Appalachian floristic affinities, have not yet been adequately sampled. Click on any highlighted CEGL code below to view the global USNVC description provided by NatureServe Explorer.
Download a spreadsheet of compositional summary statistics for each of the community types listed below.