4.3 Wetland Natural Communities
4.3 Wetland Natural Communities Wetlands perform many ecosystem services, including food protection and pollution control, and they provide essential breeding, rearing, and foraging sites for numerous fsh and wildlife species. Wetlands are defned by hydrology (wetness), plant community com- position, and soil characteristics (FGDC 2013; Cowardin et al. 1979) . From a landscape perspective, they function as transitional lands between terrestrial and aquatic systems where the water table is at or near the land surface or where the land is covered by shallow water (FGDC 2013; Cowardin et al. 1979) . Wetlands are regulated under the Clean Water Act, Sections 404 and 401, and the USACE has regulatory authority over impacts to sites that have been delineated as jurisdictional resources (USACE 1987) . Wetlands that fall under regulatory authority have one or more of three attributes: they support predominantly hydrophytic vegetation at least periodically; the substrate is predominantly undrained hydric soil; or the substrate is nonsoil and is saturated with water or covered by shallow water at some time during the growing season each year (FGDC 2013) . Hydrophytic vegetation are plants that grow in water or on a substrate (e.g., soil) that is at least periodically defcient in oxygen as a result of excessive water con- tent (Cowardin et al . 1979) . Hydric soils are wet long enough to periodically produce anaerobic conditions, thereby infuencing the growth and type of plants that occur (Cowardin et al . 1979) . Tere are several methods for characterizing wetlands that are based on dominant vege- tation communities, dominant soil characteristics, or dominant hydrologic factors. One method defnes them based on the relationship between hydrology, geomorphology, and function (Brinson 1993) . Te approach places emphasis on the importance of abiotic features such as the chemical characteristics of water, habitat maintenance, and water storage and transport. In this document wetland communities are defned based on descriptions by Schafale and Weakley (1990) and Schafale (2012) , which use dominant vegetation characteris- tics and hydrology as a basis for their descriptions. Wetland community descriptions are provided in alphabetical order in Sections 4.3.1 through 4.3.11. Floodplain communities have been included in this Section as a wetland community type; however, depending on the location of some foodplains the landscape may also be interspersed with upland communities.
4.3.1 Bogs and Fens 4.3.1.1 Ecosystem Description
Mountain and Piedmont bogs are among the rarest natural communities in the Southern Appalachians and in North Carolina. Unlike northern bogs of glacial origin, Southern Appalachian bogs form in poorly drained depressions or on gentle slopes, generally in
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2015 NC Wildlife Action Plan
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