Chapter 4 Habitats
4.4.10 Mesic Forests 4.4.10.1 Ecosystem Description
Classification of the Natural Communities of North Carolina, Fourth Approximation (Schafale 2024) describes this natural community as Piedmont and Coastal Plain Mesic Forests Theme. Mesic forests occur on sites that are moist but not wet. Mesic sites are among the most favorable environments for plant growth. They tend to support dense forests dominated by moisture- loving non-wetland trees such as Beech, Tulip Poplar, and Northern Red Oak. They usually have well-developed understory, shrub, and herb layers. They often contain species that are common in the mountain parts of the state or farther north but are rare in the southern Piedmont and Coastal Plain. Some species may be disjunct long distances from cooler areas. At least some of these disjuncts are remnants of wider distributions in the past, such as during the cooler, moister climate of the Ice Age.
This natural community has several subtypes.
• Basic Mesic Forest (Piedmont, Coastal Plain subtypes) • Cape Fear Valley Mixed Bluff Forest • Mesic Mixed Hardwood Forest (Piedmont, Coastal Plain subtypes) • Piedmont/Coastal Plain Heath Bluff
Mesic mixed hardwood forests in the Piedmont are generally on north-facing slopes, sheltered ravines, or high terraces on the edges of floodplains. In the Coastal Plain, mesic forests occur in similar sites and on moist portions of broad upland flats and on small island ridges surrounded by swamps. These sites are naturally sheltered from the fires that are a major natural shaper of vegetation in the Coastal Plain. Basic mesic forests are much rarer than the mesic type and occur on soils that are neutral to slightly basic in pH. They are more diverse than the mesic mixed hardwood forests, and they have species that require high pH. The basic mesic forest subtype often has rare and disjunct plant species and both variants of basic mesic forest (marl outcrop and terrace slope) are rare because of the scarcity of basic substrates on the Coastal Plain ( Schafale and Weakley 1990 , Schafale 2024 ). 4.4.10.2 Location of Habitat The Coastal Plain and Piedmont subtypes cannot be separated by any particular species but differ in their overall flora. In the Piedmont, mesic mixed hardwood forest communities occur on mesic sites that have typically acidic soils. Good examples can be found at Umstead State Park, Duke Forest, Hill Demonstration Forest, Raven Rock State Park, and Eno River State Park in the central Piedmont and examples in parts of Uwharrie National Forest. Basic mesic forest communities are scattered across the Piedmont; good examples are found in Caswell Game Land, Uwharrie National Forest, and Raven Rock State Park.
4 - 286
2025 NC Wildlife Action Plan
Made with FlippingBook Ebook Creator