1. Building the NVC: A case study of xeric longleaf pine
Robert K. Peet & Kyle A. Palmquist University of North Carolina

2. The ESA Vegetation Panel
Working with partner organizations to establish standards for the US National Vegetation Classification.
Implementation of ESA–FGDC standards requires:
Descriptions be based on publicly available plot data
Descriptions span the geographic range of a type
Recognized types perfectly tile the universe of variation.

3. Example of the NVC Hierarchy Example Upper Forest & Woodland
Level 1 – Formation Class
Forest & Woodland
Level 2 – Formation Subclass
Temperate Forest
Level 3 - Formation
Warm Temperate Forest
Middle
Level 4 – Division
Southeastern North Amer. Warm Temperate Forest
Level 5 – Macrogroup
Longleaf Pine & Sand Pine Woodland
Level 6 – Group
Xeric longleaf Pine Barrens Group
Lower
Level 7 – Alliance
Longleaf Pine/northern Wiregrass Woodlands
Level 8 – Association
Longleaf Pine / Scrub Oak Sandhill (Northern Type)

4. Looking to CVS for a Demonstration of the NVC

5. The Carolina Vegetation Survey
Multi-institutional collaborative program
Established in 1988 to document the composition and status of natural vegetation of the Carolinas.
We provide data services & analysis to: US-NVC (FGDC), NCDENR (EEP,NHP), USDA-NRCS.

6. Why fire-maintained longleaf pine?
Large spatial extent
Physiognomically simple (longleaf and wiregrass?)
>120 recognized associations (+ many closely related)
Southeastern Coastal Plain contains 1600 endemics and 6800 total higher-plant taxa.
~ 1100 plots containing >1600 taxa scattered over 2/3 of the range representing most of the best examples remaining in NC, SC, GA, FL.
Conservation significance (vanishing set of types with many rare taxa)

7. Longleaf pine ecoregions

8. Ecoregions of the Southeastern US
66: Blue Ridge Mountains
45: Piedmont
65: Southeastern Plains
63: Mid-Atlantic Coastal Plain
75: Southern Coastal Plain

9. General gradient model longleaf pine ecological groups

11. G154: Xeric and Subxeric Longleaf Pine Woodland
31 Associations
G190: Wet-Mesic Longleaf Pine Woodland
25 Associations

12. G596: Mesic Longleaf Pine Flatwoods – Spodosol Woodland
20 Associations
G009: Dry-Mesic Loamy Longleaf Pine Woodland
36 Associations

14. Initial clustering 3 groups equivalent to alliances

15. Alliances of G154: Xeric and Subxeric Longleaf Pine Woodland
Pinus palustris / Quercus incana Woodland Alliance
Pinus palustris / Quercus laevis / Aristida stricta Alliance (proposed)
Pinus palustris / Quercus laevis / Aristida beyrichiana Alliance (proposed)
Pinus palustris / Quercus laevis, Q. geminata Alliance (proposed)
Pinus palustris / Quercus laevis / Aristida condensata (proposed)

16. Supporting information
Constancy table with indicators noted

17. Ordination showing accepted clusters
Northern Carolina
Ordination showing accepted clusters

18. 3577 = 3584 xxx1 < xxx2 > >< xxx3 xxx4 xxx5
Type
Plots
Proposed longleaf pine type name
Relationship
Established NVC association
3577 5
Pinus palustris / Quercus geminata – Q. hemisphaerica / Osmanthus americanus Woodland =
Pinus palustris‑ Pinus taeda / Quercus geminata‑ Quercus hemisphaerica - Osmanthus americanus var. americanus / Aristida stricta Woodland
3584 7
Pinus palustris / Quercus laevis / Stipulicida setacea – Selaginella acanthonota Woodland
Pinus palustris / Quercus laevis / Aristida stricta / Cladonia spp. Woodland
xxx1 32
Pinus palustris / Quercus laevis / Aristida stricta – Baptisia cinerea Woodland
< 
3586
Pinus palustris / Quercus laevis / Gaylussacia dumosa / Aristida stricta Woodland
xxx2 14
Pinus palustris / Quercus laevis – Quercus geminata /Aristida stricta Woodland
> 
3589
Pinus palustris / Quercus laevis – Quercus geminata / Vaccinium tenellum / Aristida stricta Woodland
"
>< 
xxx3 12
Pinus palustris / Quercus laevis – Quercus geminata / Rhynchospora megalocarpa Woodland
3590
Pinus palustris / Quercus laevis / Aristida purpurascens / Stipulicida setacea (Rhynchospora megalocarpa, Selaginella acanthonota) Woodland
xxx4 18
Pinus palustris / Quercus laevis – Quercus incana / Gaylussacia dumosa / Aristida stricta Woodland
3591
Pinus palustris / Quercus laevis – Quercus (incana, margarettiae) / Gaylussacia dumosa / Aristida stricta Woodland
xxx5
Pinus palustris – P. taeda/ Quercus laevis / Gaylussacia frondosa Woodland
3592
Pinus palustris / Quercus laevis – Quercus incana / Gaylussacia dumosa – Gaylussacia (baccata, frondosa) Woodland
Pinus palustris / Quercus laevis – Quercus (incana,margarettiae) / Gaylussacia dumosa / Aristida stricta Woodland

19. Southern Carolina & Georgia
Ordination showing accepted clusters

20. Type 7844 13 >< ≠ 3583 3590 xxx6 12 > 3593 xxx9 4 < 7842
Proposed longleaf pine vegetation types
Relationship
Established NVC association
7844 13
Pinus palustris / Quercus laevis – Quercus incana / Aristida beyrichiana - Stipulicida setaceaWoodland
>< 
Pinus palustris / Quercus laevis - Quercus incana / Aristida beyrichiana - Baptisia perfoliataWoodland “ ≠
3583
Pinus palustris / Quercus laevis / Aristida beyrichiana - Pityopsis aspera Woodland
3590
Pinus palustris / Quercus laevis / Aristida purpurascens / Stipulicida setacea (Rhynchospora megalocarpa, Selaginella acanthonota) Woodland
xxx6 12
Pinus palustris / Quercus laevis / Toxicodendron pubescens / Schizachyrium scoparium – Physalis virginiana Woodland
> 
3593
Pinus palustris / Quercus laevis - (Quercus incana) / Vaccinium tenellum / Schizachyrium scoparium - Eriogonum tomentosum Woodland
xxx9 4
Pinus palustris / Quercus marilandica / Aristida beyrichiana – Tephrosia virginiana Woodland
< 
7842
Pinus palustris - Quercus incana - Quercus marilandica / Aristida beyrichiana - Nolina georgiana Woodland
xx10 10
Pinus palustris Gaylussacia dumosa / Schizachyrium scoparium – Pteridium aquilinumWoodland
8491
Pinus palustris - Pinus (echinata, taeda) / (Quercus marilandica, laevis) / Schizachyrium scoparium Woodland
xxx7 3
Pinus palustris / Quercus laevis / Chrysoma pauciflosculosa / Aristida purpurascens Woodland.
3946
Chrysoma pauciflosculosa - (Clinopodium coccineum) Dwarf-shrubland
xx12 7
Pinus palustris / Quercus laevis – Quercus margarettae / Licania michauxii / Aristida beyrichiana Woodland
4492
Pinus palustris / Quercus laevis – Quercus incana / Quercus margarettiae / Licania michauxii / Aristida beyrichiana Woodland
4487
Pinus palustris / Quercus stellata / Quercus elliottii / Sporobolus junceus Woodland =
Pinus palustris / Quercus incana - Quercus stellata / Aristida beyrichiana - Sporobolus junceus - Nolina georgiana Woodland
xx13 14
Pinus palustris / Quercus margarettae / Mimosa microphylla – Ionactis linariifolia Woodland
4488
Pinus palustris / Quercus laevis / Gaylussacia dumosa / Aristida beyrichiana - Helianthus atrorubens Woodland
4263
Pinus palustris / Quercus (hemisphaerica, laevis) / Morella cerifera / Aristida beyrichiana Woodland

21. Ordination showing accepted clusters
Florida
Ordination showing accepted clusters

22. xx21 >< >< xx22 < ≠ xx23 xx24 xx25 xx26 xx27
Type
Plots
Proposed longleaf pine vegetation type name
Relationship
Established NVC association
xx21 13
Pinus palustris / Quercus laevis / Aristida beyrichiana – Tephrosia chrysophylla Woodland
><
8569
Pinus palustris / Quercus (laevis, myrtifolia) / Aristida beyrichiana - Chapmannia floridana Woodland
"
>< 
4491
Pinus palustris / Quercus laevis - Quercus geminata / Ceratiola ericoides Woodland
xx22 19
Pinus palustris / Quercus laevis / Licania michauxii / Eriogonum tomentosum Woodland
< 
3583
Pinus palustris / Quercus laevis / Aristida beyrichiana - Pityopsis aspera Woodland ≠
3587
Pinus palustris / Quercus laevis / Schizachyrium scoparium - Rhynchosia cytisoides Woodland
xx23 4
Pinus palustris / Quercus geminata / Aristida beyrichiana – Conradina canescens Woodland NA
xx24 25
Pinus palustris / Quercus laevis / Aristida beyrichiana – Sorghastrum secundum Woodland
xx25 28
Pinus palustris / Quercus margarettiae / Aristida beyrichiana – Rhynchosia reniformis Woodland
4490
Pinus palustris / Quercus laevis / Serenoa repens - Vaccinium stamineum / Aristida beyrichiana Woodland
xx26 5
Pinus palustris / Quercus geminata / Aristida condensata – Cyperus plukenetii Woodland
xx27 20
Pinus palustris /Quercus minima / Aristida beyrichiana – Carphephorus odoratissimus Woodland
3601
Pinus palustris / Quercus laevis / Serenoa repens - Clinopodium coccineum Woodland

23. Documentation -- VegBank
All 996 Longleaf plots analyzed for inclusion
Plots representing the 7 associations of the proposed Pinus palustris / Quercus laevis / Aristida stricta Alliance
Pinus palustris / Quercus geminata – Q. hemisphaerica / Osmanthus americanus Woodland
Pinus palustris / Quercus laevis / Stipulicida setacea – Selaginella acanthonota Woodland

25. Concluding observations
Need for more quantitative type definitions (greater precision and accuracy) for both applications and tools
Your data are needed!!
Key gradients vary geographically
Entitation will be a blend of the objective and subjective
Quality varies with region and type
Coming soon – open process
Contributors and reviewers needed

26. We are pleased to acknowledge the support and cooperation of
Gap Analysis Program