Abe's Run Wetland - Canaan Valley Institute

Plant Communities of
Abe’s Run Wetland,
Canaan Valley State Park
James Rentch
Ronald Fortney
James Anderson
William Grafton

Abe’s Run Wetland
• 33 ha wetland
• 148 ha watershed
• Within Canaan Valley State Park
• All major wetland vegetative-cover types
present
• Known location for several rare plants
• Contact point for Greenbrier limestone

Study Objectives:
• Vegetative sampling along 6 transects
during July-August, 2002
• Hydrologic sampling from 24 groundwater
monitoring wells, April-August, 2002
• Soil sampling along six vegetation
transects
• Overstory tree establishment trends
• Changes in vegetation cover, 1945-2000

Transect Locations:
To Lodge
To WV
Rt. 32

Vegetation Sampling Methods
50 m
5m
20 m
Herbs - Cover classes in 1 X 1 m subplots
Shrubs - Stem counts in 5 X 5 m subplots
Saplings [dbh1 m] - Complete tally by species
Trees [dbh>10 cm] and small trees [2.5cm

Vegetation Data Analysis
• Herbs IV = [Rel. Cov. + Rel. Freq.]/2
• Shrubs/tall seedlings, Saplings = Stems ha -1
• Small tree IV = [Rel. B.A. + Rel. Abund.]/2
• Large tree IV = [Rel. B.A. + Rel. Abund.]/2

Changes in Post-logging Era
Vegetation, 1945-2000
• 1945 (BW, USDA) and 1997 (CIR, NAPP)
aerial photographic coverages used
• Watershed mapped by vegetative cover
class [Cowardin et al. (1979), EPIC (1992)]
• Evaluation of changes in vegetation cover
class totals between 1945-2000, using
Krushall-Wallis test [α=0.05]

Results: Vegetation Summary
• 179 vascular plant species
145 herbs [46 grasses and sedges]
34 woody species [12 trees, 22 shrubs]
23 exotic species
5 species occurred in all 6 transects, 35
species occurred once
38 species at/near southernmost known
station
• 28 bryophytes
24 mosses
4 liverworts

8/1
-10
0
10
20
30
40
Results: Depth to Groundwater
4/11
4/25
5/9
5/23
6/6
6/20
7/4
7/18
T1 T2 T3
T4 T5 T6
Depth to water table (cm)

Results: Soil Horizon Depth
Depth (cm)
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
Tran1 Tran2 Tran3 Tran4 Tran5 Tran6
O A B C

Transect 1

Transect 1
• Vegetation structure: PEM1
• Dominant herbs: Carex atlantica, Leersia
oryzoides, Scirpus tabernaemontani
• Shrub: Rhododendron maximum
– All: 800 stems ha -1
• Small tree: Picea rubens
– All: 306 trees ha -1 , 0.6 m 2 ha -1
• Large tree: Betula allegheniensis, Tsuga
canadensis
– All: 285 trees ha -1 , 8.0 m 2 ha -1

Transect 2

Transect 2
• Vegetation structure: PEM1
• Dominant herbs: Euthamia graminifolia,
Dennstaedtia punctilobula, Dryopteris intermedia,
Osmunda cinnamomea
• Shrub: Rubus allegheniensis
– All: 371 stems ha -1
• Small tree: Picea rubens
– All: 139 trees ha -1 , 0.3 m 2 ha -1
• Large tree: Betula allegheniensis, Tsuga.
canadensis
– All: 42 trees ha -1 , 3.0 m 2 ha - 1

Transect 3

Transect 4

Transect 6

Transects 3, 4, 6
• Vegetation structure: PFO8
• Dominant herbs: Caltha palustris, Senecio
aureus, Glyceria striata [Geum rivale, Carex
bromoides, Euphorbia purpurea, Polemonium
van-bruntiae,Listera smallii, Equisetum
sylvaticum, Saxifrage pensylvanica]
• Shrub: Rhamnus alnifolia, Ilex verticillata,
Alnus incana, Salix discolor, Viburnum
lentago, [Viburnum opulus var. americana]
– Average: 46,311 stems ha -1

Transects 3, 4, 6 -- continued
• Small tree: Abies balsamea, Fraxinus nigra,
Betula allegheniensis, Tsuga canadensis
– Average: 267 trees ha -1 , 1.1 m 2 ha -1
• Large trees: Betula allegheniensis, Fraxinus
nigra, Tsuga canadensis, Abies balsamea
– Average: 436 trees ha -1 , 11.0 m 2 ha -1

Transect 5

Transect 5
• Vegetation structure: PFO8
• Dominant herbs: Impatiens capensis, Carex
bromoides, Carex gynandra, Glyceria striata
[Geum rivale, Euphorbia purpurea, Polemonium
van bruntiae]
• Shrub: Ilex verticillata, Alnus incana
– All: 12,880 stems ha -1
• Small tree: A. balsamea, B. allegheniensis
– All: 187 trees ha -1 , 0.9 m 2 ha -1
• Large tree: F. nigra, A. balsamea, T. canadensis
– All: 477 trees ha -1 , 11.0 m 2 ha -1

Establishment years for wetland
overstory trees
20
balsam fir black ash hemlock red spruce
15
dbh (cm)
10
5
0
1750 1800 1850 1900 1950 2000
establishment year (at dbh)

Changes in Vegetative Cover-Type
1945-2000 [χ 2 = 1.06, p = 0.18]
100
16
75
1945
12
Area (ha)
50
2000
8
25
4
0
UHU UFO1 UFO4 UFO8 USS1
0
PEM1 PFO4 PFO8 PSS1
Uplands
Wetlands

Changes in Vegetative Cover-Type in
Watershed - 1945-2000
• Watershed:
– 30% decline in herbaceous cover
– Increases in upland forested and scrubshrub
areas
• Wetland:
– 50% decline in coniferous swamp forests
– Increases in wet-graminoid and scrub-shrub
• Impacts of beaver
• Impacts of balsam wooly adelgid
• Impacts of white-tailed deer

Summary: Abe’s Run wetland—an
area of exceptional plant diversity
• Characteristics common to Canaan
Valley as a whole
• Non-continuous tree, small tree, and
shrub vegetation structure
• Variable hydrologic regime
• Juxtaposition of acid and alkaline
substrate
• Relative degree of community stability
and absence of destructive slash fires
following logging