was dominated by the grass Ammophtla breviligulata and the composite 
Erigeron canadensts var. pustllus. Both communities inhabited a terrain 
characterized by rolling dunes of loose, fine sands and heavily disturbed by 
manmade and natural perturbations. The low dune grass community covered the 
area south of the present access road to the FRF where topographical relief 
was stronger than on the northern section of the property. The highest dune 
was approximately 16.5 meters (50 feet). 
Ammophila brevtligulata,.. an introduced species to the area, had become 
very important as a dune stabilizer. Transition between these two communi- 
ties was not clearly defined. Nearly pure stands of A. brevtligulata 
existed on the berms and rills of the more active dunes, but even here 
strong similarities to the planted bitter panicum-planted American beach- 
grass community were evident, suggesting that this community would soon 
replace the low dune grass community. 
A small, interdunal marsh community was located within a shallow (+0.6 
meter or +2 feet mean sea level) depression of the low dune community. 
Receiving ground-water drainage from the adjacent dunes, the marsh soil 
remained damp throughout the study. Although narrow leaf cattails (Typha 
angusttfolta) were common, the community was dominated by Spartina patens 
and Cyperus ovularts. The ordination perspective depicted this community as 
not being unique from the planted bitter panicum-planted American beachgrass 
and the low dune grass communities. This may be attributed to the fact that 
these latter communities could probably act as seed sources for the area 
(Van der Valk, 1974). However, the integrity of the interdunal marsh is 
probably related to area rainfall with wet years favoring a marsh community 
and dry years favoring a herbaceous dunal community, as noted by Oosting 
(1954). 
Adjacent to the access road to the FRF and the state highway, which 
separated the sound-side communities from the rest, lay the roadside 
disturbed community (Fig. 2). The soil of the community was a mixture of 
sand and imported gravel-clay. The roadside was utilized as an unpaved 
parking area and was heavily impacted by tire ruts. This disturbance has 
served to introduce several new species to the area (e.g., Plantago 
artstata, Gerantum carolintanum, and Valertanella radtata) common to new 
road construction sites in North Carolina. However, as seen in the ordina- 
tion perspectives (Figs. 4, 5, and 6), this area was not unique from the 
surrounding dunal areas from which the bulk of the flora is apparently 
derived. 
The last community found within the central part of the study area 
(Fig. 2) was the sandgrass community located in a highly disturbed area 
resulting from the construction of a visitor parking facility. MTriplasts 
purpurea was by far the dominant species (Table B-41) rendering the 
community unique (Figs. 4 and 5). This community closely resembled Levy's 
(1976) original description of the sandgrass-buttonweed community and was 
believed to represent a pioneer stage of succession. The presence of 
Panicum virgatum indicated that this community was rapidly succeeding toward 
the planted bitter panicum-planted American beachgrass community. Of the 
several communities located on the sound-side of the study area, only one-- 
the sound-side disturbed-herbaceous community--appeared similar to any of 
the previously mentioned communities. Characterized by sparse, patchy 
vegetation, the sound-side disturbed-herbaceous community (Tables B-33 to 
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