The community along 4th Avenue West is the best-quality 

 pond pine stand in the Alligator River natural area in terms 

 of a mature stand of well-developed large trees. 



The pond pine stands near Swan Creek Lake (about 4300 

 acres) appear to be very similar to the 4th Avenue West 

 stand in composition, but without equivalent size and 

 height in the canopy. These stands are excellent examples 

 of Otte's (1981) pond pine forest pocosin type, although 

 considerably more open than is called for by his classifi- 

 cation, perhaps due to fire and/or logging history. The 

 canopy is open ranging to scattered; trees are 40-50 feet 

 tall and 8-12 inches dbh. The tall shrub layer is again 

 distinctly below the canopy, and is comprised of red bay 

 and red maple. Cane is locally dense; the low shrubs 

 occurring at the 4th Avenue West site are present here 

 also. These stands are not burned regularly. 



The pond pine stands are associated with soils of the 

 Roper series (mineral with a histic epipedon) and Ponzer, 

 Belhaven and Kilkenny series (shallow Histosols) . These 

 represent the shallowest organic deposits in the Alligator 

 River natural area. 



ECOLOGY OF CYPRESS-GUM AND CEDAR STANDS 



The swamp forests along the Alligator River are non- 

 alluvial in the sense that the Alligator is an estuary or 

 embayed stream, not heavily loaded with sediment from the 

 upstream parts of the Alligator River system, or frequently 

 experiencing high overbank flows. These swamp forest com- 

 munities correlate closely with deep Histosols of the Pungo 

 series (see Barnes, 1981), although certain of the dominant 

 tree species are common associates on mineral alluvium and 

 floodplain peats along brownwater coastal plain rivers. 

 Furthermore, the Pungo series and similar deep peats are 

 dominated by pocosin vegetation in other parts of Hyde 

 County and elsewhere. Although the Hyde County swamp forests 

 are physiognomically and hydrologically distinct from those 

 of the river f loodplains , they appear to be much more closely 

 related to the distant river swamps than to the nearby poco- 

 sins. The question arises as to what ecological influences 

 are controlling the development of the swamp forests of the 

 Alligator River, and conversely, what factors prevent poco- 

 sin development. 



Otte (1981) , in addressing the problem of transitional 

 development from swamp forest to pocosin vegetation, states 

 that neither peat thickness nor fire can be considered suf- 

 ficient to control pocosin development. He points out that 

 many thick peats, including those in the Alligator River 

 natural area, are vegetated by swamp forest. He also notes 



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