poplar ( Liriodendron tulipifera ) , red maple ( Acer rub rum ) , 

 blackgum, ( Nyssa sylvatica ) swamp gum (N. s_. var. biflora ) 

 and sweetgum ( Liquidambar styraciflua ) . Beech ( Fagus 

 grandifolia ) occurs at scattered, slightly better drained 

 locales. Generally occupies flat "upland" areas of poorly 

 drained, silty, clayey, or fine loamy soils (usually wet 

 Alf isols in the sites examined) . 



Once an extensive community in Pamlico County, Mixed 

 Hardwood Flats are now severely reduced by agricultural 

 clearing, logging and pine plantation development; and 

 generally are one of the most threatened communities of 

 the North Carolina Coastal Plain. 



E. Pocosin - one of the most common general habitats in Pamlico 



County, which has three major pocosins exhibiting varying 

 degrees of disturbance: Light Grounds, Bay City and 

 Northwest. A fire-influenced group of communities, always 

 occurring on peats or peaty sands , but with considerable 

 variation in the vegetation in response to varying peat 

 depth, hydrology and availability of nutrients to the 

 system. Four types recognized by Otte (1981) are Pond 

 Pine Forest, Pond Pine Woodland, High Pocosin and Low 

 Pocosin; his criteria for these types are summarized in 

 Table 1. 



F. Pine Flatwoods - a group of communities primarily associated 



with wet sandy soils of the Minnesott Ridge. Longleaf 

 pine dominates the slightly higher "flats," pond pine 

 ( Pinus serotina ) the interf ingered swales , with various 

 shrub and herb combinations in the lower strata . These 

 communities are fire-maintained, and exhibit a great de- 

 gree of variation in the proportion of shrub to herbaceous 

 cover, depending on recent fire history. Long term fire 

 exclusion will result in extensive changes in herb, shrub 

 and canopy layers. 



G. Wetland Serai Pine and Hardwoods - distributed throughout 



Pamlico County are areas of second-growth sweetgum, 

 loblolly pine and red maple , which have grown up in 

 differing mixes on disturbed wetland sites such as old 

 fields, drained pocosins, logged swales, etc. These 

 successional communities vary widely in age and size, 

 often being disturbed repeatedly, and occur on a variety 

 of soils. The original wetland communities likewise 

 varied from site to site. 



III. Terrestrial Communities 



A. Upland Longleaf Pine - occurs on moderately well drained sites 

 along the crest of Minnesott Ridge, and is the only ter- 



