Floristic Survey of the Vascular Plants of Shenandoah County, Virginia Brinton Evan Domangue James Madison University
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
James Madison University JMU Scholarly Commons Masters Theses The Graduate School Summer 2012 Floristic survey of the vascular plants of Shenandoah County, Virginia Brinton Evan Domangue James Madison University Follow this and additional works at: https://commons.lib.jmu.edu/master201019 Part of the Biology Commons Recommended Citation Domangue, Brinton Evan, "Floristic survey of the vascular plants of Shenandoah County, Virginia" (2012). Masters Theses. 189. https://commons.lib.jmu.edu/master201019/189 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the The Graduate School at JMU Scholarly Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Masters Theses by an authorized administrator of JMU Scholarly Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Floristic survey of the vascular plants of Shenandoah County, Virginia Brinton Evan Domangue A thesis submitted to the Graduate Faculty of JAMES MADISON UNIVERSITY In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the degree of Master of Science Department of Biology August 2012 Acknowledgements I would like to thank my advisor Dr. Conley K. McMullen for his mentorship and support throughout the study. He has always been a constant source of encouragement, helping me grow as a person and a scholar. I would also like to thank my committee members, Dr. Heather Griscom and Dr. Michael Renfroe, who have provided me with questions and insight into ways I could improve this project. I’m thankful to several individuals who have donated their time and resources to help me explore Shenandoah County in ways I could not have done alone. Joseph Lehnen, area forester for the Virginia Department of Forestry, gave me permission and a walking tour of Devil’s Backbone State Forest, a biologically diverse area that is otherwise without public access. A few landowners have also provided access to private property and in some cases their own private residence. Thanks to Charles Comer, Dave Evans, Otis Frye, Justin Pence, and Lois Sihler. I would like to thank Benjamin Burkholder, Jennifer Courtwright and Michelle Lantz for assistance in the field, and to the undergraduate researchers John Bickel, Kathryn Holmes, and Hunter Kiser for help in the James Madison University Herbarium. These individuals devoted many hours to help me through the process. Thanks also to the people who helped coordinate visits to local herbaria: Doug Graber-Neufeld of Eastern Mennonite University, Edgar Lickey of Bridgewater College, and Kelly Ewing of Lord Fairfax Community College. I’m grateful to Dr. Bruce Wiggins who provided technical support for the use of Geographic Information Systems. I could not have generated the maps in this document without his guidance and expertise. ii For financial support, I greatly appreciate the help of my parents, Rickie and Reinhild Domangue, the Peter T. Nielsen Annual Award for Botanical Studies, and the Cedar Run Church of the Brethren Roy F. Blaine Memorial Scholarship. Finally, I want to thank everyone who has been by my side along the way. Friends, family, and especially my parents have always motivated and encouraged me, and I would not be where I am today without their love and support. iii Table of Contents Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................. ii List of Tables .......................................................................................................................v List of Figures .................................................................................................................... vi Abstract ............................................................................................................................. vii Introduction ..........................................................................................................................1 Purpose .....................................................................................................................1 Virginia’s Botanical History ....................................................................................1 Location ...................................................................................................................3 History and Settlement .............................................................................................4 Environmental Setting .............................................................................................5 Topography ..................................................................................................6 Soil ...............................................................................................................8 Bedrock ......................................................................................................12 Climate .......................................................................................................14 Hydrography ..............................................................................................16 Land Use ....................................................................................................18 Materials and Methods .......................................................................................................20 Results and Discussion ......................................................................................................23 Vegetation Patterns ................................................................................................23 Upland Forests ...........................................................................................23 Valley Woodlands ......................................................................................24 Open Fields and Fencerows .......................................................................25 Disturbed Sites ...........................................................................................25 Aquatic and Bog Sites ................................................................................26 Floodplain and Riparian Zones ..................................................................27 Shale Barrens .............................................................................................27 Summary ................................................................................................................28 Appendix A: Plant Catalog ................................................................................................34 References ........................................................................................................................173 iv List of Tables Table 1. Taxonomic summary of plant families, including resources from new field collections, pre-existing herbarium specimens, and Digital Atlas of the Virginia Flora records. Families are grouped by (a) ferns and fern allies, gymnosperms and monocots, and (b) dicots......................................................................................................................30 v List of Figures Figure 1. Location of Shenandoah County, Virginia. ..........................................................4 Figure 2. Elevation of Shenandoah County, Virginia, with natural ranges from approximately 150 m to 1,000 m above sea level. ...............................................................7 Figure 3. Soils of Shenandoah County, Virginia, generalized by four major soil orders: Alfisols, Inceptisols, Mollisols and Ultisols. Miscellaneous soils are largely barren land areas that do not support plant growth. ..............................................................................11 Figure 4. Bedrock underlying Shenandoah County, Virginia, is composed of 15 major formations and groups. These formations are primarily limestone and dolomite in the central part of the county, shale in the eastern central part, and sandstone and shale in the mountains on the eastern and western edges. ....................................................................13 Figure 5. Summary climatic data for Shenanandoah County, Virginia for the period of 1981 – 2010, showing average temperatures (a) and average precipitation (b) per month. ................................................................................................................................15 Figure 6. Rivers and streams of Shenandoah County, Virginia. The major drainage basin is the North Fork of the Shenandoah River. ......................................................................17 Figure 7. Land use in Shenandoah County, Virginia is comprised of forests (61.6%), agricultural fields and crops (30.4%), developed areas (7.3%) and miscellaneous/open water (<1.0%). ...................................................................................................................19 Figure 8. Collection sites and topography of Shenandoah County, Virginia. A total of 650 collections were made during the study period. .................................................................29 vi Abstract The objective of this study was to create a comprehensive record of the vascular plants of Shenandoah County, Virginia. Specimens were collected from the field during the 2011 growing season (March 21 – October 27), and for part of the 2012 growing season (March 22 – May 30). Local herbaria of James Madison University (JMUH), Bridgewater College (BDWR), Eastern Mennonite University (HAVI) and Lord Fairfax Community College (LFCC) were also searched for pre-existing specimens. The results