Print Report
A3320 Pinus rigida - Pinus echinata Woodland Alliance
Type Concept Sentence: This alliance includes pitch pine woodlands of rapidly drained sandy soils primarily of the New Jersey Pine Barrens, with small outliers in New York, Maryland, and the District of Columbia.
Common (Translated Scientific) Name: Pitch Pine - Shortleaf Pine Woodland Alliance
Colloquial Name: New Jersey Pitch Pine - Mixed Barrens
Hierarchy Level: Alliance
Type Concept: This alliance includes pitch pine woodlands of the New Jersey Pine Barrens, with small outliers in New York, Maryland, and the District of Columbia. Associations are dominated by Pinus rigida with or without an admixture of dry-site canopy oaks such as Quercus alba, Quercus coccinea, Quercus falcata, and Quercus stellata. Quercus marilandica and Quercus ilicifolia often form a subcanopy. Ericaceous shrubs usually form a dense field layer, but graminoids are more prominent in examples that have been disturbed. Fire is an important ecological process. In the northeastern United States, associations in this alliance occur on rapidly drained sandy soils and xeric, sandy terraces within the Atlantic Coastal Plain, including paleodunes and other habitats of the New Jersey Pine Barrens.
Diagnostic Characteristics: Woodlands dominated by Pinus rigida, with oaks of southern distribution such as Quercus marilandica, Quercus falcata, or Quercus stellata occurring at low to moderate cover. Soils are sandy, deep, and rapidly drained.
Rationale for Nominal Species or Physiognomic Features: No Data Available
Classification Comments: No Data Available
Similar NVC Types: No Data Available
note: No Data Available
Physiognomy and Structure: The canopy is dominated by conifers that provide variable cover. In more natural settings, the canopy is generally open, but regeneration can often form dense stands of small-diameter trees. The understory is characterized by a scrub oak layer, overtopping a shrub layer of ericaceous species, or of cespitose dwarf-shrubs.
Floristics: This alliance includes evergreen woodlands dominated by Pinus rigida, sometimes with a minor component of oaks such as Quercus alba, Quercus coccinea, Quercus falcata, or Quercus velutina. An understory of tall scrub oaks (Quercus ilicifolia, Quercus marilandica) is often present. Low shrubs include Gaylussacia baccata, Gaylussacia frondosa, and Vaccinium pallidum. The herbaceous layer is of variable cover, depending on fire frequency and intensity, and is characterized by Andropogon virginicus, Carex pensylvanica, Carex pensylvanica, Chimaphila maculata, Deschampsia flexuosa, Gaultheria procumbens, Melampyrum lineare, Minuartia caroliniana, Pteridium aquilinum, Pyxidanthera barbulata, and Schizachyrium scoparium.
Dynamics: Fire plays an important role in maintaining these communities, but on the most extreme sites, these communities are maintained by topo-edaphic conditions.
Environmental Description: This alliance includes evergreen woodlands of dry, sandy soils and on xeric, sandy terraces within the Atlantic Coastal Plain, including paleodunes.
Geographic Range: This alliance is centered in southern New Jersey, with small outliers in New York, Maryland, and the District of Columbia.
Nations: US
States/Provinces: DC, MD, NJ, NY
Plot Analysis Summary:
http://vegbank.org/natureserve/ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.899444
Confidence Level: Moderate
Confidence Level Comments: No Data Available
Grank: GNR
Greasons: No Data Available
| Type | Name | Database Code | Classification Code |
|---|---|---|---|
| Class | 1 Forest & Woodland Class | C01 | 1 |
| Subclass | 1.B Temperate & Boreal Forest & Woodland Subclass | S15 | 1.B |
| Formation | 1.B.2 Cool Temperate Forest & Woodland Formation | F008 | 1.B.2 |
| Division | 1.B.2.Na Eastern North American Forest & Woodland Division | D008 | 1.B.2.Na |
| Macrogroup | 1.B.2.Na.9 Pitch Pine - oak spp. - American Holly North Atlantic Forest Macrogroup | M525 | 1.B.2.Na.9 |
| Group | 1.B.2.Na.9.a Pitch Pine Barrens Group | G161 | 1.B.2.Na.9.a |
| Alliance | A3320 Pitch Pine - Shortleaf Pine Woodland Alliance | A3320 | 1.B.2.Na.9.a |
| Association | CEGL006051 Pitch Pine / (Blackjack Oak, Bear Oak) / Flowering Pixie-moss Woodland | CEGL006051 | 1.B.2.Na.9.a |
| Association | CEGL006384 Pitch Pine / Bear Oak - Sheep Laurel / Flowering Pixie-moss Woodland | CEGL006384 | 1.B.2.Na.9.a |
| Association | CEGL006766 (Pitch Pine, Shortleaf Pine) / Blackjack Oak / Pine Barren Stitchwort Woodland | CEGL006766 | 1.B.2.Na.9.a |
Concept Lineage: A.524 in part; southern portion of proto-alliance A0524.
Predecessors: No Data Available
Obsolete Names: No Data Available
Obsolete Parents: No Data Available
Synonomy: = New Jersey pine barrens (Windisch and Windisch 1997)
= Pine - Shrub Oak Barrens (undifferentiated) (Windisch 2014a)
> Pine - oak vegetation type (Olsson 1979)
>< Pine Upland (undifferentiated) (PU) (Windisch 2014a)
> Pine barren (Forman and Boerner 1981)
= Pine barrens (McCormick 1979)
= Pine barrens (Little 1979b)
= Pine barrens formation (Harshberger 1916)
< Pine barrens pine - oak community (NatureServe 2005a)
> Pine-Dominated Forest, Pitch pine-sedge upland (Windisch 2010)
> Pine-Shrub Oak Native Forest Type (Windisch 2010)
= Pitch pine - scrub oak forest (Robichaud and Buell 1973)
= Pine - Shrub Oak Barrens (undifferentiated) (Windisch 2014a)
> Pine - oak vegetation type (Olsson 1979)
>< Pine Upland (undifferentiated) (PU) (Windisch 2014a)
> Pine barren (Forman and Boerner 1981)
= Pine barrens (McCormick 1979)
= Pine barrens (Little 1979b)
= Pine barrens formation (Harshberger 1916)
< Pine barrens pine - oak community (NatureServe 2005a)
> Pine-Dominated Forest, Pitch pine-sedge upland (Windisch 2010)
> Pine-Shrub Oak Native Forest Type (Windisch 2010)
= Pitch pine - scrub oak forest (Robichaud and Buell 1973)
- Faber-Langendoen, D., J. Drake, M. Hall, G. Kittel, S. Menard, C. Nordman, M. Pyne, M. Reid, M. Russo, K. Schulz, L. Sneddon, K. Snow, and J. Teague. 2013-2019b. Screening alliances for induction into the U.S. National Vegetation Classification: Part 1 - Alliance concept review. NatureServe, Arlington, VA.
- Forman, R. T. T., and R. E. Boerner. 1981. Fire frequency and the pine barrens of New Jersey. Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club 108:34-50.
- Harshberger, J. W. 1916. The vegetation of the New Jersey Pine Barrens. Reprinted 1970. Dover Publications, Inc., New York. 329 pp.
- Little, S. 1979b. The pine barrens of New Jersey. Pages 451-464 in: R. L. Specht, editor. Ecosystems of the World. Series Publication 9A. Heathlands and related shrublands: Descriptive studies. Elsevier Scientific Publishing Co., New York.
- McCormick, J. 1979. The vegetation of the New Jersey Pine Barrens. In: R. T. T. Formann, editor. Pine Barrens: Ecosystem and landscape. Academic Press, New York.
- NatureServe. 2005a. Upper Anacostia Watershed: Plant communities of conservation significance. Unpublished report. NatureServe, Arlington, VA. 12 pp. plus appendices.
- Olsson, H. 1979. Vegetation of the New Jersey Pine Barrens: A phytosociological classification. Pages 245-263 in: R. T. T. Forman, editor. Pine Barrens: Ecosystem and landscape. Academic Press, New York.
- Robichaud, B., and M. F. Buell. 1973. Vegetation of New Jersey. Rutgers University Press, New Brunswick, NJ. 340 pp.
- Windisch, A .G. 2014a. Pinelands ecological communities and higher level groups with crosswalk / proposed 2008 revisions to NVC. November 16, 2014 draft. New Jersey Natural Heritage Program, Trenton.
- Windisch, A. G. 2010. Rare ecological communities of the New Jersey Pinelands. Office of Natural Lands Management, Division of Parks and Forestry, Department of Environmental Protection. Unpublished draft report submitted to the New Jersey Pinelands Commission. 66 pp.
- Windisch, A. G., and M. A. Windisch. 1997. Fire ecology of the New Jersey Pine Barrens. Whitesbog Preservation Trust, Browns Mills, NJ.