Ecology and Vegetation of LeFleur's Bluff State Park, Jackson, Mississippi

Wieland, Ronald

An ecological evaluation of the landscape, soils, hydrology, and vegetation of LeFleur's Bluff State Park, Jackson, Hinds County, Mississippi, was conducted during a 14 month period from September 1995 to November 1996. Of the park's 492 ac (200 ha) area, studies included a 390 ac (158 ha) natural area but excluded the golf course. Plot sampling and analysis with the ordination programs, TWINSPAN and CANOCO, demonstrated that vegetation composition is associated with geological strata, soil texture, chemistry and class, springtime ground water level, and flooding frequency and duration ofthe Pearl River. Applying a Monte Carlo permutation test, average spring ground water depth (p =.005), days of flooding (p=.005), pH (p=.005), and base saturation (p=.05) were shown to be highly correlated to vegetation composition. Preliminary records.indicate over 460 species of plants including 69 exotics inhabit the study area. Vegetation classification and mapping indicated bottomland hardwood forest ofseveral moisture zones forms a major part ofthe vegetation mantle. The most extensive forest types include ridge bottom (109 ac), low terrace (66 ac), wet bottom (27 ac), and swamp (22 ac), comprising 57 % ofthe study area. The remaining area includes several oxbow lakes, freshwater marshes, shrub wetlands, special use areas, a mussel bed, a segment of the Pearl River, and calcareous upland forest (13 ac), a rare community in Mississippi. A number ofspecies ofspecial concern inhabit the park environs: a coneflower, an orchid, three fish, one reptile, and two mussels. The natural area will provide opportunities for field studies implemented through the Mississippi Museum ofNatural Science, which opened at its new location in LeFleur's BluffState Park on 3 March, 2000.

Ecology and Vegetation of LeFleur's Bluff State Park, Jackson, Mississippi

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