A vascular plant inventory of savanna communities in the Lower Buffalo Wilderness, Buffalo National River

Logan, J

A survey of vascular plants was conducted in savanna habitats at Buffalo National River in 2002. Twenty-four areas were selected for initial field examination and assessed during 2001. A grid of four-hectare plots was randomly overlain on a digital map of potential savanna sites within the Lower Buffalo Wilderness and twenty were randomly selected and inventoried for the presence of vascular plants via random walk three times during the 2002 field season. Nine areas were documented as savanna and include the large and previously identified Turkey Mountain Savanna, an even larger area on the south slope of Granite Mountain and Prince Fred Knob, and several smaller areas of around 5 ha (12.5 acres). Two glades were discovered which had not been located in a previous glade survey. Two hundred fifty-seven species of vascular plants were documented from sixty-eight families. Due to past histories of overgrazing and fire suppression, the potential savanna sites located in the Lower Buffalo Wilderness are not typical savanna. Grazing has often reduced the dominance of the grasses and changed the herbaceous species assemblages. Fire suppression has resulted in a growth of younger, smaller trees between the larger, older, open grown savanna trees. It is estimated that all savanna areas within the Lower Buffalo Wilderness have been located and that species lists are well developed.

A vascular plant inventory of savanna communities in the Lower Buffalo Wilderness, Buffalo National River

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