The vegetation of Ledges State Park, Boone County, Iowa

Abstract

Lowland alluvial flats Oak-Birch-Planetree Wet-mesic Lowland mixed floodplain Maple-Hackberry-Elm-Ash Mesic Upland mesic climax Maple-Linden Mesic-dry Upland mesic-dry climax Oak-Linden Upland mesic-dry successional Aspen Upland mesic-dry northern forest Pine-Fir-Birch Dry Upland dry climax Oak-Hickory Upland dry savanna Oak-Savanna Upland dry successional Cedar Glade/Mixed Shrub Ranunculus which distingUish the floodplain community. The north-facing slope was dominated by Acer nigrum, Tilia americana, and Carya cordiformis, with Hepatica acutiloba and Mitella diphylla common in the herbaceous layer. Cahayla-Wynne (1976) and Cahayla-Wynne and Glenn-Lewin (1978) defined five dominance types in forests of northeast Iowa listed here in order of decreasing mesophytism. Acer type was dominated by ~. saccharum with Tilia americana and Quercus alba secondary in importance. This type was usually found on the most mesic and oldest sites. Tilia type was dominated by T. americana with lesser amounts of Carya cordiformis, Acer saccharum, and Quercus rubra, and was found on undisturbed mesic sites. Quercus rubra type was found in mesic sites with Acer saccharum of secondary importance. Quercus alba type was Cenozoic Quaternary Holocene (Recent Pleistocene (Glacial)

A natural area inventory of Ames, Iowa

“…Johnson- Groh (1983Groh ( , 1985 described central Iowa woodland communities in much more quantitative terms based on analysis of permanent plot data collected at Ledges State Park (Boone County). She established 54 rectangular permanent plots (0.1 hectare, 20 m X 50 m) throughout the park at sites chosen to represent all aspects, slope levels, slope inclinations and various degrees of disturbance.…”

“…The work of Johnson-Groh (1983, 1985 suggests that these types are segregated by slope aspect (xeric communities on south-and west-slopes; mesic communities on north and east-facing slopes) in central Iowa. However, scoring of the fidelity component on sloping terrain could not be so fine-tuned for several reasons.…”