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Cayuta Lake Vegetation Communities
Appalachian oak-hickory forest
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A hardwood forest with more than 60% canopy cover of trees that occurs on
well-drained sites, usually on flat hilltops, upper slopes, or south and west facing
slopes. Dominant trees include one or more of red oak, white oak, and black oak.
Mixed with oaks, are one or more of pignut, shagbark, and sweet pignut hickory.
Common associates are white ash, red maple, and hop hornbeam. Small trees include
flowering dogwood, witch hazel, shadbush, and choke cherry. Shrubs and groundlayer
flora are diverse. Shrubs include maple-leaved viburnum, blueberries, red raspberry,
gray dogwood, and beaked hazelnut.
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Conifer plantation
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A planted stand of commercial trees species, usually for timber purposes. Usually a
monoculture, but they may be mixed stands with two or more species. Species
typically planted include white pine, red pine, Scotch pine, Norway spruce, Douglas fir,
European larch, and Japanese larch.
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Deep emergent marsh
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Deep marshes have a water depth ranging from 15 cm to 2 m. The substrate is almost
always wet and there is usually standing water in autumn. Characteristic vegetation
includes emergent aquatics such as yellow pond lily, white waterlily, cattails, bulrushes,
burreed, and arrow arum. Disturbed marshes may have purple loosestrife, reedgrass,
or reed canary grass. Marsh communities occur on mineral soils or fine-grained
organic soils that are permanently saturated. They are often found near the Finger
Lakes or in wetlands near a drainage divide. Because water levels may fluctuate,
exposing substrate and aerating the soil, there is little or no accumulation of peat.
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Hemlock-hardwood swamp
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A swamp on mineral soils overlain with peat that occurs in depressions which may
receive ground water discharge. The swamp may be flooded in spring and dry by late
summer. The forest commonly occurs on very acid (pH<4.5) woody peat at margins of
small rain fed basins. The canopy is usually fairly closed and there is a sparse shrub
and ground layer. Characteristic trees are hemlock, yellow birch, and red maple, black
ash, and, formerly, American elm. Locally, white pine may be one of the dominant
trees. Tall shrubs of acid wetlands such as highbush blueberry, black chokeberry and
Viburnum cassinoides are present. The herb layer may be sparse and species-poor.
Characteristic herbs are Canada mayflower, cinnamon fern, and goldthread.
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Hemlock-northern hardwood forest
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A forest that typically occurs on lower slopes of ravines, on cool, mid-elevation slopes,
and at the edges of drainage divide swamps. Hemlock is a co-dominant species with
one to three others: beech, sugar maple, red maple, black cherry, white pine, yellow
birch, black birch, red oak, and basswood. Shrubs have low abundance, but striped
maple may be present. Herbs characteristic of northern and montane areas are
common.
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Main channel stream
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The aquatic community of a large, quiet, base level sections of streams with clearly
distinguished meanders and no distinct riffles. The middle of the main channel stream
is too deep for aquatic macrophytes, but the shallow shores and backwaters typically
have rooted macrophytes. There, mosses in the genus Fontinalis are characteristic as
is an exotic weed, Eurasian milfoil. Persistent emergent vegetation is lacking.
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Red maple-hardwood swamp
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A swamp that occurs in poorly drained upland depressions usually on acidic muck over
clay. The bedrock is usually shale. Red maple or silver maple may dominate alone or
with yellow birch. Black ash, white pine and hemlock may also be present. The shrub
layer is quite dense and includes spicebush, winterberry, black chokeberry, highbush
blueberry, red-osier dogwood, arrowwood, and nannyberry. The herb layer is often
dominated by cinnamon fern. Herbs include skunk cabbage, jewelweed, and sedges.
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Rich hemlock-hardwood peat swamp
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A swamp that occurs in depressions or concave slopes which typically receive
groundwater discharge through calcareous gravels of glacial deposits. Peat deposits
are present. These swamps usually have a fairly open canopy (50 to 70% cover) with
scattered shrubs. The herb layer may be dense and diverse, especially herbs with
northern distributions. Characteristic canopy trees are hemlock (> 20% cover), red
maple, yellow birch, black ash, white pine, smooth shadbush, balsam fir, and white
cedar. Locally, the type includes "fir-tree" swamps. Characteristic shrubs and vines
are swamp buckthorn, highbush blueberry, red-osier dogwood, swamp gooseberry,
nannyberry, white clematis, and dwarf raspberry. This ecological community type is
associated with rich fens.
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Shallow emergent marsh
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A shallow marsh is better drained than a deep emergent marsh; water depths may
range from 15 cm to 1 m during flood stages, but the water level usually drops by mid-
to late-summer and the substrate is exposed. Characteristic plants include bluejoint
grass, reed canary grass, cutgrass, manna grass, spikerushes, bulrushes, sweetflag,
wild iris, and water smartweed. Marsh communities occur on mineral soils or
fine-grained organic soils that are permanently saturated. They are often found near
the Finger Lakes or in wetlands near a drainage divide. Because water levels may
fluctuate, exposing substrate and aerating the soil, there is little or no accumulation of
peat.
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Shrub swamp
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A shrub dominated wetland that occurs along a lake or river, in a wet depression, or as
a transition between wetland and upland communities. The substrate is usually
mineral soil or muck. Alder, willows, or red-osier and silky dogwoods are common
dominant species. Other characteristic shrub species include gray dogwoods,
meadowsweet, highbush blueberry, winterberry, spicebush, viburnums, and
buttonbush. A few red maple trees may be present. The herb layer is lush and
diverse, and typically includes species found in sedge-grass meadows.
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Successional northern hardwoods
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A forest with more than 60% canopy cover of trees that occurs on sites that have been
cleared or otherwise disturbed. Dominant trees are usually two or more of the
following: red maple, white pine, white ash, gray birch, quaking aspen, big-tooth
aspen, and, less frequently, sugar maple and white ash. Tree seedlings and saplings
may be of more shade tolerant species. Shrubs and ground cover species may be
those of old-fields. In abandoned pasturelands apples and hawthorns may be present
in the understory.
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Successional old field
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A meadow on sites cleared, plowed, and then abandoned. The ragweed type occurs on
fields 1 to 3 years after last cultivation; ragweed, daisy, Queen Anne's lace, crab
grass, golden foxtail, and chickweed are common. The goldenrod subtype occurs 3 -
15 years after last cultivation. Dominant species are perennial composites:
goldenrods and asters. Other herbs include timothy, orchard grass, smooth brome,
bluegrasses, quackgrass, sweet vernal grass, evening primrose, old-field cinquefoil,
wild strawberry, and hawkweeds. Shrubs and trees represent less than 50% cover but
include gray dogwood, arrowwood, raspberries, blackberries, sumac, red maple and white pine.
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