Soil-Vegetation Correlations in the Connecticut River Floodplain of WesternMassachusetts

摘要

As part of a national study analyzing the relation between hydric soils andwetland vegetation, the vegetation associated with a series of known soils was sampled along the Connecticut River floodplain in Massachusetts. Weighted average and index average (presence/absence) values were calculated for vegetation using wetland ecological index values from the National List of Plant Species that Occur in Wetlands developed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and procedures developed by T. R. Wentworth and G. P. Johnson at North Carolina State University. Good correspondence between soils and vegetation was recorded with two exceptions. Two typically nonhydric soils were determined to be hydric based on vegetation analyses. Examination of the groundwater hydrology of the two soils confirmed their hydric nature. The authors suggested that one of these soils may need to be redefined and they also suggested that the assigned index values for a few species of vegetation should be reexamined. However, in general the index average values of vegetation based on published wetland index values corresponded with the hydric and nonhydric nature of soils.