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PocosinsBy Steven Gilio
Distribution
Found on the coastal plains of the southeastern United States from Virginia to Florida.
Most common in North Carolina (70%).
Characteristics
Occupy poorly drained higher ground between streams and floodplains.• Pocosin is an Algonquin
Indian word that means “swamp on a hill”.
Range in size from less than an acre to several thousand acres.
Characteristics
Pocosins will often be found on top of perched water tables
Characteristics
Deep, acidic, sandy, peat soils
Dense evergreen plant communities, which thrive on acidic, nutrient-poor soils.
No standing water present .
Shallow water table leaves the soil saturated for much of the year.
Characteristics
Pocosins are pyrophitic ecosystems.
Natural fires occur becausepocosins periodically become very dry in the spring orsummer.
Fires are ecologically important because theyIncrease the diversity of shrubtypes in pocosins.
Characteristics Tall Pocosins
Taller trees Shallow peat
More soil nutrients
Short Pocosins
Shorter trees Deeper peat
Less soil nutrients
Ecological Functions Essential to the healthy
functioning of estuaries along the Southeastern U.S. coastline.
Good at absorbing and retaining rainfall, which is then released slowly into nearby streams and saltwater marshes.
Valuable for storm water retention and groundwater recharge.
Provides specialized habitat
Flora and Plant Life
Pond PineLoblolly Pine Longleaf Pine
Flora and Plant LifeTiti Tree
Fetterbush
Zenobia
Flora and Plant Life
Sphagnum Moss Venus Fly Trap
Wildlife
Black Bear
Red Wolf
Red-Cockaded Woodpecker
Threats
Agriculture
• More than 3,000 squaremiles were drained between 1962 and 1979.
• About 1,400 square milesof undisturbed pocosins Remain today
Timber harvest
Peat mining
Phosphate mining
The End
Just ignore this slide skinner, I won’t show it during my presentation it is for my own personal use
http://www.nhptv.org/wild/pocosins.asp
http://www.iwla.org/publications/enews/ss/v1_iss5.htm
http://www.eoearth.org/article/Pocosins
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pocosin