blackwater river bottomland hardwood ecosystem

Blackwater River Bottomland Hardwoods

By: Blake Morris & Mattie Morrow

What is the Blackwater River and the Bottomland Hardwoods?

• Where you find Blackwater rivers you’ll usually find a bottomland hardwood forest.

• Blackwater River defined

• What’s with the dark water?

How the Blackwater ecosystem forms

• Creation of channels• Meandering streams• Same flow measure

throughout• Low gradient= little

change in elevation

Areas Studied

Moores Creek National Battlefield- 34° 27’ 35” N 78° 6’ 43” W Elevation- 2 ftBlack River Hunts Bluff Rd.- 34° 27’ 57” N 78° 10’ 50” W Elevation- 3.5 ft

Blackwater River History

• Left undisturbed after the railroad industry took over shipping in the U.S.

• BLK69- Oldest Trees east of the Rockies• 20 years of protection of 14,540 acres!

History of MOCR

• Why was Moore’s Creek created?• North Carolina Purchase• NPS management 1933

Climate & Weather

• Summer Months are hot and humid• Winter Months have brief colds spells but are

overall mild• Precipitation

Moore’s Creek

• Wet Pine Savanna• Lowland blackwater stream• Moore’s Creek is located MOCR lies about 2

miles upstream of the Black River.• Characteristics• Low elevation

MOCR Water

• Aquifer of Moore’s creek is approximately 1 meter below the surface.

• Pee-Dee Aquifer• Algae blooms

North Carolina Water Quality Standards

Water Quality Data

Moore’s CreekParameter Results

Dissolved Oxygen 4.3 mg/l

Turbidity 7.9 NTU

pH 8.77

Chlorophyll-A 1.7 ug/l

Fecal Coliform 35 CFU/100ml

SPC 73.9

Conductivity 64.4

Nitrates 14.86 mg/l

TDS 48.10 mg/l

Temperature 18.3 C° (65°F)

Black RiverParameter Results

Dissolved Oxygen 5.9 mg/l

Turbidity 20.3 NTU

pH 7.12

Chlorophyll-A 2.0 ug/l

Fecal Coliform 77 CFU/100ml

SPC 100.8

Conductivity 89.0

Nitrates 13.34 mg/l

TDS 65.65 mg/l

Temperature 18.9 °C (66° F)

Dissolved Oxygen

• Decaying vegetation on the swamp floor has an elevated biochemical oxygen demand and usurps oxygen from the water, leading to naturally low dissolved oxygen levels.

• Underground Aquifer • Flowing water

Turbidity

• History of Turbidity in Blackwater streams• Major sources of Turbidity• Downstream• Prevention

Fecal Coliform

• Exceeding standards• Sources of fecal coliform bacteria on the Black

river include: human waste, runoff from animal agriculture, and animal manure

Fecal Coliform & Chlorophyll-A

pH and Chlorophyll-A

• Blackwater rivers have acidic water due to the tannins.

• Chlorophyll-A can cause algea blooms in blackwater ecosystems. While these have not been recorded in our studied areas, there are cases of algea blooms in other areas of the Black River.

Vegetation Overview

• Extremely Biodiverse• Timing, duration, and frequency• Dominated by flood water species such as the

bald cypress and water tupelo• Support diverse plant and wildlife

communities that adapt well to inundating water levels

Landuse at Moores Creek

Canopy layer Vegetation

Sweet Gum (Liquidambar styraciflua ) F

Laurel Oak Quercus laurifolia Overcup Oak Quercus lyrata Post Oak Quercus similis Red Maple Acer rubrum River Birch Betula nigraWater Hickory Carya aquatica Swamp Tupelo Nyssa biflora Loblolly Pine Pinus taeda

Bald Cypress (Taxodium distichum)

• Provide habitat• Enigmatic Knees• Seed Germination• Ideal growth

conditions• Wetland Obligate

Understory Vegetation

• Giant Cane• Common Winterberry Ilex verticillata • American Hornbeam Carpinus caroliniana • American Holly Ilex opaca • Swamp Titi Cyrilla racemiflora • Catchfly Grass Leersia lenticularis • Spanish Moss Tillandsia usneoides • Greater Bladder Sedge Carex intumescens

Soil Overview MOCR

• Few feet above sea level

• Mostly low nitrogen sandy loam soils.

• Alpine fine sand-29.8 acres

• Muckalee loam-26.9 acres

Muckalee loam soil

• Found at Moore’s Creek• Most abundant soil

along the floodplain• Occurs on a 0-2% slope• Poorly drained and

moderately permeable• Dominantly native of

woodland of bay• Strongly acidic to lightly

acidic

Muckalee

• A- 0 to 6 inches, dark gray. Loam, weak. Granular structure.

• C- 6 to 64 inches. Gray-dark gray. Sandy loam.

Alpine soil

• Found around MOCR• Commonly found along alluvial streams• Slope- 0 to 20%• Well drained

Alpine soil

• A-0-43cm, brown-yellowish brown; granular structure

• B-43-152cm, brown; gravelly, loamy, moist.

John’s Soil

• Found along the Black River

• Middle or upper coastal plain, river valleys, stream terraces

• Slop 0-2%• Moderate permeability• Very strongly acid to

moderately acid

John’s Soil Profile

• A-0 to 8 inches. Dark gray. Granular structure. Strongly acidic

• E-8 to 15 inches. Very pale brown. Loamy sand.

• B-15 to 32 inches. Brownish yellow.

• C-32 to 60. Light gray. Sandy loam.

Threats to the ecosystem

• Flooding– Agricultural and Livestock Industry Runoff

• Invasive Species• Development (in other areas)• Fish Consumption (Human Health)

Hypoxia

• Summer month• DO Levels• Periods of hypoxia• Increased land use

Alligator Weed (Alternanthera philoxeroides)

• It’s Invasive!• Overcrowding of native species• Alligator Beetles to save the day!

Hydrograph

Swine• From the 1980’s- mid 1990’s the livestock

industry grew rapidly in North Carolina• Increase in the Black River & Northeast Cape

Fear River swine capacity

Maps of Hog farms

MOCR Pollution

• Not as bad as once expected• Runoff • 10 Swine CAFO’s & 53,000 animals

Threat of Beavers at Moore's Creek

• Tree Damage• Erosion• Flooding

Sourceshttp://heartland.org/sites/all/modules/custom/heartland_migration/files/pdfs/14394.pdfhttp://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/1311431?uid=3739776&uid=2&uid=4&uid=3739256&sid=21104542142751http://digital.ncdcr.gov/cdm/ref/collection/p16062coll9/id/3632http://www1.usgs.gov/vip/mocr/mocrrpt.pdfhttp://www.nature.nps.gov/geology/inventory/publications/reports/mocr_gre_rpt_body_print.pdfhttp://uncw.edu/riverrun/river_tutorial/CFRSystem.htm