Natural communities can address both species and function. In this sense, natural communities can act as barometers of ecological health. Communities such as mixed-oak forests and serpentine barrens, salt marshes, and salt pannes support a wide array of life, and they perform important ecological functions. For example, upland forests help recharge aquifers while lowland wetlands provide natural flood control.

When taken as an interconnected whole, the health of our natural communities helps to determine the overall well being of the watershed. When natural communities are threatened, the many species that depend on them for habitat are resigned to a similar fate and the ecological services that would be rendered are lost.

The Guide to the Natural Communities of the Delaware Estuary describes 35 ecological systems and 185 natural community types known to occur in the region. Please explore the links below to download the information you need.

Project Description Fact Sheet

Guide to the Natural Communities of the Delaware Estuary (6.31 MB PDF file)

Summary

Table of Contents

Ecological Systems of the Delaware Estuary

Appalachian (Hemlock)-Northern Hardwood Forest
Appalachian Serpentine Woodland
Atlantic Coastal Plain Blackwater Stream Floodplain Forest
Atlantic Coastal Plain Brownwater Stream Floodplain Forest
Atlantic Coastal Plain Mesic Hardwood Forest
Atlantic Coastal Plain Northern Basin Peat Swamp
Atlantic Coastal Plain Northern Basin Swamp and Wet Hardwood Forest
Atlantic Coastal Plain Northern Bog
Atlantic Coastal Plain Northern Dune and Maritime Grassland
Atlantic Coastal Plain Northern Pitch Pine Lowland
Atlantic Coastal Plain Northern Pondshore
Atlantic Coastal Plain Small Brownwater River Floodplain Forest
Central Appalachian Dry Oak-Pine Forest
Central Appalachian Floodplain
Central Appalachian Pine-Oak Rocky Woodland
Central Appalachian Riparian
Laurentian-Acadian Freshwater Marsh
Laurentian-Acadian Wet Meadow-Shrub Swamp
North-Central Appalachian Acidic Cliff and Talus
North-Central Appalachian Acidic Swamp
North-Central Appalachian Circumneutral Cliff and Talus
North-Central Appalachian Seepage Fen
North-Central Interior Wet Flatwoods
Northeastern Interior Dry-Mesic Oak Forest
Northern Atlantic Coastal Plain Brackish Tidal Marsh
Northern Atlantic Coastal Plain Dry Hardwood Forest
Northern Atlantic Coastal Plain Fresh and Oligohaline Tidal Marsh
Northern Atlantic Coastal Plain Maritime Forest
Northern Atlantic Coastal Plain Pitch Pine Barrens
Northern Atlantic Coastal Plain Sandy Beach
Northern Atlantic Coastal Plain Seagrass Bed
Northern Atlantic Coastal Plain Subtidal Aquatic Bed
Northern Atlantic Coastal Plain Tidal Salt Marsh
Northern Atlantic Coastal Plain Tidal Swamp
Southern and Central Appalachian Cove Forest

Bibliography

Appendices

Appendix A: NatureServe Ecological Classifications Glossary of Terms
Appendix B: Similar National Vegetation Classification Associations Table
Appendix C: NVC and State Classification Crosswalk Table
Appendix D: Heritage Methodology and Plot Sampling Form

Under Separate Cover: Key to the Delaware Estuary Ecological Systems and Natural Communities (77 pgs.)