Habitats of North Carolina

Lentic Habitats
Coastal Plain Herbaceous Ponds and Sloughs

Habitat Overview

This habitat includes permanent ponds and sloughs in the Coastal Plain that support dense masses of floating and submerged aquatic plants. Many of the sites occupied by this habitat represent natural depression ponds, including Carolina Bays, limesink ponds, and interdune ponds. Also included are beaver ponds, old mill ponds, borrow pits, and other shallow man-made ponds. This particular habitat is limited to the Coastal Plain, with the Determining Species found only or predominately in that region. The General Herbaceous Ponds habitat intersects with this habitat but also extends across the Piedmont and into the Mountains.

All of these habitats are open and very sunny, a critical factor for the high diversity of aquatic plants that are the Determining Species of this habitat. Swamp forests generally do not have enough insolation to support a high biomass of aquatic plants and are therefore not included. The Coastal Plain Sluggish Waters habitat intersects this habitat but also intersects swamp forests and is likewise treated separately.

Animal members of this habitat include herbivores such as the turtles and several moth species that have aquatic larvae that specialize on the plant members of this habitat. Also included are amphibious predators, such as the Dragonflies and Damselflies, that are adapted as nymphs to foraging within the submerged vegetation and as adults to hunting from perches on the emerged portions.

Related NHP Natural Communities

Coastal Plain Semipermanent Impoundment (Open Water Subtype), Small Depression Pond (Open Lily Pond Subtype), Natural Lake Shoreline Marsh (Lake Waccamaw Pond-Lily Subtype), Tidal Freshwater Marsh (Broadleaf Pondlily Subtype), Tidal Freshwater Marsh (Narrowleaf Pondlily Subtype), Freshwater Marsh Pool, Sand and Mud Bar (Narrowleaf Pond-Lily Subtype)

Determining Species

Taxa	Global Rank	State Rank	Probability of Extirpation (PE)
ODONATES
Celithemis amanda - Amanda's Pennant	G5	S5	0.00
Celithemis bertha - Red-veined Pennant	G5	S4	0.0007
Enallagma concisum - Cherry Bluet	G4	S3	0.0058
Enallagma dubium - Burgundy Bluet	G5	S3S4	0.0020
Enallagma minusculum - Little Bluet	G4	SU	0.0020
Enallagma sulcatum - Golden Bluet	G4	SU	0.0020
Phanogomphus australis - Clearlake Clubtail	G4	S2	0.0460
FORBS
Ceratophyllum australe - Southern Hornwort	GNR	S1	0.3584
Ceratophyllum echinatum - Spineless Hornwort	G4	S2	0.0460
Hottonia inflata - American Featherfoil	G4	S1	0.3584
Lemna aequinoctialis - Lesser Duckweed	G5	S3	0.0058
Lemna obscura - Little Duckweed	G5	S3	0.0058
Limnobium spongia - American Frog's-bit	G4	S2S3	0.0164
Myriophyllum heterophyllum - Variable-leaf Water-milfoil	G5	S3	0.0058
Myriophyllum laxum - Loose Water-milfoil	G3	S2	0.0460
Myriophyllum pinnatum - Cutleaf Water-milfoil	G5	S1	0.3584
Myriophyllum tenellum - Slender Water-milfoil	G5	S1	0.3584
Nymphoides aquatica - Big Floating-heart	G5	S3	0.0058
Nymphoides cordata - Little Floating-heart	G5	S2	0.0460
Potamogeton confervoides - Alga-like Pondweed	G5	S2	0.0460
Potamogeton illinoensis - Illinois Pondweed	G5	S1	0.3584
Potamogeton perfoliatus - Clasping-leaf Pondweed	G5	S3	0.0058
Utricularia biflora - Two-flower Bladderwort	GNA	S4	0.0007
Utricularia floridana - Florida Yellow Bladderwort	G3G5	SH	0.00
Utricularia inflata - Swollen Bladderwort	G5	S3	0.0058
Utricularia macrorhiza - Common Bladderwort	G5	S1	0.3584
Utricularia olivacea - Dwarf Bladderwort	G4	S2	0.0460
Utricularia purpurea - Eastern Purple Bladderwort	G5	S3	0.0058
Utricularia radiata - Floating Bladderwort	G4	S3	0.0058
Utricularia striata - Striped Bladderwort	G4G5	S3	0.0058
MOTHS
Parapoynx allionealis - Watermilfoil Leafcutter Moth	GNR	S3S4	0.0020
Parapoynx obscuralis - Obscure Pondweed Moth	GNR	SU	0.0020
Parapoynx seminealis - Floating-Heart Waterlily Moth	GNR	S3S4	0.0020
TURTLES
Pseudemys concinna floridana
Pseudemys rubriventris - Northern Red-bellied Cooter	G5	S4	0.0007
Expected Number of Extirpations with a PE value (Sum of PE) = 2.5142
N = Number of Extant Species with a PE value = 31
Average PE = ENE/N = 0.0811
Number of S5 species = 1
Proportion of Secure Species = Number of S5 Species/N = 0.0323
Habitat Risk Index = ENE x (1 – PSS) = 2.4330

Phagic and Competitory Symbioses: (Myriophyllum species/Parapoynx allionealis)

Candidates for Inclusion

Habitat Sub-sets

Distribution Map

Distribution

Survey Coverage Map

Survey Coverage

Survey Priorities

Average Imperilment of Habitat Members

Habitat Conservation Status

High Quality Habitat Occurrence Table

High Quality Habitat Occurrences

Protected Habitat Occurrences

Threats and Trends

Status Summary

Stewardship Recommendations

References

Updated on

2020-11-27 12:52:54