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52 <br /> Meadowmont Farms Biological Inventory Report Orange County, N.C. <br /> Maintained/Disturbed <br /> The Maintained/Disturbed community type is comprised entirely of anthropogenically <br /> altered habitats (e.g., actively maintained agricultural fields, lawns, roadside and utility <br /> rights-of-way, logging roads). Within the PSA, this community type is comprised of an <br /> actively maintained agricultural field, roadside utility rights-of-way, and lawns. These <br /> areas have been altered from their natural state and exhibit some form of repetitive <br /> disturbance. As a result, this community type possesses an early-successional structural <br /> composition that is dominated by low-growing herbs, grasses, and shrubs. Due to higher <br /> levels of mechanical disturbance and sunlight availability, non-native invasive species are <br /> more prevalent within this community type. <br /> Vascular plant species occurring within this community type include, but are not limited <br /> to, the following: <br /> • Native Flora <br /> o Andropogon virginicus var. virginicus (broomsedge bluestem) <br /> o Rubus pensilvanicus (eastern blackberry) <br /> o Smilax rotundifolia (common greenbriar) <br /> o Salix nigra (black willow) <br /> o Liquidambar styraciflua (sweetgum) <br /> o Acer rubrum var. rubrum (eastern red maple) <br /> • Non-native Agricultural or Exotic Flora <br /> o Zea mays (corn) <br /> o Lonicera japonica (Japanese honeysuckle) <br /> o Rosa multiflora (multiflora rose) <br /> o Ligustrum sinense (Chinese privet) <br /> o Pyrus calleryana (Bradford pear) <br /> The high amounts of "edge" habitat, mechanical disturbance, and sunlight availability <br /> within this community type tend to promote increased abundance and recruitment of non- <br /> native exotic flora. It also yields higher floral and faunal species richness, as well as more <br /> diverse vertical and horizontal structural heterogeneity. As a result, this community type <br /> receives higher than average animal use, compared to the two closed-canopy hardwood <br /> community types within the PSA. Animal species that show increased use of this <br /> community type include,but are not limited to, the following: <br /> • Odocoileus virginianus (white-tailed deer) <br /> • Emberizidae (seed-eating species of songbirds [e.g., sparrows]) <br /> • Charadrius vociferus (killdeer) <br /> • Urocyon cinereoargenteus (gray fox) <br /> • Didelphis virginiana (Virginia opossum) <br /> • Procyon lotor(racoon) <br /> • Canis latrans (coyote) <br /> • Sylvilagus floridanus (eastern cottontail) <br /> • Meleagris gallopavo (wild turkey) <br /> 2 January 2023 <br />