In This Community

Important natural processes in the Silver Maple Floodplain Forest include these:

• flooding
• erosion and sedimentation

In the Broader Landscape

These natural processes are also important in some other natural communities. For example, in Harpers Ferry National Historical Park (NHP), 13 communities (see chart below) occur in floodplains or on rocky bars on the shores or in the channels of rivers—areas that are occasionally to frequently inundated with water.

These communities can be grouped into a larger unit that ecologists refer to as the River Floodplains Ecological System in Harpers Ferry NHP.  An ecological system is a group of several communities that share some features of physical setting and many of the same natural processes. By extension, they may also share many of the same plant and animal species.

For example, these communities all include plants that can tolerate wet feet and flooding of varying amounts. But while some contain flood-tolerant trees (such as American sycamore, silver maple, green ash, or river birch), others contain only hardy low plants such as big bluestem or switchgrass, or else perhaps lizard’s-tail.

You can also expect to see water-loving birds along with raccoons and many feeding mammals in and around these communities.

Ecobit: Natural Processes Are Bigger Than Natural Communities