Geoscience Reference
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from the eastern shore of Maryland and Delaware to just south of the Georgia-South Carolina border. The
river swamp or bottomland forests in this ecoregion are dominated by the majestic bald cypress and swamp tu-
pelo. Eastern white cedar swamps also occur as ecological islands along blackwater rivers that snake across
the flat terrain. The wetlands of this ecoregion are one of the most important on the continent for diversity of
reptile, bird, and tree species, and the remaining pockets of forested habitat are crucial on a seasonal basis for
both breeding songbirds and migratory waterfowl. Farther north, the Northeastern Coastal Forest type, typified
by white and northern red oak—and formerly by American chestnut—extends over the northern half of Long
Island and through Connecticut and Rhode Island to its northern limits in southern Maine. This largely decidu-
ous forest shelters up to 250 breeding birds—the largest number in the temperate broadleaf and mixed forest
biome. They include typical southern forest birds such as Carolina wren, red-bellied woodpecker, blue-gray
gnatcatcher, worm-eating warbler, and orchard oriole, which are expanding their range northward into Mas-
sachusetts and elsewhere in New England.
The Atlantic Coastal Pine Barrens—a very restricted but special forest type—is limited to the sandy,
nutrient-poor soils of the coastal plain of New Jersey, the southern half of Long Island, and Cape Cod. This
ecoregion supports forests of pitch pine and scrub oaks, which historically were maintained by frequent fires.
The largest of the broadleaf and mixed forest ecoregions is the New England/ Acadian Forest, which forms
a mosaic of mixed forest types that cover half of New Brunswick; most of Nova Scotia, except for the Cape
Breton Highlands; all of Maine, except for the southwestern corner; northwestern Massachusetts; the
Champlain Valley of Vermont; and the coastal plain of New Hampshire. Red spruce and red pine are the dom-
inant conifer species, with eastern hemlock and eastern white pine also present, and a mixture of sugar maple,
American beech, and yellow birch characterizes the hardwood component. Forest types vary with elevation.
Low mountain slopes support a mixed forest of red spruce, balsam fir, maple, beech, birch, white spruce, and
red pine; the valleys contain hardwood forest with an admixture of hemlock in moist ravines; and on the
highest mountain peaks, Arctic species can occur as disjunct populations.
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