The Vegetation of Grassy Balds and Other High Elevation Disturbed Areas in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park

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Abstract
Plot sampling was conducted in high elevation disturbed communities in Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Sites included grassy balds, fields, wooded balds, burn scars, mowed roadsides and shelter clearings. The areas presently mowed, trampled or grazed were found to be very similar, their flora little influenced by topographic position. Balds and burn scars had many species in common but the structure of the communities was very different, grasses being of lower importance on the burns. Communities with no current anthropogenic disturbances were undergoing woody plant succession and becoming more similar to the surrounding forest. The flora of the grassy balds appears to be partially an artifact of past human influences