You are here

Harvard Forest >

Harvard Forest REU Symposium Abstract 2015

  • Title: Morticulture: Exploring Wood After Death
  • Author: Olutoyin Demuren (Harvard University)
  • Abstract:

    Morticulture: Exploring Wood After Death

    Coarse woody debris (CWD) serves an important purpose in forest ecosystems by altering resource access by organisms and acting as a carbon pool. The Harvard Forest simulated pulldown experiment’s massive pulse of such wood provides a valuable opportunity to assess CWD sampling methods. Two methods are compared in this study. The line transect method allows rapid measurement of a large area, and involves measuring the diameters of CWD pieces that intersect random sample transects placed in the pulldown and control plots. In the complete census method, diameter and length measurements of individual downed trees are collected from each entire sample plot. Data collected in 2010 and 2015 were used.

    CWD sampling methods gave differing volume results, particularly in the pulldown. The line-transect method gave a higher volume than the tree census method in 2010, but a lower volume in 2015. In contrast, the line-transect method provided a consistently lower volume estimate in the control plot. Volume decreased in the pulldown from 2010-2015, regardless of measurement method. The size distributions of the CWD pieces were compared using Kolmogrov-Smirnov tests. The size distribution of the pulldown data varied significantly between the two methods, whereas the diameter distributions in the control did not. Fewer transects are sampled in the pulldown than in the control, and there is greater variation in volume distribution in the pulldown, which may explain these results. In conclusion, both methods can be used to attain a full picture of dead wood in the forest.

  • Research Category: Group Projects; Large Experiments and Permanent Plot Studies