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Harvard Forest Symposium Abstract 2019
- Title: HF ForestGEO plot second census underway
- Primary Author: David Orwig (Harvard Forest)
- Abstract:
Harvard Forest researchers began the re-census of woody stems within the 35 ha ForestGEO (Forest Global Earth Observatory) plot located on Prospect Hill in May 2018. Using standardized CTFS-ForestGEO methodology, Dave Orwig and four 2-person crews measured, tagged, painted, and mapped every stem greater than 1 cm diameter at 1.3 m. Field crews entered stem data daily with electronic tablets. Vegetation sampling ended in mid-August 2018. During the 13-week period, over 46,000 stems were measured in approximately 19 hectares. The western portion of the plot is dominated by hemlock declining due to the invasive hemlock woolly adelgid and the crews documented almost 4,0000 new recruits, including many black birch saplings. Dave Orwig will continue to screen and edit all data for uploading to database during spring to quantify mortality of stems.
The remainder of the terrestrial portion of the Harvard Forest plot (non-swamp) will be sampled during summer 2019, leaving only the swamp to be sampled in upcoming winters. Data from the first census has been used in many regional to international syntheses and highlights the value of a large forest plot containing infrastructure such as 3 eddy flux towers, partially gauged watersheds, and an array of other activity including soil respiration studies, seedling studies, lidar analyses of overstory structure and phenology observations.
- Research Category: Invasive Plants, Pests & Pathogens
Large Experiments and Permanent Plot Studies
