As the walking trail skirts the west side of Watershed 6, you will notice a great deal of "ecological clutter". Ecological research requires a certain amount of hardware in the form of semi-permanent collectors, plot markers, or other man-made structures. To avoid unnecessary foot traffic and clutter on W6 itself, many research projects are conducted just to the west of W6. Land-use history, soils, and the forest community in this area is virtually identical to that on W6, so results from this area can generally be attributed to W6 as well.
Litterfall research
One of the first pieces of clutter
you will notice is a litterfall collection basket. These are milk
crates lined with nylon mesh that are secured in place with a PVC pole.
They are placed at several different elevations west of W6.
By checking these baskets periodically, researchers can get an idea of
how many leaves and twigs fall to the ground over a given period of time.
Generally, once the collectors are emptied, the litter is sorted according
to species, leaves are counted, dried and weighed. Fall litterfall
for each of the major species is ground and analyzed for chemical content.
Fresh leaf tissue is also collected in August, before leaf fall, and is
processed and analyzed for chemical comparison to the litter tissue.
Click here for a further description of methodology and data.
| Some typical values for litter
and foliage:
(taken from samples collected in 2000 by Tim Fahey) Nutrient concentration (%) Ca Mg K Litter Sugar maple 0.45 0.04 0.35 Beech 0.61 0.11 0.38 Yellow birch 1.06 0.21 0.65 Foliage Sugar maple 0.64 0.12 0.67 Beech 0.53 0.12 0.69 Yellow birch 1.10 0.21 0.70 |