Title: Real-time monitoring of deadwood moisture in forests: lessons learned from an intensive case study
Attributes of deadwood in forests, including quantity, landscape position, and state of decay, influence numerous ecosystem processes such as wildfire behavior, tree regeneration, and nutrient cycling. Attributes of deadwood that vary over subdiurnal time steps, including moisture, have not been routinely measured despite the profound effects they have on ecosystem processes. To improve our understanding of forest deadwood subdiurnal moisture dynamics, we installed an intensive time-domain reflectometry (TDR) sensor network in a log and surrounding soil within a northern hardwood forest in New England, United States. Intensive monitoring during a partial growing season indicated that deadwood moisture was dynamic but similar to that of surrounding soils at 15-min intervals, especially during wetting and drying events. Field results and bench analysis of the sample log revealed numerous challenges when attempting to monitor deadwood moisture with TDR such as heterogeneous and (or) advanced decay confounding TDR moisture measurements in logs. An efficient, high-frequency TDR sensor network was demonstrated to record deadwood and soil moisture fluctuations, which provides an opportunity to refine our understanding of deadwood dynamics in the context of global change such as changing precipitation regimes. more »« less
Swanson, Amanda C.; Schwendenmann, Luitgard; Allen, Michael F.; Aronson, Emma L.; Artavia‐León, Allan; Dierick, Diego; Fernandez‐Bou, Angel S.; Harmon, Thomas C.; Murillo‐Cruz, Catalina; Oberbauer, Steven F.; et al(
, Functional Ecology)
Abstract
Leaf‐cutter ants are a prominent feature in Neotropical ecosystems, but a comprehensive assessment of their effects on ecosystem functions is lacking. We reviewed the literature and used our own recent findings to identify knowledge gaps and develop a framework to quantify the effects of leaf‐cutter ants on ecosystem processes.
Leaf‐cutter ants disturb the soil structure during nest excavation changing soil aeration and temperature. They mix relatively nutrient‐poor soil from deeper layers with the upper organic‐rich layers increasing the heterogeneity of carbon and nutrients within nest soils.
Leaf‐cutter ants account for about 25% of all herbivory in Neotropical forest ecosystems, moving 10%–15% of leaves in their foraging range to their nests. Fungal symbionts transform the fresh, nutrient‐rich vegetative material to produce hyphal nodules to feed the ants. Organic material from roots and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi enhances carbon and nutrient turnover in nest soils and creates biogeochemical hot spots. Breakdown of organic matter, microbial and ant respiration, and nest waste material decomposition result in increased CO2, CH4,and N2O production, but the build‐up of gases and heat within the nest is mitigated by the tunnel network ventilation system. Nest ventilation dynamics are challenging to measure without bias, and improved sensor systems would likely solve this problem.
Canopy gaps above leaf‐cutter ant nests change the light, wind and temperature regimes, which affects ecosystem processes. Nests differ in density and size depending on colony age, forest type and disturbance level and change over time resulting in spatial and temporal changes of ecosystem processes. These characteristics remain a challenge to evaluate rapidly and non‐destructively.
Addressing the knowledge gaps identified in this synthesis will bring insights into physical and biological processes driving biogeochemical cycles at the nest and ecosystem scale and will improve our understanding of ecosystem biogeochemical heterogeneity and larger scale ecological phenomena.
Aplain language summaryis available for this article.
Groffman, Peter M; Martel, Lisa D(
, Environmental Data Initiative)
The Baltimore Ecosystem Study (BES) has established a network of
long-term permanent biogeochemical study plots. These plots will
provide long-term data on vegetation, soil and hydrologic processes in
the key ecosystem types within the urban ecosystem. The current
network of study plots includes eight forest plots, chosen to
represent the range of forest conditions in the area, and four grass
plots. These plots are complemented by a network of 200 less intensive
study plots located across the Baltimore metropolitan area.
Plots are currently instrumented with lysimeters (drainage and
tension) to sample soil solution chemistry, time domain reflectometry
probes to measure soil moisture, dataloggers to measure and record
soil temperature and trace gas flux chambers to measure the flux of
carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide and methane from soil to the atmosphere.
Measurements of in situ nitrogen mineralization, nitrification and
denitrification were made at approximately monthly intervals from Fall
1998 - Fall 2000. Detailed vegetation characterization (all layers)
was done in summer 1998.
This data record contains near-monthly water content measurements, and
the record continues with hourly data found in: Baltimore Ecosystem
Study: Soil moisture and temperature along an urban to rural gradient,
2011- present
https://portal.edirepository.org/nis/mapbrowse?scope=knb-lter-bes&identifier=3400
Data from these plots has been published in the following papers:
Groffman PM, Pouyat RV, Cadenasso ML, Zipperer WC, Szlavecz K,
Yesilonis IC,. Band LE and Brush GS. 2006. Land use context and
natural soil controls on plant community composition and soil nitrogen
and carbon dynamics in urban and rural forests. Forest Ecology and
Management 236:177-192.
Groffman, P.M., C.O. Williams, R.V. Pouyat, L.E. Band and I.C.
Yesilonis. 2009. Nitrate leaching and nitrous oxide flux in urban
forests and grasslands. Journal of Environmental Quality 38:1848-1860.
Groffman, P.M. and R.V. Pouyat. 2009. Methane uptake in urban forests
and lawns. Environmental Science and Technology 43:5229-5235. DOI:
10.1021/es803720h.
Groffman, Peter M; Martel, Lisa D(
, Environmental Data Initiative)
The Baltimore Ecosystem Study (BES) has established a network of
long-term permanent biogeochemical study plots. These plots will
provide long-term data on vegetation, soil and hydrologic processes in
the key ecosystem types within the urban ecosystem. The current
network of study plots includes eight forest plots, chosen to
represent the range of forest conditions in the area, and four grass
plots. These plots are complemented by a network of 200 less intensive
study plots located across the Baltimore metropolitan area.
Plots are currently instrumented with lysimeters (drainage and
tension) to sample soil solution chemistry, time domain reflectometry
probes to measure soil moisture, dataloggers to measure and record
soil temperature and trace gas flux chambers to measure the flux of
carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide and methane from soil to the atmosphere.
Measurements of in situ nitrogen mineralization, nitrification and
denitrification were made at approximately monthly intervals from Fall
1998 - Fall 2000. Detailed vegetation characterization (all layers)
was done in summer 1998.
Data from these plots has been published in Groffman et al. (2006,
2009) and Groffman and Pouyat (2009).
In November of 1998 four rural, forested plots were established at
Oregon Ridge Park in Baltimore County northeast of the Gwynns Falls
Watershed. Oregon Ridge Park contains Pond Branch, the forested
reference watershed for BES. Two of these four plots are located on
the top of a slope; the other two are located midway up the slope.
In June of 2010 measurements at the mid-slope sites on Pond Branch
were discontinued. Monuments and equipment remain at the two plots.
These plots were replaced with two lowland riparian plots; Oregon
upper riparian and Oregon lower riparian. Each riparian sites has four
5 cm by 1-2.5 meter depth slotted wells laid perpendicular to the
stream, four tension lysimeters at 10 cm depth, five time domain
reflectometry probes, and four trace gas flux chambers in the two
dominant microtopographic features of the riparian zones - high spots
(hummocks) and low spots (hollows).
Four urban, forested plots were established in November 1998, two at
Leakin Park and two adjacent to Hillsdale Park in west Baltimore City
in the Gwynns Falls. One of the plots in Hillsdale Park was abandoned
in 2004 due to continued vandalism.
In May 1999 two grass, lawn plots were established at McDonogh School
in Baltimore County west of the city in the Gwynns Falls. One of these
plots is an extremely low intensity management area (mowed once or
twice a year) and one is in a low intensity management area (frequent
mowing, no fertilizer or herbicide use). In 2009, the McDonogh plots
were abandoned due to management changes at the school.
Two grass lawn plots were established on the campus of the University
of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) in fall 2000. One of these plots
is in a medium intensity management area (frequent mowing, moderate
applications of fertilizer and herbicides) and one is in a high
intensity management area (frequent mowing, high applications of
fertilizer and herbicides).
Literature Cited
Bowden R, Steudler P, Melillo J and Aber J. 1990. Annual nitrous oxide
fluxes from temperate forest soils in the northeastern United States.
J. Geophys. Res.-Atmos. 95, 13997 14005.
Driscoll CT, Fuller RD and Simone DM (1988) Longitudinal variations in
trace metal concentrations in a northern forested ecosystem. J.
Environ. Qual. 17: 101-107
Goldman, M. B., P. M. Groffman, R. V. Pouyat, M. J. McDonnell, and S.
T. A. Pickett. 1995. CH4 uptake and N availability in forest soils
along an urban to rural gradient. Soil Biology and Biochemistry
27:281-286.
Groffman PM, Holland E, Myrold DD, Robertson GP and Zou X (1999)
Denitrification. In: Robertson GP, Bledsoe CS, Coleman DC and Sollins
P (Eds) Standard Soil Methods for Long Term Ecological Research. (pp
272-290). Oxford University Press, New York
Groffman PM, Pouyat RV, Cadenasso ML, Zipperer WC, Szlavecz K,
Yesilonis IC,. Band LE and Brush GS. 2006. Land use context and
natural soil controls on plant community composition and soil nitrogen
and carbon dynamics in urban and rural forests. Forest Ecology and
Management 236:177-192.
Groffman, P.M., C.O. Williams, R.V. Pouyat, L.E. Band and I.C.
Yesilonis. 2009. Nitrate leaching and nitrous oxide flux in urban
forests and grasslands. Journal of Environmental Quality 38:1848-1860.
Groffman, P.M. and R.V. Pouyat. 2009. Methane uptake in urban forests
and lawns. Environmental Science and Technology 43:5229-5235. DOI:
10.1021/es803720h.
Holland EA, Boone R, Greenberg J, Groffman PM and Robertson GP (1999)
Measurement of Soil CO2, N2O and CH4 exchange. In: Robertson GP,
Bledsoe CS, Coleman DC and Sollins P (Eds) Standard Soil Methods for
Long Term Ecological Research. (pp 258-271). Oxford University Press,
New York
Robertson GP, Wedin D, Groffman PM, Blair JM, Holland EA, Nadelhoffer
KJ and. Harris D. 1999. Soil carbon and nitrogen availability:
Nitrogen mineralization, nitrification and carbon turnover. In:
Standard Soil Methods for Long Term Ecological Research (Robertson GP,
Bledsoe CS, Coleman DC and Sollins P (Eds) Standard Soil Methods for
Long Term Ecological Research. (pp 258-271). Oxford University Press,
New York
Savva, Y., K. Szlavecz, R. V. Pouyat, P. M. Groffman, and G. Heisler.
2010. Effects of land use and vegetation cover on soil temperature in
an urban ecosystem. Soil Science Society of America Journal
74:469-480."
Wood decomposition is regulated by multiple controls, including climate and wood traits, that vary at local to regional scales. Yet decomposition rates differ dramatically when these controls do not. Fungal community dynamics are often invoked to explain these differences, suggesting that knowledge of ecosystem properties that influence fungal communities will improve understanding and projection of wood decomposition. We hypothesize that deadwood inputs decompose faster in forests with higher stocks of downed coarse woody material (CWM) because CWM is a resource from which lignocellulolytic fungi rapidly colonize new inputs. To test this hypothesis, we measure decomposition of 1,116 pieces of fine woody material (FWM) of five species, incubated for 13 to 49 months at five locations spanning 10°-latitude in eastern U.S. forest. We place FWM pieces near and far from CWM across observational transects and experimental common gardens. Soil temperature positively affects location-level mean decomposition rates, but these among-location differences are smaller than within-location variation in decomposition. Some of this variability is caused by CWM, where FWM pieces next to CWM decompose more rapidly. These effects are greater with time of incubation and lower initial wood density of FWM. The effect size of CWM is of the same relative magnitude as for the known controls of temperature, deadwood density and diameter. Abundance data for CWM is available for many forests and hence may be an ecosystem variable amenable for inclusion in decomposition models. Our findings suggest that conservation efforts to rebuild depleted CWM stocks in temperate forests may accelerate decomposition of fresh deadwood inputs. Please see the associated manuscript for the Methods. All files are in .txt or .csv format and so can be opened with common, open-source software. The file named 'README_BradfordetalCWMproximity.txt' describes the uploaded files.
Groffman, Peter M; Martel, Lisa D(
, Environmental Data Initiative)
The Baltimore Ecosystem Study (BES) established a network of long-term
permanent biogeochemical study plots in 1998. These plots provide
long-term data on vegetation, soil and hydrologic processes in the key
ecosystem types within the urban ecosystem. The network of study plots
includes forest plots (upland and riparian), chosen to represent the
range of forest conditions in the area and grass plots (to represent
home lawns).
Plots are instrumented with lysimeters (drainage and tension) to
sample soil solution chemistry, time domain reflectometry probes to
measure soil moisture, dataloggers to measure and record soil
temperature, and trace gas flux chambers to measure the flux of carbon
dioxide, nitrous oxide and methane from soil to the atmosphere.
Measurements of in situ nitrogen mineralization, nitrification and
denitrification were made at approximately monthly intervals from Fall
1998 - Fall 2000. Detailed vegetation characterization (all layers)
was done in summer 1998 and 2015.
Data from these plots has been published in Groffman et al. (2006,
2009), Groffman and Pouyat (2009), Savva et al. (2010), Costa and
Groffman (2013), Duncan et al. (2013), Waters et al. (2014), Ni and
Groffman (2018), Templeton et al. (2019).
Literature Cited
Costa, K.H. and P.M. Groffman. 2013. Factors regulating net methane
flux in urban forests and grasslands. Soil Science Society of America
Journal 77:850 - 855.
Duncan, J. M., L. E. Band, and P. M. Groffman. 2013. Towards closing
the watershed nitrogen budget: Spatial and temporal scaling of
denitrification. Journal of Geophysical Research Biogeosciences
118:1-5; DOI: 10.1002/jgrg.20090
Groffman PM, Pouyat RV, Cadenasso ML, Zipperer WC, Szlavecz K,
Yesilonis IC,. Band LE and Brush GS. 2006. Land use context and
natural soil controls on plant community composition and soil nitrogen
and carbon dynamics in urban and rural forests. Forest Ecology and
Management 236:177-192.
Groffman, P.M., C.O. Williams, R.V. Pouyat, L.E. Band and I.C.
Yesilonis. 2009. Nitrate leaching and nitrous oxide flux in urban
forests and grasslands. Journal of Environmental Quality 38:1848-1860.
Groffman, P.M. and R.V. Pouyat. 2009. Methane uptake in urban forests
and lawns. Environmental Science and Technology 43:5229-5235. DOI:
10.1021/es803720h.
Ni, X. and P.M. Groffman. 2018. Declines in methane uptake in forest
soils. Proceedings of the National Academies of Science of the United
States of America 115:8587-8590.
Savva, Y., K. Szlavecz, R. V. Pouyat, P. M. Groffman, and G. Heisler.
2010. Effects of land use and vegetation cover on soil temperature in
an urban ecosystem. Soil Science Society of America Journal
74:469-480.
Templeton, L., M.L. Cadenasso, J. Sullivan, M. Neel and P.M. Groffman.
2019. Changes in vegetation structure and composition of urban and
rural forest patches in Baltimore from 1998 to 2015. Forest Ecology
and Management. In press.
Waters, E.R., J.L. Morse, N.D. Bettez and P.M. Groffman. 2014.
Differential carbon and nitrogen controls of denitrification in
riparian zones and streams along an urban to exurban gradient. Journal
of Environmental Quality 43:955–963.
Woodall, C.W., Evans, D.M., Fraver, S., Green, M.B., Lutz, D.A., and D’Amato, A.W. Real-time monitoring of deadwood moisture in forests: lessons learned from an intensive case study. Retrieved from https://par.nsf.gov/biblio/10216195. Canadian Journal of Forest Research 50.11 Web. doi:10.1139/cjfr-2020-0110.
Woodall, C.W., Evans, D.M., Fraver, S., Green, M.B., Lutz, D.A., & D’Amato, A.W. Real-time monitoring of deadwood moisture in forests: lessons learned from an intensive case study. Canadian Journal of Forest Research, 50 (11). Retrieved from https://par.nsf.gov/biblio/10216195. https://doi.org/10.1139/cjfr-2020-0110
Woodall, C.W., Evans, D.M., Fraver, S., Green, M.B., Lutz, D.A., and D’Amato, A.W.
"Real-time monitoring of deadwood moisture in forests: lessons learned from an intensive case study". Canadian Journal of Forest Research 50 (11). Country unknown/Code not available. https://doi.org/10.1139/cjfr-2020-0110.https://par.nsf.gov/biblio/10216195.
@article{osti_10216195,
place = {Country unknown/Code not available},
title = {Real-time monitoring of deadwood moisture in forests: lessons learned from an intensive case study},
url = {https://par.nsf.gov/biblio/10216195},
DOI = {10.1139/cjfr-2020-0110},
abstractNote = {Attributes of deadwood in forests, including quantity, landscape position, and state of decay, influence numerous ecosystem processes such as wildfire behavior, tree regeneration, and nutrient cycling. Attributes of deadwood that vary over subdiurnal time steps, including moisture, have not been routinely measured despite the profound effects they have on ecosystem processes. To improve our understanding of forest deadwood subdiurnal moisture dynamics, we installed an intensive time-domain reflectometry (TDR) sensor network in a log and surrounding soil within a northern hardwood forest in New England, United States. Intensive monitoring during a partial growing season indicated that deadwood moisture was dynamic but similar to that of surrounding soils at 15-min intervals, especially during wetting and drying events. Field results and bench analysis of the sample log revealed numerous challenges when attempting to monitor deadwood moisture with TDR such as heterogeneous and (or) advanced decay confounding TDR moisture measurements in logs. An efficient, high-frequency TDR sensor network was demonstrated to record deadwood and soil moisture fluctuations, which provides an opportunity to refine our understanding of deadwood dynamics in the context of global change such as changing precipitation regimes.},
journal = {Canadian Journal of Forest Research},
volume = {50},
number = {11},
author = {Woodall, C.W. and Evans, D.M. and Fraver, S. and Green, M.B. and Lutz, D.A. and D’Amato, A.W.},
editor = {null}
}
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