skip to main content


Title: Climate Change Across Seasons Experiment (CCASE) at the Hubbard Brook Experimental Fine Root Damage
Root damage, as relative electrolyte leakage, was assessed following winter freeze-thaw cycle experimental treatments in 2014 and 2015 on all Climate Change Across Seasons Experiment (CCASE) plots. Reference (or control) plots are shared with the collaborating Northern Forest DroughtNet experiment. There are six plots total (each 11 x 14m). Two are warmed 5 degrees C throughout the growing season (Plots 3 and 4). Two others are warmed 5 degrees C in the growing season and have snow removed during winter to induce soil freeze/thaw cycles (Plots 5 and 6). Four kilometers (2.5 mi) of heating cable are buried in the soil to warm these four plots. Two additional plots serve as controls for our experiment (Plots 1 and 2). Analysis and results from these data are presented in Sanders-DeMott 2018. These data were gathered as part of the Hubbard Brook Ecosystem Study (HBES). The HBES is a collaborative effort at the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest, which is operated and maintained by the USDA Forest Service, Northern Research Station. Sanders-DeMott, R., Sorensen, P.O., Reinmann, A.B. et al. Growing season warming and winter freeze–thaw cycles reduce root nitrogen uptake capacity and increase soil solution nitrogen in a northern forest ecosystem. Biogeochemistry 137, 337–349 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10533-018-0422-5  more » « less
Award ID(s):
1637685
NSF-PAR ID:
10316931
Author(s) / Creator(s):
; ; ;
Publisher / Repository:
Environmental Data Initiative
Date Published:
Format(s):
Medium: X
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
More Like this
  1. Fine root nitrogen uptake capacity was measured on excised roots prior to experimental treatment in 2013 and throughout the growing seasons of 2014 and 2015 on all Climate Change Across Seasons Experiment (CCASE) plots. Reference (or control) plots are shared with the collaborating Northern Forest DroughtNet experiment. There are six plots total (each 11 x 14m). Two are warmed 5 degrees C throughout the growing season (Plots 3 and 4). Two others are warmed 5 degrees C in the growing season and have snow removed during winter to induce soil freeze/thaw cycles (Plots 5 and 6). Four kilometers (2.5 mi) of heating cable are buried in the soil to warm these four plots. Two additional plots serve as controls for our experiment (Plots 1 and 2). Analysis and results from these data are presented in Sanders-DeMott 2018. These data were gathered as part of the Hubbard Brook Ecosystem Study (HBES). The HBES is a collaborative effort at the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest, which is operated and maintained by the USDA Forest Service, Northern Research Station. Sanders-DeMott, R., Sorensen, P.O., Reinmann, A.B. et al. Growing season warming and winter freeze–thaw cycles reduce root nitrogen uptake capacity and increase soil solution nitrogen in a northern forest ecosystem. Biogeochemistry 137, 337–349 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10533-018-0422-5 
    more » « less
  2. Resin available soil solution nitrogen was measured during seasonal incubations in 2014 and 2015 on all Climate Change Across Seasons Experiment (CCASE) plots. Reference (or control) plots are shared with the collaborating Northern Forest DroughtNet experiment. There are six plots total (each 11 x 14m). Two are warmed 5 degrees C throughout the growing season (Plots 3 and 4). Two others are warmed 5 degrees C in the growing season and have snow removed during winter to induce soil freeze/thaw cycles (Plots 5 and 6). Four kilometers (2.5 mi) of heating cable are buried in the soil to warm these four plots. Two additional plots serve as controls for our experiment (Plots 1 and 2). Analysis and results from these data are presented in Sanders-DeMott 2018. These data were gathered as part of the Hubbard Brook Ecosystem Study (HBES). The HBES is a collaborative effort at the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest, which is operated and maintained by the USDA Forest Service, Northern Research Station. Sanders-DeMott, R., Sorensen, P.O., Reinmann, A.B. et al. Growing season warming and winter freeze–thaw cycles reduce root nitrogen uptake capacity and increase soil solution nitrogen in a northern forest ecosystem. Biogeochemistry 137, 337–349 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10533-018-0422-5 
    more » « less
  3. Foliage was collected in 2015 and 2017 from red maple trees at the Climate Change Across Seasons Experiment (CCASE) as part of the Hubbard Brook Ecosystem Study (HBES). Analyses of foliar metabolites include polyamines, amino acids, chlorophylls, carotenoids, soluble proteins, soluble inorganic elements, sugars, and total nitrogen and carbon. There are six (11 x 14m) plots in total in this study; two control (plots 1 and 2), two warmed 5 degrees (°) Celsius (C) above ambient throughout the growing season (plots 3 and 4), and two warmed 5 °C in the growing season, with snow removal during the winter to induce soil freezing and then warmed with buried heating cables to create a subsequent thaw (plots 5 and 6). Each soil freeze/thaw cycle includes 72 hours of soil freezing followed by 72 hours of thaw. Four kilometers (km) of heating cable are buried in the soil to warm these four plots. Together, these treatments led to warmer growing season soil temperatures and an increased frequency of soil freeze-thaw cycles (FTCs) in winter. Our goal was to determine how these changes in soil temperature affect foliar nitrogen (N) and carbon metabolism of red maple trees. These data were gathered as a collaborative effort at the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest, which is operated and maintained by the USDA Forest Service, Northern Research Station. 
    more » « less
  4. Projections for the northeastern U.S. indicate that mean air temperatures will rise and snowfall will become less frequent, causing more frequent soil freezing. To test fungal responses to these combined chronic and extreme soil temperature changes, we conducted a laboratory-based common garden experiment with soil fungi that had been subjected to different combinations of growing season soil warming, winter soil freeze/thaw cycles, and ambient conditions for four years in the field. We found that fungi originating from field plots experiencing a combination of growing season warming and winter freeze/thaw cycles had inherently lower activity of acid phosphatase, but higher cellulase activity, that could not be reversed in the lab. In addition, fungi quickly adjusted their physiology to freeze/thaw cycles in the laboratory, reducing growth rate and potentially reducing their carbon use efficiency. Our findings suggest that less than four years of new soil temperature conditions in the field can lead to physiological shifts by some soil fungi, as well as irreversible loss or acquisition of extracellular enzyme activity traits by other fungi. These findings could explain field observations of shifting soil carbon and nutrient cycling under simulated climate change. These data were gathered as part of the Hubbard Brook Ecosystem Study (HBES). The HBES is a collaborative effort at the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest, which is operated and maintained by the USDA Forest Service, Northern Research Station. 
    more » « less
  5. Climate models for the northeastern United States (U.S.) over the next century predict an increase in air temperature between 2.8 and 4.3 °C and a decrease in the average number of days per year when a snowpack will cover the forest floor (Hayhoe et al. 2007, 2008; Campbell et al. 2010). Studies of forest dynamics in seasonally snow-covered ecosystems have been primarily conducted during the growing season, when most biological activity occurs. However, in recent years considerable progress has been made in our understanding of how winter climate change influences dynamics in these forests. The snowpack insulates soil from below-freezing air temperatures, which facilitates a significant amount of microbial activity. However, a smaller snowpack and increased depth and duration of soil frost amplify losses of dissolved organic C and NO3- in leachate, as well as N2O released into the atmosphere. The increase in nutrient loss following increased soil frost cannot be explained by changes in microbial activity alone. More likely, it is caused by a decrease in plant nutrient uptake following increases in soil frost. We conducted a snow-removal experiment at Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest to determine the effects of a smaller winter snowpack and greater depth and duration of soil frost on trees, soil microbes, and arthropods. A number of publications have been based on these data: Comerford et al. 2013, Reinmann et al. 2019, Templer 2012, and Templer et al. 2012. These data were gathered as part of the Hubbard Brook Ecosystem Study (HBES). The HBES is a collaborative effort at the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest, which is operated and maintained by the USDA Forest Service, Northern Research Station. Campbell JL, Ollinger SV, Flerchinger GN, Wicklein H, Hayhoe K, Bailey AS. Past and projected future changes in snowpack and soil frost at the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest, New Hampshire, USA. Hydrological Processes. 2010; 24:2465–2480. Comerford DP, PG Schaberg, PH Templer, AM Socci, JL Campbell, and KF Wallin. 2013. Influence of experimental snow removal on root and canopy physiology of sugar maple trees in a northern hardwood forest. Oecologia 171:261-269. Hayhoe K, Wake CP, Huntington TG, Luo LF, Schwartz MD, Sheffield J, et al. Past and future changes in climate and hydrological indicators in the US Northeast. Climate Dynamics. 2007; 28:381–407. Hayhoe, K., Wake, C., Anderson, B. et al. Regional climate change projections for the Northeast USA. Mitig Adapt Strateg Glob Change 13, 425–436 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11027-007-9133-2. Reinmann AB, J Susser, EMC Demaria, PH Templer. 2019. Declines in northern forest tree growth following snowpack decline and soil freezing.  Global Change Biology 25:420-430. Templer PH. 2012. Changes in winter climate: soil frost, root injury, and fungal communities (Invited). Plant and Soil 35: 15-17 Templer PH , AF Schiller, NW Fuller, AM Socci, JL Campbell, JE Drake, and TH Kunz. 2012. Impact of a reduced winter snowpack on litter arthropod abundance and diversity in a northern hardwood forest ecosystem. Biology and Fertility of Soils 48:413-424. 
    more » « less