Work in the field can be tough...

Today we spent the day in boreal forest and the forest - tundra zones completing our work on mature trees. The work was a continuation of the tree boring process that we started yesterday. In addition to making two bores in each of the trees (one at chest height and the other a few inches above the place where the tree breaks through the ground) we collected additional information. This information included... identifying the species, measuring the trunk at the base of the tree (diameter at root crown), measuring the trunk at chest height (diameter at breast height), measuring the crown (from the outermost edges of the branches), the height of the tree, evaluating the tree for herbivory (damage caused by animals), evaluating the apical meristem for damage (the apical meristem is the top of the tree in this case), determining the vitality of the tree, checking for the number of stems, completing a cone count, evaluating the seedbed: for dominant ground layer and moisture content, keying out the ground cover, and taking a look at the ground topography. This process was lengthy and took about 10 minutes to complete per tree. (This picture is a snapshot of one of my group members, Chandler trying to remove some branches from a spruce tree to clear some space for us to complete our task.)

My group completed this process for 46 trees today in 45 degree temperatures with 22 mile wind gusts with intermittent rain storms. So the work was tough. It was a constant getting up and down. First laying down under the trees taking measurements at the base of the tree and then getting up to take measurements and make evaluate at chest height.

In the later afternoon once this process was complete we began to follow another protocol to gather data on tree seedlings and saplings. The true seedling and sapling detection process is intense. Over a ten meter stretch pairs of researchers were laid on their stomachs stretched out along the ground to search for seedlings and saplings of various species. For the purpose of this study, seedlings are deemed plants that grow no higher than 15 cm tall and saplings are plants that grow over 15 cm tall but are under 200 cm in height. Once a seedling or sapling was detected, its species was then identified and various measurements and evaluations were undertaken; method of reproduction, diameter at root crown, height of the specimen, herbivory, assessment of apical meristem damage, vitality of the specimen, number of cones, seedbed composition, microsite composition and topography. After an assessment was made each specimen was removed from the ground, labeled, and deposited into a collection container.

Each pair of researchers evaluates 3 meters of the 10 meter plot in increments of one centimeter. The process is laborious but extremely interesting. Luckily this process took place on the floor of the forest - tundra region and the winds seemed to blow right over the top of us!