Harvard Forest

Data Archive

HF337

Impacts of Deer and Moose on Soil Carbon, Soil Respiration, and Root Biomass at Harvard Forest since 2017

Related Publications

Data

• hf337-01: soil carbon (preview)
• hf337-02: dry root biomass (preview)

Overview

• Lead: Adrien Finzi
• Investigators: Marc-Andre Giasson, Edward Faison, Stephen DeStefano
• Contact: Information Manager
• Start date: 2017
• End date: 2017
• Status: ongoing
• Location: Prospect Hill Tract (Harvard Forest)
• Latitude: +42.50372 to +42.54532 degrees
• Longitude: -72.21277 to -72.17368 degrees
• Elevation: 355 to 405 meter
• Datum: WGS84
• Taxa: Acer rubrum (red maple), Alces alces (moose), Betula spp. (birch), Odocoileus virginianus (white-tailed deer), Pinus strobus (white pine), Prunus spp. (cherry), Quercus spp. (oak)
• Release date: 2023
• Language: English
• EML file: knb-lter-hfr.337.3
• DOI: digital object identifier
• EDI: data package
• DataONE: data package
• Related links:
• Role of Moose and Deer Browsing in Harvested Forests of Southern New England since 2008
• Study type: long-term measurement
• Research topic: conservation and management; large experiments and permanent plot studies; soil carbon and nitrogen dynamics
• LTER core area: organic matter movement, disturbance patterns
• Keywords: biomass, browsing, deer, moose, regeneration, roots, soil carbon, soil respiration
• Abstract:

  Over the past decade, several deer and moose exclosures have been built at Harvard Forest to study the effect of ungulate browsing on tree regeneration, species diversity, and composition. We built on the existing infrastructure to study the impacts of deer and moose browsing on soil carbon stocks (soil C, root biomass) in regenerating forests.

• Methods:

  We established 1 plot in each of the moose exclosures (Moose), deer and moose exclosures (Deer+Moose), and unfenced (Control) plots located on Harvard Forest land that are part of the “Impact of deer and moose” study. The plots were located in areas where they would not disturb ongoing research. Each plot used the 2 m × 5 m “Conant” design (Figure 1 in Conant et al. 2003 [Conant, R.T., Smith, G.R., Paustian, K. 2003. Spatial Variability of Soil Carbon in Forested and Cultivated Sites: Implications for Change Detection. J. Environ. Qual. 32:278–286.]) with six subplots. In each subplot, we collected a 10 cm × 10 cm organic horizon sample and then sampled the underlying mineral soil to a depth of 30 cm in 10 cm increments. The soil core was 4.7cm diameter.

  Soil carbon and root biomass

  Samples were brought to Boston University and kept refrigerated at 4°C until being processed. Samples were homogenized by sieving through 2-mm mesh and removing rocks and woody debris. At the same time, roots were picked and set aside.

  Subsamples of the sieved soils were dried at 60°C for at least 48 hours to determine soil gravimetric water content. The dry soil was later ground to a fine powder and burned in an elemental analyzer (model NC2500, CE Elantech) to determine carbon and nitrogen content.

  Roots were washed with deionized water and sorted into dead and live root pools according to their diameter (fine: less than 2mm, medium: 2–10mm, coarse: more than 10mm). Roots were then dried at 60°C until weight was stable (at least 48 hours). Dry root biomass was recorded. For some samples, live and dead roots were not separated, so no biomass is reported in the “live” and “dead” categories but the total biomass is reported in the “live+dead” category.

  In theory, all mineral soil samples should be 10cm thick (0–10cm, 10–20cm, 20–30cm). In practice, some samples are smaller than that or altogether missing, generally because we hit a large rock during sampling. The actual thickness of each sample is listed in the column labelled “thickness”.

• Organization: Harvard Forest. 324 North Main Street, Petersham, MA 01366, USA. Phone (978) 724-3302. Fax (978) 724-3595.

• Project: The Harvard Forest Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) program examines ecological dynamics in the New England region resulting from natural disturbances, environmental change, and human impacts. (ROR).

• Funding: National Science Foundation LTER grants: DEB-8811764, DEB-9411975, DEB-0080592, DEB-0620443, DEB-1237491, DEB-1832210.

• Use: This dataset is released to the public under Creative Commons CC0 1.0 (No Rights Reserved). Please keep the dataset creators informed of any plans to use the dataset. Consultation with the original investigators is strongly encouraged. Publications and data products that make use of the dataset should include proper acknowledgement.

• License: Creative Commons Zero v1.0 Universal (CC0-1.0)

• Citation: Finzi A. 2023. Impacts of Deer and Moose on Soil Carbon, Soil Respiration, and Root Biomass at Harvard Forest since 2017. Harvard Forest Data Archive: HF337 (v.3). Environmental Data Initiative: https://doi.org/10.6073/pasta/0fc22749fa37e1a7be7d87f9d6e4c843.

Detailed Metadata

hf337-01: soil carbon

1. date: sampling date
2. site: site name
3. treatment: treatment name
4. subplot: subplot number
5. depth: depth
   • OH: organic horizon
   • 0-10cm: 0-10 cm in the mineral soil
   • 10-20cm: 10-20 cm in the mineral soil
   • 20-30cm: 20-30 cm in the mineral soil
6. thickness: sample thickness (unit: centimeter / missing value: NA)
7. soil.mass: mass of wet soil (unit: gram / missing value: NA)
8. rocks.mass: mass of rocks in sample (unit: gram / missing value: NA)
9. dry.wet: dry soil mass:wet soil mass ratio (unit: dimensionless / missing value: NA)
10. bulk.density: bulk density (unit: gramsPerCubicCentimeter / missing value: NA)
11. soil.prct.c: percent carbon content of soil (unit: dimensionless / missing value: NA)
12. soil.prct.n: percent nitrogen content of soil (unit: dimensionless / missing value: NA)
13. soil.c.mass: mass of carbon in soil (unit: gramsPerSquareMeter / missing value: NA)
14. soil.n.mass: mass of nitrogen in soil (unit: gramsPerSquareMeter / missing value: NA)
15. notes: notes

hf337-02: dry root biomass

1. date: sampling date
2. site: site name
3. treatment: treatment name
4. subplot: subplot number
5. depth: depth
   • OH: organic horizon
   • 0-10cm: 0-10 cm in the mineral soil
   • 10-20cm: 0-20 cm in the mineral soil
   • 20-30cm: 20-30 cm in the mineral soil
6. thickness: sample thickness (unit: centimeter / missing value: NA)
7. live.fine.mass: dry mass of live roots, diameter less than 2 mm (unit: gram / missing value: NA)
8. live.medium.mass: dry mass of live roots, diameter 2-10 mm (unit: gram / missing value: NA)
9. live.coarse.mass: dry mass of live roots, diameter greater than 10 mm (unit: gram / missing value: NA)
10. dead.fine.mass: dry mass of dead roots, diameter less than 2 mm (unit: gram / missing value: NA)
11. dead.medium.mass: dry mass of dead roots, diameter 2-10 mm (unit: gram / missing value: NA)
12. dead.coarse.mass: dry mass of dead roots, diameter greater than 10 mm (unit: gram / missing value: NA)
13. live.dead.fine.mass: dry mass of live and dead roots, diameter less than 2 mm (unit: gram / missing value: NA)
14. live.dead.medium.mass: dry mass of live and dead roots, diameter 2-10 mm (unit: gram / missing value: NA)
15. live.dead.coarse.mass: dry mass of live and dead roots, diameter greater than 10 mm (unit: gram / missing value: NA)
16. notes: notes