2009 Research Highlights
Partitioning ecosystem respiration in lower coastal plain forests
Scientists with the Eastern Forest Environmental Threat Assessment Center are conducting research at Alligator National Wildlife Refuge, NC, at the site of a newly established eddy flux tower. The 115-foot tower was instrumented for micrometeorological and turbulent flux measurements, including air temperature and humidity, soil temperature and moisture profile, soil surface heat flux, below-canopy photosynthetically active radiation, and ground water table. The researchers installed sapflow probes in four predominant overstory species (swamp black gum, pond cypress, red maple, and loblolly pine) and collected soil cores near five vegetation survey plots nearest to the tower. The soil cores and other field measurements will allow the researchers to quantify the sensitivity of soil carbon and nitrogen cycling to variation in the water table.
Contact: Michael Gavazzi, biological scientist, michael.gavazzi@usda.gov
Partners: North Carolina State University; U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
