Pictures:
A lab building at SERC.
A map of hectares undergoing study at SERC.
A group photo of my team.
A group photo of my team.
A map locating each member of 14 tree species.in one area. There are a lot of the same trees we have here. It has been rewarding learning to identify them without leaves using bark, branching pattern, and bud shape.
Dear Students,
Today was balmy compared to yesterday, and that is a good thing since we were outdoors all day. We spent most of the day gathering the forest data on trees. The size of this project is enormous! 16 hectares of trees are being measured…we only measured the trees in about a 10th of one hectare today. The video shows some of the following: Each team is assigned a subplot. We measure the DBH (diameter at breast height) of each tree in our 10 meter x10 meter subplot with a tape that wraps around the circumference but automatically calculates the diameter. Then we tag it, identify it and determine its precise location in the quadrat. Finally we evaluate its status as to dominance. (Is it above the others or struggling to compete for light?) All this is recorded on data tables. 5 years from now it will all be done again! The video below shows some of the process. (You will laugh at my first attempt to measure tree diameter!) There is also a picture of a tree tag we use once the tree has been evaluated. What would you expect scientists to discover in five years regarding these trees? Do you think all the trees will respond the same to climate change? Why or why not? Why should we care what changes occur in our forests? (Also scroll down to the next paragraph and photos below.)
A really cool diversion today was climbing the weather monitoring station. It is 120 feet high, so well above the tree tops. Huge ships were coming in and out of the bay and I could see Annapolis where we will go Friday to tour the Naval Academy. On the top of it are solar panels that measure the radiation from the sun, a sun tracking device, and an anamometer to measure wind speed and direction. There are also carbon dioxide monitors on the tower and at ground level. Why do you think they are measuring these factors? Ospreys live around here and could choose to nest up on this tower. They are a protected bird, so if that happens there is nothing that can be done about it. There are wire spikes to discourage that. There is a video of the tower nad photos of the equipment mentioned below. What questions do you have?
Today was balmy compared to yesterday, and that is a good thing since we were outdoors all day. We spent most of the day gathering the forest data on trees. The size of this project is enormous! 16 hectares of trees are being measured…we only measured the trees in about a 10th of one hectare today. The video shows some of the following: Each team is assigned a subplot. We measure the DBH (diameter at breast height) of each tree in our 10 meter x10 meter subplot with a tape that wraps around the circumference but automatically calculates the diameter. Then we tag it, identify it and determine its precise location in the quadrat. Finally we evaluate its status as to dominance. (Is it above the others or struggling to compete for light?) All this is recorded on data tables. 5 years from now it will all be done again! The video below shows some of the process. (You will laugh at my first attempt to measure tree diameter!) There is also a picture of a tree tag we use once the tree has been evaluated. What would you expect scientists to discover in five years regarding these trees? Do you think all the trees will respond the same to climate change? Why or why not? Why should we care what changes occur in our forests? (Also scroll down to the next paragraph and photos below.)
A really cool diversion today was climbing the weather monitoring station. It is 120 feet high, so well above the tree tops. Huge ships were coming in and out of the bay and I could see Annapolis where we will go Friday to tour the Naval Academy. On the top of it are solar panels that measure the radiation from the sun, a sun tracking device, and an anamometer to measure wind speed and direction. There are also carbon dioxide monitors on the tower and at ground level. Why do you think they are measuring these factors? Ospreys live around here and could choose to nest up on this tower. They are a protected bird, so if that happens there is nothing that can be done about it. There are wire spikes to discourage that. There is a video of the tower nad photos of the equipment mentioned below. What questions do you have?
Labels: SERC Campus and Forest Work
posted by Mrs. Barden @ 8:29 PM
3 Comments
