The BOREAS Information System
P.I.(s): Michael Apps -- Forestry Canada
Co-I(s): D. Price, W. Kurz -- Forestry Canada
Objectives: Ecological and climatic controls on annual carbon cycling in boreal forest ecosystems to landscape level will be incorporated in process-driven linkages to an existing larger scale carbon budget model of the Canadian forest sector. Scaling of process controls on net ecosystem productivity will be performed both spatially and temporally to match the ecological/climatological classification and annual time step resolution of the CBM-CFS, using a metamodel (response surface) approach. Annual changes in forest ecosystem C pools (soils, litter and biomass), explicitly accounting for the influence of disturbances, will be simulated to provide estimates of annual carbon fluxes with the atmosphere (and within the terrestrial carbon pools) along a transect which extends beyond the Northern Study Area to the subarctic woodland (Gillam Manitoba) and south of the Southern Study Area to the aspen parkland carbon pools at selected pure stands of the dominant species, at mixed wood stands at the southern and northern BOREAS study areas, and at sites in the mid-transect region will be used to test the model synthesis. Subject to funding confirmation, biometry and allometry measurements will be made in these stands in conjunction with other BOREAS investigators (TE-6, TE-7) to provide the observational database for these validations. The sites will be selected to reinforce other TE measurements and tower flux measurements and will be part of the Forestry Canada contribution to the core measurements program.
Objectives:
Examination of annual carbon cycling, carbon storage.
Data Collected:
Basic forest mensuration, providing samples of overstory composition (species, diameters, heights, and crown dimensions), understory vegetation (percent cover by species), detritus (detrital mass), and soil conditions. In cooperation with TE-6, detailed allometry was also carried out at selected sites.
Methods Used:
For overstory, a combination of point sampling methods and fixed area plots provide the sample of trees used in the analysis. This sample allows estimation of stand basal area, stem density, DBH distributions, stem volume, and above-ground biomass. Selected trees were cored, for dendrochronology work. Understory vegetation was measured using fixed- area plots, providing information on species presence and abundance. Detritus on the forest floor was measured using the line intersect method, allowing estimates of total detrital mass (and carbon storage) in a range of diameter classes. Soil pits were excavated to depths of up to 1 m at each site, and samples collected for particle size, organic matter, and nutrient analysis.
Places and Times of Measurement:
Sampling was carried out at all auxiliary sites, and all sites with Terrestrial Ecology (canopy access) towers, plus a few flux tower sites. These sites include transect sites, in between the NSA and SSA. In total, nearly 100 sites were visited, with three sampling points within each site. Each site was visited once in either 1993 or 1994. Slightly less than half of the sites were visited in July-September 1993, with the remaining site being visited in the period May-October 1994. Allometry harvesting was carried out in August 1994, in cooperation with TE-6. These measurements were done at a subset of the auxiliary sites (listed as carbon evaluation sites in the Experimental Plan).
Known Problems or Caveats:
Possible inconsistencies between 1993 and 1994 measurements. Some of the variables (e.g. understory vegetation cover) are time-dependent, and comparison between sites must take this into account. Most of the variables are fairly constant in time and the period over which measurements were taken should not be a problem.
Other Information:
The dataset provides an extensive survey of general forest characteristics over nearly all the BOREAS sites (plus a few not included in the Experimental Plan).
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Last Updated: October 29, 1997