Changes in boreal forest mineral soil characteristics over a quarter century across a primary and secondary successional series

Printer-friendly version

Documenting changes in mineral soil properties over various time periods appears at first to be fairly straightforward.  One would expect that spatial variability could be minimized if the time sequence of soil sampling was restricted to a relatively small landscape area. That is the technique that was originally proposed in the first Bonanza Creek Long-term Ecological Research project in interior Alaska. The first set of soil descriptions and samples were conducted in 1988.  Almost 25 years later, we conducted a second series of soil descriptions and sampling, very near (within 2 meters) the first series.  In this poster, we show initial comparisons of the two time periods with regards to physical (soil descriptions, texture and bulk density) and chemical (C and N) properties. This analysis will help to show our ability to view changes in the mineral soils that might be a result of vegetation succession, climate change dynamics or a combination that has occurred.