Tomorrow we will set up another lab urease incubation experiment and go back out to GB to quantify soil respiration for species specific soils.
Monday, May 4, 2009
Not a predator in sight but a good day in the field.
Today we hit Gardiner Basin to sample the restoration exclosure prior to seeding with barley and to quantify soil respiration in our field simulated bovine urine experiment. Using a solar powered pump and CO2 Infrared gas analyzer we can quantify the flux of CO2 from the soil. After a few technical difficulties and several clouds we were able to quantify soil respiration in the GB agricultural field and the native remnant (still has invasives but has not been impacted by tilling). We are starting to get data sets analyzed and things are shaping up quite well. In brief, Alyssum desertorum inhibits fungal growth and in soils in which ALDE dominates the response of soil microbes to SBU is reduced. We have layed out several experiments that we will conduct after we return to campus and several still in the works for the last few days that we are here. The video below shows the stark contrast in weather from a few days ago.
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We have added a few new species to our list, making out total 53 species, so far. Our newest birds are:
ReplyDeleteCommon Merganser
American Pipit
Western Meadowlark
We also saw a large flock of what looked like either Canvasback or Redhead Ducks, but we didn't slow down long enough for me to see the necessary field marks, so that sighting won't make it onto the list.