Redwood Reader

Modelling an Untended Scottish Forest Ecosystem
Utilising Standard and Customised Softwarehttp://www.iemss.org/iemss2002/proceedings/pdf/volume%20tre/411_krivtsov.pdf.
Modelling an Untended Scottish Forest Ecosystem
Utilising Standard and Customised Software
Two important developments in our efforts to educate the public in a new way of seeing forests and land use in general came to our attention this week. As has been our aim to convince people a key component, glomalin, has been missing in discussions over land use, especially as relates to erosion control, and in the carbon and water cycles. We have tracked this story since 2002 and written nearly two years about incorp0orating this important discovery into natural resource and land management issues. It also is a key factor in climate change issue but offers solutions and opportunities at nearly every step.
The first is the first report I have seen incorporating glomalin as simply a parameter in a forested setting, just as we’d hoped. Of course we can talk about a wide variety of approaches to the mountains of unknowns to the countables, as soil fungi surveys show. Glomalin is included in the computer modeling. This is an important advance as land managers of different stripes learn from each other. The researchers have included various sampling soil markers,:
Their golas were to collect forest ecosystem data, using customizable software to observe
quantifiable interactions, and create a dynamic model capable of representing different aspects of the ecosystem.
This shows the need for technical expertise, as glomalin extraction alone is a difficult laboratory process, several other procedures are called for, data needs entry into meaningful equations and the results need to be at least intellectually and scientifically useful.
At the same time, trained professionals are often too close to their own specialty to see larger systems, and we often see research that wouldn’t occur if some of this knowledge were already widely known. We see need for solutions and for clear understanding of what is at stake in land, forest, fish, wildlife, and air-and water-quality issues. So we keep on plugging. Many thanks to www.blogspot.com for hosting this site, our only contribution.
Modelling an Untended Scottish Forest Ecosystem
Utilising Standard and Customised Software
S.J.J. Walkera, R. Watlingb, H.J. Stainesa, A.Garsidea, D. Knottb, J.W. Palfreymana and V. Krivtsova
“• Estimation of total microbial biomass through differences in Abs 280nm levels between fumigated and control samples.
• Estimation of fungal biomass utilising the biomarkers Glomalin and Ergosterol.
• Estimation of bacteria numbers.
• pH of soil.
• Soil and surface litter composition.
• Leaf decomposition (using mesh bags).
• Patterns of fungal succession from sporome observations.
Among the systems under investigation is estimation of fungal biomass utilising the fungal biomarkers, Ergosterol and Glomalin. By modelling the Glomalin subsystem, it may be possible to predict the extent of soil aggregation in different forests based on their tree and under story composition.”
The importance and presence of fungi and bacteria are clear from the outset of the study. Solid background data will need collection, and I would say depth of glomalin would be an essential component. It may be detectable through ground radar or other water moisure models, or simply coring a wide number of sites. Fungal identification may not be as important as overall abundance for various reasons depending on goals, but understanding succession and seasonality will require a lot of detective work, lots of it already collected and awaiting interpretation. We expect major improvements in forest growth once mycorhizzia inoculation becomes a serious area of research. The authors end: It is our feeling that Scottish forests should be managed in a more natural way, to improve conservation and attract rare species of fungi. The attraction of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi to areas of clear felling and grassland may reduce soil erosion and improve conditions for sustainable crop growth.
In general, the results of this study will enhance our understanding of forest ecosystem dynamics and hopefully improve management practices to reduce human impact on the environment. Timber production in Scotland will double over the next 15 years to nearly 8 million m3 per year [Forestry Commission, statistics published on the internet]. With some adaptation, the models may be applied to those forest areas where intense management is practiced. With further adaptaion, the models may also be applied to temperate forests in general.
And then, the announcement of biology professor Stephen Stillet as the new Kenneth L. Fisher Chair position at HSU to study Redwood Forest Ecology!
A Chariman Among the Treetops http://www.times-standard.com/local/ci_3476331
The Times-Standard 02/04/06 HSU forestry alumnus Kenneth L. Fisher, founder and CEO of Fisher Investments, donated an investment fund of 3.2 million dollars in order to earn $90,000 a year for the position, for at least two years. He did this because he feels there is a lot to learn yet about the redwood forest. It allows one professor to do research as well as hire several graduate students. We are certain that our information, a dedicated team and that kind of money will get results worth writing home about. We of course, would like to see a bunch of folks take this opportunity to open discussion and start funding projects, and seeing the possibilities of technology transfer that are opening up in supplying necessary microbes for optimal growth in good conditions and competitive advantage in stressful situations, like drought, and glomalins critical role at the crux of the soil, atmosphere and precipitation regimes. We point out that much of the research so far started with USDA money, and Rillig worked under DOE contracts for several years. The number of hits on glomalin now exceeds 14,000 (we started at twelve) and there is plenty of private interests, like Save-the-Redwoods, that fund studies. An immense amount of work is waiting interest, including cataloguing the observations listed collections like the Humboldt Mycological Society’s proceedings in the HSU libraries. We have said before this discovery may well yield research, departments and industries.