Things you need to know before you get to the site...
Dressing Appropriately
I don't have a thing to wear! Because of inclement weather, poison-ivy, and uneven terrain, it is VERY important that you dress appropriately for the field! Warm clothes, hats, gloves, sturdy shoes with tread, warm and tall socks, and long pants (but not too long) are all GOOD.
Forest ecosystems are very dynamic. Changes are always taking place. One plant species replaces another plant species. As the plant community changes so may the animal community. Scientists call this orderly and progressive replacement of one type of plant community with another succession.
A very common type of successional pattern resulting in a forest is called old-field succession. After agricultural fields are abandoned, they slowly revert back to forest. Initially, grasses and short-lived, shade intolerant trees invade the site. These species gradually die out and are replaced by longer living species and species that replace themselves.
A good example of old-field succession is abandoned tobacco farms which are initially invaded by herbaceous plants (e.g. grasses) , followed by pine species (e.g. loblolly pine, Virginia pine) and some early successional hardwoods (e.g. sweetgum, yellow-poplar). Without further disturbances, pines start to die out after 50 years or so, and oaks eventually dominate.s
Successional patterns also take place after large disturbances such as a fire. Many pine species depend on fire to reset succession. In the absence of fire these pine species eventually give way to hardwoods in Virginia forests. Timber harvesting actually mimics this natural system, resetting the successional clock to young pine (although the pines are usually in rows).
If you stop timber harvesting and fires, what trees would eventually dominate Virginia forests?
Soils across the US have been mapped and classified according to their chemical and physical properties. The smallest unit of classification is the soil series. The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) provides offical soil series descriptions. You will be visiting and sampling soils of the Mattapex series, except for Veg plots 18 and 19, which are on the very similar Matapeake series.
Soils at the refuge have been heavily impacted by human activity. While there, you will have opportunity to sample one of three soils. One area was a woodlot, and was (we think) not farmed. One area was farmland that was somewhat recently abandoned... guess what is growing there now. The third area has not been farmed for a very long time. How might these cultural practices influence the soil? Which site do you think is the most eroded?
While at the Refuge, you will be augering the soil to reconstruct a soil profile. Do you expect large color changes between soil horizons?
Historical Ecology
Mason Neck has been inhabited for a very long time, first by the Dogue Tribe, later by the family of George Mason. Throughout the 1700's, 1800's and early 1900's, the land was farmed and harvested for pine and hardwood timber. The 1960's brought the threat of subdivision and development to the peninsula. Citizen groups achieved the establishment of the Wildlife Refuge in 1969.
REALLY IMPORTANT Stuff That You Need To Think About:
Because of the varied land use of the past and lack of recent disturbance, we are presented with a unique opportunity to examine historical ecology. This is your opportunity to help us learn.
Potential Hypotheses:
Farming has no influence on soil physical properties.
Tree species composition does not change with time since field abandonment.
Trees of the same diameter are the same age.
Old woodlots are less diverse than recently abandoned land.
As a scientist, are there any questions that you want to investigate?
