All posts by Greg Wiles

The Cooper Plots – Ecological Succession in Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve, Alaska

I recently had the pleasure to work with a team of ecologists for eight days in Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve. The point of the trip was to reoccupy and expand investigations of the Cooper Plots established over 100 years ago in the wake of the retreating ice in the West Arm. A nice rundown of this ecological succession work is presented here on Glacier Hub. The ecology team recently published on their rediscovery of the plots, which was heroic considering the immense lands, intense brush and  sometimes cryptic description of the plot locations.

The accommodations and views in the West Arm of Glacier Bay were spectacular. Logistics of the project were supported by the National Park Service, who we gratefully acknowledge.

The team of ecologists included (left to right) Drs. Allison Bidlack (Director, Alaska Coastal Rainforest Center, University of Alaska Southeast), Sarah Bisbing (University of Nevada – Reno) and Brian Buma (University of Alaska Southeast). I was along to core trees at the sites (Wooster Tree Ring Lab) and to measure the size of alders.

Sarah and Brian cordon off one of Cooper’s 1-meter plots with string so we don’t trample the vegetation. Sarah reals out a 15-meter tape with Allison on……

https://woostergeologists.scotblogs.wooster.edu

The Northern Pacific Coastal Temperate Rainforest (PCTR)

The high rainfall and high coastal ranges nourish the icefields of southern Alaska along and with the extensive carbon-rich forests and ecosystems of the Northern Pacific Coastal Temperate Rainforest (PCTR).

Chris surveys the North Pacific noting the extensive moisture source and ocean pasture that is just offshore of the terrestrial ecosystems we are studying.

Malisse sits atop a shore pine, another slow growing coastal species that is experiencing potential decline.

Kerensa sites atop an obducted ophiolite – we were 71% sure that there were pillows in the basalt.

Josh cores another Alaska Yellow cedar – we were able to sample three sites in the Juneau area. These cedars are in decline due to warming and loss of snowpack, which makes their fine roots vulnerable to frost. Our objective is to work up the tree-ring record of the sites to contribute to our understanding of the decline.

Alora takes a break from taking notes and GPS coordinates for each tree.

Ice caves fund to explore and act as a conduit to meltwater and warm air accelerating the melt.

Blue the dog – takes a break from pursuing porcupines in the muskeg.

Nick of the Ophiolite.

Kerensa wades through the deep texture of coastal carbon.

Buried forests emerge from the wasting margin of……..

https://woostergeologists.scotblogs.wooster.edu

Dating the Tracy House (Apple Creek, OH)

Climate Change 2017 is pleased to have been asked to date the Tracy House, Apple Creek Ohio. The log house/cabin is now stored in the soon to be Apple Creek Community Center and Library will be reassembled this coming summer. The date is unambiguous and most of the timber was cut after the growing season of 1826 and it is likely that the house was originally constructed in 1827, one of the first to be built in the East Union Township. A copy of our report can be found here.

Maddie cores an old growth living tree to help assemble a calendar dated tree ring chronology.
Dean extracts a core from a beam of the Tracy House under the watchful eye of Annette – the TA, as Conner looks on.
Extracting a core being careful to preserve the outer ring of the core (don’t bend the extractor John).
Another successful core extracted.

Originally posted to the Wooster Geologists blog.

Coring Brown’s Lake Bog

Two class projects kick off the Climate Change 2017 course. The first deals with tree-ring dating (dendrochronology, blog post coming soon) of historical structures and then analyzing the tree-rings for their climate significance. The second is is shown below and it concerned with analyzing sediment cores from Browns Lake Bog that document climate variability since the last Ice Age. Below are some photos of the bog coring – great thanks to Dr. Tom Lowell and his Glacial Geology class from the University of Cincinnati – the folks who did most of the work.

Setting up the coring rig at Browns Lake – early in the day snow covered the ground by 4 pm it was gone (albedo feedback in play).
The core boss (Dr. Tom Lowell) oversees the extraction of another meter of mud from the bog.
Extracting peat – the upper 5 meters or so are peat (significant amount of sphagnum moss and carbon). Note the trees, it is not a sphagnum bog now here.
Setting up the production line and assigning teams and tasks.

 

Coring a tree to determine the recruitment time – the hypothesis is that these trees moved into the bog recently (past 200 years) – the first trees here since the Ice Age. This nutrient limited bog was fertilized by wind blown dust during European Settlement allowing these vascular plants to obtain a foothold in the previously sphagnum moss dominated bog.

 

Hey there is a Wooster student – good job Ben. This white oak is growing on the top of a kame and it has witnessed the changes in the climate and land use for the last 300 years.

 

Nick samples the bog water for its isotopic composition. This is work done in collaboration with isotope geologists at the University of Cincinnati.

Post originally published on the Wooster Geologists blog.