| Principal Investigator: | Osawa, Akira (28) |
| Licence Number: | 15757 |
| Organization: | Kyoto University, Graduate School of Agriculture |
| Licensed Year(s): |
2019
2018
2016
2015
2013
2012
2011
2010
2009
2008
2007
2006
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| Issued: | Sep 17, 2015 |
| Project Team: | Yojiro Matsuura, Nahoko Osawa-Kurachi, Akira Kato, Mouctar Kamara, Atsushi Un'no, Yushi Mochizuki, Jiyoung An, Souichirou Fujii, Shota Miura, Mizuki Taga, Hatena Osawa |
Objective(s): To collect data in jack pine and in lesser extent black spruce forests on annual movement of organic matter and carbon; and, to continue the study of stand development and its relationship to environmental factors (a discipline called ‘silvichronology’).
Project Description: The objectives of the 2015 field work are two-fold: one is to collect data in jack pine and in lesser extent black spruce forests on annual movement of organic matter and carbon; the other is to continue the study of stand development and its relationship to environmental factors (a discipline called ‘silvichronology’). For the former objective, the research team will continue measurement of the growth of fine roots and amount of aboveground litter. For the latter, the research team plan to collect stem disk samples from about a dozen trees of various sizes at one stand of mixed jack pine and black spruce for the analysis of stand development of patterns. Additionally, changes in stand structure of some jack pine stands due to wind storm of 2013 will be assessed with the ground-based 3-dimensional laser technology by re-measuring the same stands that were examined in 2012. Four methods will be used. 1) Soil and air temperature will be measured with sensors and data loggers. 2) Aboveground forest litter will be collected with the litter traps. 3) Annual growth of fine roots will be estimated by setting the ingrowth cores and litter bags on forest floor in the study plots. 4) The research team plan to conduct 3D laser measurement to describe stand structure of some permanent plots of jack pine that are in the Park. Trees in these plots were affected by wind storms of 2013, and substantial numbers were broken or uprooted. a. Collected samples will be weighed, then their subsamples of aboveground litter and tree organs will be brought to the laboratories in Kyoto University, and Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute of Japan for detailed examination. Upon completion of analysis, all samples will be destroyed. b. Samples of aboveground litter and tree organs will be sorted, air-dried, and the mass being measured where appropriate while at the base camp (in town of Fort Smith). Air-drying will keep quality of the samples until detailed examination in the laboratory. c. Aboveground litter samples will be oven-dried at the laboratory for dry mass determination. Samples of tree organs for examination of tree-rings will be kept at air-dry condition until measurement to prevent deterioration. A member of the research team will give a presentation of the work in the Park or in other regions in the circumpolar boreal forest (Finland, Estonia, Siberia, or Alaska) at Aurora College or at Wood Buffalo National Park Headquarters in Fort Smith. The research team will consider giving a presentation of the research in Fort Smith. The team are also ready to be interviewed by local newspapers for an explanatory article which has been done a few times in the past. The fieldwork for this study will be conducted from September 17, 2015 to December 31, 2015.
