You are here

Home » Data & Archives

Harvard Forest Data Archive

HF207

Fuel Loading in Simulated Hurricane Experiment at Harvard Forest since 1993

Related Publications

Data

Overview

  • Lead: Joel Carlson, Audrey Barker Plotkin
  • Investigators: David Foster, William Patterson
  • Contact: Information Manager
  • Start date: 1993
  • End date: 2020
  • Status: ongoing
  • Location: Tom Swamp Tract (Harvard Forest)
  • Latitude: +42.49 degrees
  • Longitude: -72.20 degrees
  • Elevation: 310 meter
  • Datum: WGS84
  • Taxa: Acer rubrum (red maple), Betula lenta (black birch), Quercus rubra (red oak)
  • Release date: 2023
  • Language: English
  • EML file: knb-lter-hfr.207.11
  • DOI: digital object identifier
  • EDI: data package
  • DataONE: data package
  • Related links:
  • Study type: long-term measurement
  • Research topic: large experiments and permanent plot studies; physiological ecology, population dynamics and species interactions
  • LTER core area: disturbance patterns
  • Keywords: hurricane damage, tree maps, tree mortality, vegetation dynamics, wind
  • Abstract:

    Wind disturbance profoundly shapes temperate forests but few studies have evaluated patterns and mechanisms of long-term forest dynamics following major windthrows. In 1990, we initiated a large hurricane simulation experiment in a 0.8 ha manipulation (pulldown) and 0.6 ha control area of a maturing Quercus rubra-Acer rubrum forest in New England. We toppled 276 trees in the pulldown, using a winch and cable, in the northwesterly direction of natural treefall from major hurricanes. Eighty percent of canopy trees and two-thirds of all trees greater than 5 cm dbh suffered direct and indirect damage.

    An enormous input of dead wood was one result of the manipulation. Many perceive an increased risk of wildfire after trees are blown down, but this depends on the amount, size, and persistence of the dead wood inputs.

  • Methods:

    Dead wood volumes were estimated using data from a fuel-loading survey. We followed planar intersect methods of Brown (Brown, J. K. 1974. Handbook for inventorying downed woody material. USDA Forest Service General Technical Report INT-16.), except that rooted (but dead) pieces were included (e.g. partially uprooted trees and their branches). Downed woody material was tallied in size classes categorized by how long they take to dry:

    1-hour fuels = 0-0.6 cm. 10-hour fuels = 0.6-2.5 cm. 100-hour fuels = 2.5-7.6 cm. 1000-hour fuels are greater than 7.6 cm, and their individual diameters are measured, and were additionally classified as "sound" or "rotten."

    In 1993, twelve 16 m long planar transects were sampled in the pulldown, and sixteen in the control. Pieces greater than 7.6 cm were tallied along the entire transect, whereas fine fuels (1, 10 and 100-hour categories) were tallied along the first 10m of each transect. The downed wood pieces were also categorized by height above the ground (0-0.25m; 0.25-0.50m; 0.5-1.0m; 1.0-2.0m; greater than 2m).

    In addition, fuel depth (distance from the base of the litter to the highest intersection of downed, dead wood at the point) and duff depth (distance from the base of the litter to the top of the mineral soil) were recorded at 0m, 5m and 10m along each transect. In 1993, duff depth was measured only at 0m and 5m.

    This survey was repeated in 1998, 2010, 2015, and 2020. Volume of coarse woody debris can be calculated from pieces greater than 7.6 cm diameter, which corresponds to the "1000-hour" category.

  • Organization: Harvard Forest. 324 North Main Street, Petersham, MA 01366, USA. Phone (978) 724-3302. Fax (978) 724-3595.

  • Project: The Harvard Forest Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) program examines ecological dynamics in the New England region resulting from natural disturbances, environmental change, and human impacts. (ROR).

  • Funding: National Science Foundation LTER grants: DEB-8811764, DEB-9411975, DEB-0080592, DEB-0620443, DEB-1237491, DEB-1832210.

  • Use: This dataset is released to the public under Creative Commons CC0 1.0 (No Rights Reserved). Please keep the dataset creators informed of any plans to use the dataset. Consultation with the original investigators is strongly encouraged. Publications and data products that make use of the dataset should include proper acknowledgement.

  • License: Creative Commons Zero v1.0 Universal (CC0-1.0)

  • Citation: Carlson J, Barker Plotkin A. 2023. Fuel Loading in Simulated Hurricane Experiment at Harvard Forest since 1993. Harvard Forest Data Archive: HF207 (v.11). Environmental Data Initiative: https://doi.org/10.6073/pasta/7c20560f06b7080b3d58b89d13a27d0f.

Detailed Metadata

hf207-01: coarse woody debris

  1. year: year
  2. plot: plot
    • Control: control
    • Pulldown: pulldown
  3. tran: transect (1-12 in the Pulldown; 1-16 in the Control)
  4. t.length: transect length, which is 16 m in all cases (unit: meter / missing value: NA)
  5. diameter.1: diameter of the downed wood piece where it intersects the transect (unit: centimeter / missing value: NA)
  6. diameter.2: diameter of the downed wood piece measured perpendicular to diameter.1 (unit: centimeter / missing value: NA)
  7. diameter.avg: elliptical average of diameter.1 and diameter.2 (unit: centimeter / missing value: NA)
  8. decay.cl: decay class
    • rotten: rotten
    • sound: sound
  9. height: height
    • 1: 0-0.25m above the ground
    • 2: 0.25-0.5m above the ground
    • 3: 0.5 – 1.0m above the ground
    • 4: 1.0-2.0m above the ground
    • 5: more than 2m above the ground
  10. species: species. Recorded beginning in 2010; some rotten pieces' species weren’t identifiable
    • ACRU: Acer rubrum
    • BELE: Betula lenta
    • BEPA: Betula papyrifera
    • CADE: Castanea dentata
    • CASP: Carya species
    • FRAM: Fraxinus americana
    • PIST: Pinus strobus
    • QURU: Quercus rubra
  11. volume: volume. Calculated using equation 7 from Harmon & Sexton (Harmon, M.E. and J. Sexton. 1996. Guidelines for measurements of woody detritus in forest ecosystems) to determine the volume: V = 9.869 * Sum of (d2/8L), where V is volume (m3/m2) d is round diameter divided by 100 (to give diameter in meters) L is transect length (m) (unit: meterCubedPerMeterSquared / missing value: NA)

hf207-02: fine fuels

  1. year: year
  2. plot: plot
    • Control: control
    • Pulldown: pulldown
  3. transect: transect (1-12 in the Pulldown; 1-16 in the Control)
  4. size.class: size class
    • 1: 0-0.6 cm
    • 10: 0.6-2.5 cm
    • 100: 2.5-7.6 cm
  5. height: height
    • 1: 0-0.25m above the ground
    • 2: 0.25-0.5m above the ground
    • 3: 0.5 – 1.0m above the ground
    • 4: 1.0-2.0m above the ground
    • 5: more than 2m above the ground
  6. number: number of pieces in that combination of size and height class (unit: number / missing value: NA)

hf207-03: transect locations, fuel depth & duff depth

  1. year: year
  2. plot: plot
    • Control: control
    • Pulldown: pulldown
  3. transect: transect (1-12 in the Pulldown; 1-16 in the Control)
  4. location: Location (0m, 5m or 10m along the transect) (unit: meter / missing value: NA)
  5. fuel.depth: fuel depth, in centimeters. The distance from the base of the litter to the highest intersection of downed, dead wood at the point location along the transect. (unit: centimeter / missing value: NA)
  6. duff.depth: duff depth, in millimeters. The distance from the base of the litter to the top of the mineral soil at the point location along the transect (unit: millimeter / missing value: NA)
  7. start.x: X coordinate of the starting point of the transect, based on the plot grid within the pulldown or control, 0-50m (unit: meter / missing value: NA)
  8. start.y: Y coordinate of the starting point of the transect, based on the plot grid within the pulldown or control, 0-160m for the pulldown, or 0-120m for the control. (unit: meter / missing value: NA)
  9. azimuth: direction of the transect, 0-359 degrees (unit: degree / missing value: NA)