Long-term changes in forest soils of Maine and Illinois
type: CreativeWork
description: Soil formation is a complex process that varies with climate, relief, parent material, organisms, and time. Most soil genesis and weathering experiments are short-term and focus on addressing primarily climate, relief, parent material, or organism as a single factor. Long-term soil genesis experiments are rare and are designed to evaluate the factor of time. There is a need to apply experimental designs of long-term soil studies to different ecosystems such as forests due to their crucial role in carbon sequestration and to maintain forest productivity. The overall objective of this study was to understand how forest soils change on a long-term basis by utilizing ecosystems in Maine and Illinois. Specific objectives were to: 1) determine chemical changes in an upland forest soil in central Illinois in response to reduced acidic deposition inputs; 2) assess chemical changes in a bottomland floodplain soil in central Illinois that receives periodic sediment inputs; and 3) examine soil formation processes in a Maine spruce-fir soil. This thesis is divided into two parts based on field site locations and experimental designs from previous studies: 1) a study utilizing buried soil-bags at Howland, Maine, and 2) a resampling of soils at Robert Allerton Park, Monticello, Illinois. A study of organic matter quantity and quality in 1992 was utilized for the buried soil-bags study in a commercial spruce-fir forested plot at Howland, Maine. Soils at the study site have thick organic horizons and well developed E horizons. Sixty soil-bags were constructed in 1992 using C horizon material from a large soil pit in the plot, and placed directly beneath the Oa horizon in groups of five at 12 locations (sampling was planned to occur five times). Additional bags were placed in the center of the Bhs horizon. Another set of bags filled with acid-washed commercial sand were also installed at that time at the same locations. A total of thirty-six incubated soil-bags were retrieved in 200…
abstract: Soil formation is a complex process that varies with climate, relief, parent material, organisms, and time. Most soil genesis and weathering experiments are short-term and focus on addressing primarily climate, relief, parent material, or organism as a single factor. Long-term soil genesis experiments are rare and are designed to evaluate the factor of time. There is a need to apply experimental designs of long-term soil studies to different ecosystems such as forests due to their crucial role in carbon sequestration and to maintain forest productivity. The overall objective of this study was to understand how forest soils change on a long-term basis by utilizing ecosystems in Maine and Illinois. Specific objectives were to: 1) determine chemical changes in an upland forest soil in central Illinois in response to reduced acidic deposition inputs; 2) assess chemical changes in a bottomland floodplain soil in central Illinois that receives periodic sediment inputs; and 3) examine soil formation processes in a Maine spruce-fir soil. This thesis is divided into two parts based on field site locations and experimental designs from previous studies: 1) a study utilizing buried soil-bags at Howland, Maine, and 2) a resampling of soils at Robert Allerton Park, Monticello, Illinois. A study of organic matter quantity and quality in 1992 was utilized for the buried soil-bags study in a commercial spruce-fir forested plot at Howland, Maine. Soils at the study site have thick organic horizons and well developed E horizons. Sixty soil-bags were constructed in 1992 using C horizon material from a large soil pit in the plot, and placed directly beneath the Oa horizon in groups of five at 12 locations (sampling was planned to occur five times). Additional bags were placed in the center of the Bhs horizon. Another set of bags filled with acid-washed commercial sand were also installed at that time at the same locations. A total of thirty-six incubated soil-bags were retrieved in 200…
author: Tsai, Jenwei
language: en
keywords: Forest Soils, Long-term studies, Maine, Illinois
date published: 2011-05-25T14:58:18Z
date modified: 2026-07-22T22:25:23Z
provider: University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

PropertyValue
property ID: Handle
value: http://hdl.handle.net/2142/24035