JUNE 2012
The string of good news continues! The American Philosophical Society awarded me the Lewis and Clark Fund for Exploration and Field Research! This award allows me to start work that I did not think would be possible until next year. I will now be able to purchase long term data loggers w/ sensors for temperature, moisture, and relative humidity. My goal is to set up four preliminary long term microhabitat monitoring stations in both Wayne National Forest and the Great Smokey Mountains National Park. Each station will be contained within one of my 1 m^2 plots. I will place a HOBO Micro station with one soil moisture sensor placed into the top 5m of soil of open ground (not covered by rocks, logs, etc.) and one soil moisture sensor into the top 5 cm of soil under a cover object. I will also place three temp ibuttons to record temperature 20 cm below ground, 5 cm below ground, and in the leaf litter. Finally, I will use a temp/humidity ibutton to record temperature and relative humidity just above ground level. Each station will be able to record data continuously every hour for over 6 months. These will be critically important data. Hopefully, I can increase the number of stations next year.
For now, I will start collecting data and refining my methods!
Add A Comment