Vacant lot plant establishment techniques alter urban soil ecosystem services (3.102242)
Date: June 2021Creator: Midgley, Meghan G.
Type: Article
Biochar Research at Morton Arboretum (3.103255)
Date: September 24 2021Type: Document
Description:Copy of an interview with Soil Ecologist Meghan Midgley and Research Coordinator Michelle Catania published on The Climate Toolkit's website (climatetoolkit.org) about biochar research at The Morton Arboretum.
Decay rates of leaf litters from arbuscular mycorrhizal trees are more sensitive to soil effects than litters from ectomycorrhizal trees (3.55357)
Date: 2015Creator: Midgley, Meghan G.
Type: Article
Phosphorus cycling in deciduous forest soil differs between stands dominated by ecto- and arbuscular mycorrhizal trees (3.55394)
Date: 2016Creator: Midgley, Meghan G.
Type: Article
Resource stoichiometry and the biogeochemical consequences of nitrogen deposition in a mixed deciduous forest (3.55399)
Date: 2016Creator: Midgley, Meghan G.
Type: Article
Summer 2018 Forestry Plots: Leaf Habit versus Mycorrhizal Fungi Association: A Framework for Predicting Temperate Tree Species Effects on Soil (3.57672)
Date: 2018Type: Dataset
Description:
Tree species affect the biogeochemistry of soil differently. Understanding these effects provides not only insight into current forest function, but also better informs predictions of how shifting forest composition will influence soils in the future. Our objective was to assess if a tree species’ phylogenetic leaf habit or mycorrhizal fungi association is a better predictor of soil biogeochemistry in temperate forests. This study took place in single-species forestry plots throughout the Morton Arboretum (DuPage County, IL). Plots varied by leaf habit (evergreen or deciduous) and known mycorrhizal fungi association (ectomycorrhizal or arbuscular). We collected a composite sample of four cores per plot in June 2018 from both the forest floor (0-5 cm) and mineral soil (5-15 cm) layers. The soil layers were analyzed separately using a two-way ANOVA (P < 0.05, DF=1). We found that both leaf habit and mycorrhizal fungi association can predict a tree’s effects upon soil, and that which factor is the better predictor depends on the nutrient process being measured. In both soil layers, leaf habit predicts percent organic matter (P= 0.0128) and carbon mineralization (P= 0.0095). A linear regression suggested that carbon mineralization is driven by percent organic matter (R² = 0.7482, P= 5.079 e -12). Both leaf habit and type of mycorrhizal fungi association predict C:N ratio in the forest floor layer (Leaf P= 0.0263, Fungi P= 0.0005). Type of mycorrhizal association predicted differences in forest floor pH (P= 0.0001). A linear regression suggested that 30% of differences in pH were driven by exchangeable calcium (Ca2+) (R² = 0.3038, P= 0.0004943). As arbuscular associating trees (usually deciduous) become more dominant in the Chicago region, a trait based framework for predicting soil nutrient changes could aid in the management and mitigation of nutrient cycling and overall ecosystem productivity.
Foliar Nutrient Concentrations of Understory Plants in a Chronically Fertilized Lowland Tropical Wet Forest in Costa Rica (3.57734)
Date: 2018Type: Dataset
Description:
Nutrient availability influences key processes for plants in all ecosystems with nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) most limiting terrestrial ecosystems. Foliar N and P concentrations have been commonly used as indicators of plant nutritional status. Tropical forests are known to have the highest foliar N:P globally which mirrors a greater degree of P limitation compared to other forests. We tested how plants respond to chronic N and P fertilization by analyzing soil and foliar N and P concentrations from a long term fertilization experiment in Costa Rica. As foliar nutrient concentrations often reflect soil nutrient availability, we had found that this may not have been the case for our samples. Total soil N had not changed significantly but foliar N was affected. We also found that available soil P had increased with chronic fertilization but foliar P was unaffected. There was an overall species effect on foliar nutrient concentrations reflecting the plant specific response to nutrient additions. Here we have added to the knowledge of how plants in tropical forests respond to changes in nutrient availability is important to predict how they will respond to anthropogenic alterations in nutrient cycles, such as N deposition.
Phylogenetic Diversity (3.60007)
Date: 2018Creator: Bowles, Marlin L., Hipp, Andrew, Midgley, Meghan G., Scharenbroch, Bryant C., Glasenhardt, Mary-Claire, Garner, Mira, Wagreich, Hayley
Type: Book
Extent: pages 189-210
Prescription side effects: Long-term, high-frequency controlled burning enhances nitrogen availability in an Illinois oak-dominated forest (3.60021)
Date: 2018Creator: Taylor, Quinn, Midgley, Meghan G.
Type: Article
Research Brief: Prescription side effects: Long-term, high-frequency controlled burning enhances nitrogen availability in an Illinois oak-dominated forest (3.60022)
Date: 2018Creator: Midgley, Meghan G., Taylor, Quinn
Type: Article
A trait-based framework for understanding how and why litter decay and resource stoichiometry promote biogeochemical syndromes in arbuscular- and ectomycorrhizal-dominated forests (3.60062)
Date: 2016Creator: Midgley, Meghan G.
Type: Article
The Impacts of Fine Root Mass and Soil Nitrogen Availability on Nitrogen Uptake Rate in Trees (3.67056)
Date: 2019Type: Dataset
Description:
Recent developments in Earth System Models have granted researchers attempting to model global climate change significant new ability (Fisher et al., 2017). These models use carbon dioxide output and sequestration rates to calculate atmospheric CO2 levels and the Earth’s potential to trap heat (Dybzinski, 2019). However, the models are only as good as the assumptions they make; due to a lack of research into the topic, different terrestrial models commonly make contradictory assumptions about the roles of nitrogen availability and fine root mass in a tree’s rate of nitrogen uptake, leading to inaccuracy and inconsistency (Dybzinski et al., 2019). As most of North American tree growth is nitrogen-limited, the rate at which a particular species is able to absorb nitrogen is critical to its ability to grow and take up carbon--and to the models aiming to predict these rates. In this study, we attempted to quantify the true roles of each factor in tree nitrogen uptake rate and predicted that nitrogen availability would have far greater effect than fine root mass. In 18 single-species plots at the Morton Arboretum, we obtained the nitrate and ammonium availability per area, fine root mass of target species per area, and nitrogen uptake rate of the plot’s target species trees per area. We found that there is blankity blank relationship between fine root mass and uptake rate and absolutely blank relationship between nitrogen availability and uptake rate. We hope that these results will be incorporated into existing ESM models to allow for more accurate assessments of forests across the world and to inform efforts to understand global carbon sequestration.
Perennial Report, 2019, final (3.82923)
Date: January 24 2020Creator: The Morton Arboretum
Type: Video
Perennial Report, 2019, final (3.82924)
Date: January 13 2020Creator: The Morton Arboretum
Type: Video
Working at The Morton Arboretum (3.82961)
Date: 2019Creator: The Morton Arboretum
Type: Video
Description:A video promoting working at The Morton Arboretum.
Working at The Morton Arboretum (3.82962)
Date: 2019Creator: The Morton Arboretum
Type: Video
Description:A video promoting working at The Morton Arboretum.
Science and Conservation, Minirhizo presentation (3.82991)
Date: August 12 2019Creator: The Morton Arboretum
Type: Video
Spatio-temporal heterogeneity in extracellular enzyme activities tracks variation in saprotrophic fungal biomass in a temperate hardwood forest (3.85455)
Creator: Midgley, Meghan G.
Type: Article
Mycorrhizal Association Better Predicts Tree Effects on Soil Than Leaf Habit (3.85999)
Creator: Midgley, Meghan G.
Type: Article
Amynthas spp. impacts on seedlings and forest soils are tree species-dependent (3.86121)
Creator: Bethke, Tricia, Midgley, Meghan G.
Type: Article
Burning May Hinder Oaks Press Release (3.90776)
Date: March 1 2018Type: Document
The Effects of Forest Type on Ground Beetle Abundance and Diversity (3.91116)
Date: 2020Type: Video
Description:Janey Lienau, a student in the 2020 Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) program, giving the presentation "The Effects of Forest Type on Ground Beetle Abundance and Diversity" as part of the 2020 REU Symposium.
Taylor Quinn collecting soil samples from a burned plot (3.96754)
Date: July 5 2016Creator: Midgley, Meghan G.
Type: Photographic image
Description:Undergraduate researcher, Taylor Quinn, collecting soil samples from a burned plot for the "Prescription Side Effects: Controlled Burn Impacts on Soil Biogeochemistry and Forest Dynamics" project.
Taylor Quinn collecting soil samples from an unburned plot (3.96755)
Date: July 6 2016Type: Photographic image
Description:Undergraduate researcher, Taylor Quinn, collecting soil samples from an unburned plot for the "Prescription Side Effects: Controlled Burn Impacts on Soil Biogeochemistry and Forest Dynamics" project.
Volunteers sieving soils (3.96756)
Creator: Midgley, Meghan G.
Type: Photographic image
Description:Volunteers sieving soils collected from unburned and regularly burned areas of the Arboretum for the "Prescription Side Effects: Controlled Burn Impacts on Soil Biogeochemistry and Forest Dynamics" project.
Ware Field Experimental Prairie prior to planting in 2016 (3.96787)
Date: July 25 2016Creator: Midgley, Meghan G.
Type: Photographic image
Description:Ware Field Experimental Prairie prior to planting in 2016.
Ware Field Experimental Prairie mid-summer 2018 (3.96788)
Date: 2018Creator: Midgley, Meghan G.
Type: Photographic image
Description:Ware Field Experimental Prairie mid-summer 2018.
A monoculture of xx in 2020 (3.96789)
Date: August 17 2020Creator: Midgley, Meghan G.
Type: Photographic image
Description:A monoculture of xx in 2020.
A monoculutre of xx in 2020 (3.96790)
Date: August 17 2020Creator: Midgley, Meghan G.
Type: Photographic image
Description:A monoculutre of xx in 2020.
A jumping worm crawling across a lab bench (3.96815)
Date: September 28 2016Creator: Midgley, Meghan G.
Type: Photographic image
Description:A jumping worm crawling across a lab bench
Volunteers preparing leaf litter decomposition bags for the mesocosm experiment (3.96816)
Date: June 12 2017Creator: Midgley, Meghan G.
Type: Photographic image
Description:Volunteers preparing leaf litter decomposition bags for the mesocosm experiment
Soil from an Amynthas-infested area of the East Woods (3.96817)
Date: July 15 2017Creator: Midgley, Meghan G.
Type: Photographic image
Description:Soil from an Amynthas-infested area of the East Woods. Note the loose, "coffee grounds" texture created by the worms
Researcher preparing worms for species identification (3.96818)
Date: July 19 2017Creator: Midgley, Meghan G.
Type: Photographic image
Description:Researcher preparing worms for species identification
A mesocosm experiment designed to evalaute the effects of Amynthas on forest soils (3.96819)
Date: August 21 2017Creator: Midgley, Meghan G.
Type: Photographic image
Description:A mesocosm experiment designed to evalaute the effects of Amynthas on forest soils
Researchers and volunteers preparing mesocosm soils for analyses (3.96820)
Date: October 24 2017Creator: Catania, Michelle
Type: Photographic image
Description:Researchers and volunteers preparing mesocosm soils for analyses
A set of nitrogen deposition collectors in Middlefork Savannah Forest Preserve (3.96833)
Date: June 28 2016Creator: Midgley, Meghan G.
Type: Photographic image
Description:A set of nitrogen deposition collectors in Middlefork Savannah Forest Preserve