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.
Laboratory assays on the effects of aerated compost tea and fertilization on biochemical properties and denitrification in a silt loam and Bt clay loam soils (3.55302)
Date: 2011Creator: Scharenbroch, Bryant C., Catania, Michelle
Type: Article
Soil quality attributes as indicators of urban tree performance (3.55315)
Date: 2012Creator: Scharenbroch, Bryant C., Catania, Michelle
Type: Article
Biochar and biosolids increase tree growth and improve soil quality for urban landscapes (3.55321)
Date: 2013Creator: Scharenbroch, Bryant C., Catania, Michelle
Type: Article
A rapid urban site index for assessing the quality of street tree planting sites (3.55410)
Date: 2017Creator: Scharenbroch, Bryant C., Carter, David R., Bialecki, Margaret B., Fahey, Bob, Catania, Michelle
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.
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.
Science and Conservation, Minirhizo presentation (3.82991)
Date: August 12 2019Creator: The Morton Arboretum
Type: Video
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
Students and researchers collecting tree cores from Shagbark history trees (3.96887)
Creator: Midgley, Meghan G.
Type: Photographic image
Description:Students and researchers collecting tree cores from Shagbark history trees
Vegetation Barrier Toolkit for Schools and Communities (3.99358)
Date: January 2022Type: Document
Description:"The goal of this toolkit is to take a community group step-by-step through the process of planning, creating, and caring for a vegetation barrier in addition to using vegetation barriers as part of science curricula."