Ecosystem Resiliency in the Southeastern Atlantic Coastal Plain - Perspectives From the Santee Experimental Forest
Event Website
http://www.nafew2009.org/
Start Date
6-25-2009 9:00 AM
End Date
6-25-2009 9:20 AM
Description
Documenting the recovery of ecological functions following perturbations is important to addressing issues associated with land use change, climate change and ecosystem restoration. Floodplains on the Santee Experimental Forest were first cultivated for rice in the early1700ís. While the Forest now supports upland and bottomland hardwood forests that are considered typical of the region. However, over that 300-year period of use, the land has been managed under various uses, and it has been impacted by severe tropical storms, most recently in 1989. Research conducted over the last 70 years on the Forest has provided important insights into the recovery of ecosystem functions following, their responses to catastrophic disturbance, and approaches for enhancing site productivity. New technologies may enhance assessment capabilities. For example, recently acquired LIDAR data for the Forest has been used to delineate historical water management structures within the watersheds. Those data have been used to demonstrate that hydrologic functions and pathways were altered during the agricultural use period, with changes to depressional storage, stream flow and runoff routing. The combination of long-term monitoring data and new assessment approaches provides the basis for developing and applying effective ecosystem models. We have utilized ForestDNDC, DRAINMOD, and MikeShe to assess hydrological and biogeochemical functions at multiple scales. Experimental forests provide a needed basis for the development of tools for assessing potential changes in ecological processes.
Ecosystem Resiliency in the Southeastern Atlantic Coastal Plain - Perspectives From the Santee Experimental Forest
Documenting the recovery of ecological functions following perturbations is important to addressing issues associated with land use change, climate change and ecosystem restoration. Floodplains on the Santee Experimental Forest were first cultivated for rice in the early1700ís. While the Forest now supports upland and bottomland hardwood forests that are considered typical of the region. However, over that 300-year period of use, the land has been managed under various uses, and it has been impacted by severe tropical storms, most recently in 1989. Research conducted over the last 70 years on the Forest has provided important insights into the recovery of ecosystem functions following, their responses to catastrophic disturbance, and approaches for enhancing site productivity. New technologies may enhance assessment capabilities. For example, recently acquired LIDAR data for the Forest has been used to delineate historical water management structures within the watersheds. Those data have been used to demonstrate that hydrologic functions and pathways were altered during the agricultural use period, with changes to depressional storage, stream flow and runoff routing. The combination of long-term monitoring data and new assessment approaches provides the basis for developing and applying effective ecosystem models. We have utilized ForestDNDC, DRAINMOD, and MikeShe to assess hydrological and biogeochemical functions at multiple scales. Experimental forests provide a needed basis for the development of tools for assessing potential changes in ecological processes.
https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/nafecology/sessions/longterm/6