• Address:
  705 Spear Street
  South Burlington, Vermont 05403
  United States of America
  
  Phone: (802) 391-4135
  Email: femc@uvm.edu
  Website: www.uvm.edu/femc

Ongoing forest soil monitoring is essential for understanding the impact of human activities. With funding from the Northern States Research Cooperative, we established 18 plots in Vermont's managed forests. Most are located in federal, state and town forests, parks and management areas. The initial primary focus was on soil carbon, which serves as a major reservoir for carbon storage in forests. Initial soil sampling was done in 2008/2009, along with measurement of aboveground biomass. In 2012/2013 we resampled to determine earthworm numbers and species, and also performed a detailed land-use history of each site. In addition, four sites were resampled to assess the impact of partial harvesting on carbon in the forest floor. We hope that these plots will continue to provide a good baseline for future work.

• Label: Site abbr.

• Description: Abbreviation for site

• Storage Type: text

• Measurment Type: ordinal
• String Format: D-M-YY
• Number Type: -1

• Label: Pit number

• Description: Pit number (1-3). The pits were located at 0, 120, and 240 degrees from the plot center. The coring was performed every 60 degrees; therefore pit 2 was associated with core 3, and pit 3 associated with core 5.

• Storage Type: int

• Measurment Type: ordinal
• String Format: D-M-YY
• Number Type: -1

• Label: Soil horizon identification

• Description: Simple soil horizon id. B horizons were often not further identified in the field, e.g. as Bh, Bhs, Bs, or Bw.

• Storage Type: text

• Measurment Type: ordinal
• String Format: D-M-YY
• Number Type: -1

• Label: Soil horizon numbering

• Description: For sorting purposes, each horizon type was given a number: Oa=1, A=2, E=3, B=4, C=6 (not sure what happended to 5)

• Storage Type: text

• Measurment Type: ordinal
• String Format: D-M-YY
• Number Type: -1

• Label: Upper boundary depth

• Description: Upper boundary depth of the horizon. Zero was assigned to the top of the Oa, if present, or A.

• Storage Type: decimal

• Measurment Type: nominal

• Label: Lower boundary depth of the horizon

• Description: Lower boundary depth of the horizon. Zero was assigned to the top of the Oa, if present, or A

• Storage Type: decimal

• Measurment Type: nominal
• String Format: D-M-YY
• Unit: cm
• Number Type: -1

• Label: Soil deeper than lower boundary?

• Description: A plus sign next to the lowest boundary in a soil profile indicates that the soil was deeper than this boundary depth

• Storage Type: text

• Measurment Type: ordinal
• String Format: D-M-YY
• Unit:
• Number Type: -1

• Label: Exchangeable aluminum

• Description: Exchangeable aluminum (Al3+) determined with a 1 molar ammonium chloride extraction

• Storage Type: decimal

• Measurment Type: nominal
• String Format: D-M-YY
• Unit: cmolc/kg (centimoles of charge per kilogram of soil)
• Number Type: -1

• Label: Exchangeable calcium

• Description: Exchangeable calcium (Ca2+) determined with a 1 molar ammonium chloride extraction

• Storage Type: decimal

• Measurment Type: nominal
• Unit: cmolc/kg (centimoles of charge per kilogram of soil)

• Label: Exchangeable magnesium

• Description: Exchangeable magnesium (Mg2+) determined with a 1 molar ammonium chloride extraction

• Storage Type: decimal

• Measurment Type: nominal
• String Format: D-M-YY
• Unit: cmolc/kg (centimoles of charge per kilogram of soil)
• Number Type: -1

• Label: Exchangeable potassium

• Description: Exchangeable potassium (K+) determined with a 1 molar ammonium chloride extraction

• Storage Type: decimal

• Measurment Type: nominal
• String Format: D-M-YY
• Unit: cmolc/kg (centimoles of charge per kilogram of soil)
• Number Type: -1

• Label: Exchangeable sodium

• Description: Exchangeable sodium (Na+) determined with a 1 molar ammonium chloride extraction

• Storage Type: decimal

• Measurment Type: nominal
• String Format: D-M-YY
• Unit: cmolc/kg (centimoles of charge per kilogram of soil)
• Number Type: -1

• Label: Extractable iron

• Description: Extractable iron (Fe) determined with a 1 molar ammonium chloride extraction

• Storage Type: decimal

• Measurment Type: nominal
• String Format: D-M-YY
• Unit: cmol/kg (centimoles per kilogram of soil, not charge based)
• Number Type: -1

• Label: Extractable manganese

• Description: Extractable manganese (Mn) determined with a 1 molar ammonium chloride extraction

• Storage Type: decimal

• Measurment Type: nominal
• String Format: D-M-YY
• Unit: cmol/kg (centimoles per kilogram of soil, not charge based)
• Number Type: -1

• Label: Total organic carbon

• Description: Organic carbon determined by elemental analyzer

• Storage Type: decimal

• Measurment Type: nominal
• String Format: D-M-YY
• Unit: % (multiply by 10 to convert to g/kg)
• Number Type: -1

• Label: Total nitrogen

• Description: Total nitrogen determined by elemental analyzer. The instrument calibration was off for the lower concentrations and values of 0.10% or lower were set as missing data (.)

• Storage Type: decimal

• Measurment Type: nominal
• String Format: D-M-YY
• Unit: % (multiply by 10 to convert to g/kg)
• Number Type: -1

• Label: Bulk density calculated by site

• Description: Bulk density calculated using an individual equation developed by Juliette Juillerat for each site from the bulk densities core of increment samples. Carbon not used in the equation.

• Storage Type: decimal

• Measurment Type: nominal
• String Format: D-M-YY
• Unit: Mg/m3 (g/cm3)
• Number Type: -1

• Label: Bulk density calculated by single equation

• Description: Bulk density calculated using an equation developed by Juliette Juillerat for all sites combined from the bulk densities core of increment samples. Carbon not used in the equation. BD =0.07229+0.41609*ln(midpoint of horizon depth in cm))

• Storage Type: decimal

• Measurment Type: nominal
• String Format: D-M-YY
• Unit: Mg/m3 (g/cm3)
• Number Type: -1

• Label: Bulk density calculated from organic carbon

• Description: From an equation developed in Watershed 3 of Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest that uses carbon. Not published. BD =1.4-0.756*log(org-C in %)

• Storage Type: decimal

• Measurment Type: nominal
• String Format: D-M-YY
• Unit: Mg/m3 (g/cm3)
• Number Type: -1

• Label: Bulk density used to calculate cation pools

• Description: If the upper boundary was less than 10 cm, the equation with organic carbon was used. If not, the overall equation was used (developed from all 18 sites and based on the midpoint depth of the horizon). The shallow, high-carbon horizons were better suited to the equation using carbon.

• Storage Type: decimal

• Measurment Type: nominal
• String Format: D-M-YY
• Unit: Mg/m3 (g/cm3)
• Number Type: -1

• Label: Mass per m2 (kg)

• Description: The mass of the soil horizon per square meter, calculated from bulk density and horizon thickness. Used to calculate pools

• Storage Type: decimal

• Measurment Type: nominal
• Unit: kilograms per square meter

• Label: Thickness of horizon (m)

• Description: The lower boudary minus the upper boundary, expressed in meters. Used to calculate pools.

• Storage Type: decimal

• Measurment Type: nominal
• String Format: D-M-YY
• Unit: meters
• Number Type: -1

• Label: Mass per m2 from 15x15 frame

• Description: The weight of the horizon sampled in a 15x15 cm frame. This was used in place of the calculated mass where feasible because it was deemed more accurate. Usually the average from three frames sampled adjacent to the soil pit.

• Storage Type: decimal

• Measurment Type: nominal
• String Format: D-M-YY
• Unit: kilograms per square meter (kg/m2)
• Number Type: -1

• Label: Exchangeable aluminum cmolc/m2

• Description: Exchangeable aluminum (Al3+) pool calculated from concentration (determined with a 1 molar ammonium chloride extraction) and mass per square meter.

• Storage Type: decimal

• Measurment Type: nominal
• String Format: D-M-YY
• Unit: centimoles of charge per square meter
• Number Type: -1

• Label: Exchangeable calcium cmolc/m2

• Description: Exchangeable calcium (Ca2+) pool calculated from concentration (determined with a 1 molar ammonium chloride extraction) and mass per square meter.

• Storage Type: decimal

• Measurment Type: nominal
• String Format: D-M-YY
• Unit: centimoles of charge per square meter
• Number Type: -1

• Label: Exchangeable magnesium cmolc/m2

• Description: Exchangeable magnesium (Mg2+) pool calculated from concentration (determined with a 1 molar ammonium chloride extraction) and mass per square meter.

• Storage Type: decimal

• Measurment Type: nominal
• String Format: D-M-YY
• Unit: centimoles of charge per square meter
• Number Type: -1

• Label: Exchangeable potassium cmolc/m2

• Description: Exchangeable potassium (K+) pool calculated from concentration (determined with a 1 molar ammonium chloride extraction) and mass per square meter.

• Storage Type: decimal

• Measurment Type: nominal
• String Format: D-M-YY
• Unit: centimoles of charge per square meter
• Number Type: -1

• Label: Exchangeable sodium cmolc/m2

• Description: Exchangeable sodium (Na+) pool calculated from concentration (determined with a 1 molar ammonium chloride extraction) and mass per square meter.

• Storage Type: decimal

• Measurment Type: nominal
• String Format: D-M-YY
• Unit: centimoles of charge per square meter
• Number Type: -1

• Label: Extractable iron cmol/m2

• Description: Extractable iron (Fe) pool calculated from concentration (determined with a 1 molar ammonium chloride extraction) and mass per square meter.

• Storage Type: decimal

• Measurment Type: nominal
• String Format: D-M-YY
• Unit: centimoles per square meter (not charge based)
• Number Type: -1

• Label: Extractable manganese cmol/m2

• Description: Extractable manganese (Mn) pool calculated from concentration (determined with a 1 molar ammonium chloride extraction) and mass per square meter.

• Storage Type: decimal

• Measurment Type: nominal
• String Format: D-M-YY
• Unit: centimoles per square meter (not charge based)
• Number Type: -1