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Blog Post 7 – 23/02/20
There are several ecological processes that underpin my research project. My project is primarily focused on the distribution and abundance of common trees in relation to soil moisture; however, there are many other factors that may contribute to this topic. Such factors include nutrient soil temperature and pH, availability of nutrients, as well as permafrost cycles and species climatic resistance. All of these factors can be seen as ecological processes that impact the research I am doing. Fluctuations in soil temperature and pH, while not explicitly measured in my experiment, are conditions that impact the quality of the soil and may explain, in addition to soil moisture, why trees are not found in bare stretches of the bark and conversely, why they are found in such high quantities in other locations. Along with those two factors, the nutrient cycles of various locations in the park surely must also have some impact on the presence or absence of trees in those areas. Numerous nutrient cycles and exchanges are constantly occurring regularly in the park. Seasonal changes to such cycles in the early lives of the trees may have influenced their growth potential. Permafrost cycles are another ecological process that likely impacted the growth potential of the trees as well as their abundance and distribution. It should also be noted that the climatic resistance of the different species likely impacted their growth in certain areas over others. I believe that three keywords that could be used to describe my research project are park sampling, soil moisture content, and tree distribution. Three other keywords could simply be the common names of the trees I am studying, those being white spruce, aspen poplar, and white birch.
