The reason for my lapse in posting is that this week was pure insanity. I warned in the last post how much work the forest ecology unit looked like it was going to be... well it was that plus some. The field trips we took were extremely interesting, even if they both managed to land on the two hottest days we have had here so far. On Tuesday we went to visit the Sylvania forest, which is a stand of old growth forest meaning it was never logged. We were able to see white pines that seemed to nearly reach the sky and were most likely 250 to 300 years old. We also studied the different characteristics, including lots of dead fallen and standing trees and unique topography that characterizes these forests.
Then on Wednesday we went to the Ottawa National Forest, which is over a million acres in size and were given a tour to the different types of forests they manage up there. It was fascinating to learn how the forest service is actually able to manage what kind of growth they want within a stand and also the differnet challenges they are faced with because of public opinion, logging companies, the government, and the need to try to protect wildlife biodiversity in the area.
The coolest part of the tour though is when we visited a highly earthworm density forest. This forest was in close proximity to a popular fishing lake where anglers often simply dump their bait after they are done fishing. It was shocking how different the forest floor was compared to the areas with fewer or no worms. The undergrowth of the forest was covered completely with this type of grass instead of small saplings. The earthworms consume the litter on the ground and make it hard if not impossible for trees such as sugar maples to regenerate.
I found it fascinating because this is also what I am studying this summer, I am just trying to see if there are any effects on red maple sapling growth. If my seeds will ever grow. None have germinated yet. The germination time is supposedly 10-15 days. I think we are on day 10... so.... yeah. That could be a problem. We'll find out.
We also conducted a project on lichens looking at their abundance on fallen versus standing trees. We collected the data on Thursday and the papers (a full scientific paper as if we were submitting this to a journal) was due on Friday at 7pm. Stressful to say the least however it is going to be very good to get feedback like this because our professor for this week, Dr. Walt Carson, is a editor for Ecology, the premiere journal for ecological sciences.
Dr. Carson also gave us wonderful advice on graduate school, what to do to get in, how to pick what you might want to do and some good overall life advice as well. I am currently looking into the Peace Corp... :)
Everyone here is so wonderful. I know I have said this in previous posts but these past few days it has really struck me just how much of a family we have turned into this past month. We have our disagreements of course however we still take care of each other like a family would do. The entire thought of people being abroad different semesters and some people graduating in the spring and others not being at Notre Dame when I am there since they go to other schools makes me so sad. I can't imagine not seeing some of these people every single day.
I suppose this just means we need to have reunions :)
-Claire
p.s. Everyone here keeps getting packages. I am feeling very lonely and unloved. Just a thought.
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