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  • Thumb_erika
    Erika Berenguer
    About 8 years ago
    • This is a question
    Fine litter fall

    Litter traps

    Dear all, the protocol assumes litter traps should be 1.50m above the ground. However, as my field assistants are barely 1.50m tall, I was thinking about decreasing it to 1.20m. Is there any reason why 1.50m was the chosen height?

    Cheers,
    Erika

    • Thumb_erika
      Erika Berenguer
      About 8 years ago

      Thanks, Sam! You are completely right!
      I guess I was just shocked to see a trap almost as tall as me!

    • Thumb_sam_0693
      Sam Moore
      About 8 years ago

      Hi Erika - I just checked the manual (sorry, I should have done this before) and I think you might be mis-reading it - basically, the legs need to be cut 1.5 m long, so that 0.5 m can be stuck into the ground, resulting in the litter trap tray standing at 1.0 m height. Does that make sense?
      Cheers,
      Sam

    • Thumb_erika
      Erika Berenguer
      About 8 years ago

      Hi Sam,

      Thanks a lot! Yadvinder has commented that traps used to be 1m tall and not 1.50m. Any idea if this is a typo in the manual? Toby, do you know?

    • Thumb_sam_0693
      Sam Moore
      About 8 years ago

      Hi Erika - just had a quick chat with Toby and we can't see any reason why you shouldn't reduce it to 1.20 m. Some of my litter traps in places with high elephant population densities are placed on the ground to prevent them being knocked over - each site has its own obstacles!
      Cheers,
      Sam

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  • Thumb_p6220034
    Toby Marthews
    Over 8 years ago
    Soil depth profile,  Dendrometer bands,  Coarse litter fall,  RAINFOR methodologies,  Ground coarse litter mass,  Stem respiration,  Census,  Ingrowth cores,  Fine litter fall,  Soil respiration partitionning,  Soil respiration,  Rhizotrons

    Dear All,

    A new version of the RAINFOR-GEM manual is now out and here is the link: http://www.tobymarthews.com/rainfor-gem-manual-v30.html (it'll move across to the permanent URL at http://gem.tropicalforests.ox.ac.uk/page/resources very soon).

    I hope this is useful!

    Best regards,
    Toby

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  • Thumb_sam_0693
    Sam Moore
    Almost 10 years ago
    Stem respiration,  Fine litter fall,  Rhizotrons,  Coarse litter fall,  Mondah Forest Reserve,  Lopé National Park,  Ivindo National Park,  West African Forests

    Hi All,

    I've just returned from a month in Gabon and am very happy to report that all 6 plots (2 in each of the 3 sites) are now fully installed and March/April will be the first month where all measurements are taken simultaneously within all plots. All three sites now have a team of 2 people working on data collection and analysis. During Yadvinder’s week-long stay, we visited all sites and completed installation of all under- and above-canopy weather stations at the same time as successfully dodging charging elephants. I’ve uploaded some photos from this trip – enjoy!

    Best,
    Sam

    Thumb_p1010428 Thumb_p1010316animated Thumb_p1010294 Thumb_p1000211 Thumb_p1000181 Thumb_p1000160 Thumb_p1000155 Thumb_p1000140 Thumb_p1000137 Thumb_sam_1711 Thumb_sam_1673 Thumb_sam_1610 Thumb_sam_1543
    Add a comment
  • Thumb_dscf0407
    Dan Metcalfe
    Almost 10 years ago
    Leaf physiology,  Fine litter fall,  Understanding the carbon cycle of Andean Forests

    Hi all,

    Does anyone know if there is any data from the Andean gradient on carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus content of dead leaves/leaf litter?

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  • Thumb_cg_profile_photo
    Cécile Girardin
    About 10 years ago
    Fine litter fall,  Brigitte Nyirambangutse

    Dear Brigitte, Your point is very reasonable. The attached paper may be of interest. It should be possible to establish a correction factor based on temperature and collection intervals. We will post more information on how to do that as we look into it. Please let us know what you decide.

    File_extension_pdf
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  • Thumb_photo0133
    Jhon del Aguila Pasquel
    About 10 years ago
    Fine litter fall

    Yadvinder: Thanks for the answer. Another question: The decay is a problem for fine litter fall experiment, for that reason we must collect the material every 15 days. However, I think there is a small decay rate which is not considerate. Do we have any metodology for calculating this rate? I think we could be underestimating or overestimating our values of litter productivity in warm plots. What do you think about it?

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  • Thumb_p6220034
    Toby Marthews
    Over 10 years ago
    Soil depth profile,  Dendrometer bands,  Coarse litter fall,  RAINFOR methodologies,  Ground coarse litter mass,  Stem respiration,  Census,  Ingrowth cores,  Fine litter fall,  Soil respiration partitionning,  Soil respiration,  Rhizotrons

    Apologies for cross-posting: After much debate and revisions between here and Leeds, the new version (2.2) of the RAINFOR-GEM Intensive Plots manual has now been uploaded on a new subpage of http://gem.tropicalforests.ox.ac.uk/ (see "Resources" on the left).

    This replaces the version 2.0 uploaded on GEM in February and also Dan Metcalfe's original v1.0 of the manual uploaded on http://www.geog.leeds.ac.uk/projects/rainfor/pages/manuals_eng.html (under “Measuring tropical forest carbon allocation and cycling”) and http://www.eci.ox.ac.uk/research/ecodynamics/carbon-balance.php (under “Online Materials” halfway down).

    Hope this is useful for everyone!
    Toby

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  • Thumb_malhi_pic_forest
    Yadvinder Malhi
    Over 10 years ago
    Vianet Mihindou,  Fine litter fall

    I like the Indian litter trap photo Toby posted. Might be best to try with netting first - it makes the collection of fallen material more accurate and probably lessens the chances of macrofauna pulling the litter into the soil.

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  • Thumb_sam_0693
    Sam Moore
    Over 10 years ago
    Fine litter fall,  Vianet Mihindou

    Thanks Toby - this looks like a great method for resolving the 'elephant issue' with litter traps - do you happen to know what height they use for the metal edges? I wonder whether or not it would also work without any netting, but instead, simply clearing the ground within the metal traps of any leaf litter prior to data collection?

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  • Thumb_p6220034
    Toby Marthews
    Over 10 years ago
    Fine litter fall

    An update on the fine litter fall question: in India apparently people have generally moved over to metal litter traps like this one in Mudumalai: the four corner pegs of metal litter traps are driven into the ground -- with the frame staying at ground level -- thereby preventing elephants from removing them. Toby.

    Thumb_dscn7129
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  • Thumb_p6220034
    Toby Marthews
    Over 10 years ago
    Fine litter fall

    In answer to the litter trap question, I believe in Mudumalai in India they encountered the same problem with their elephants. Their litter traps are lines of marked stones on the ground which apparently works fine. If I can find a photo of one of these I'll post it here.

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  • Thumb_malhi_pic_forest
    Yadvinder Malhi
    Over 10 years ago
    Fine litter fall

    I've been talking with Sam who has just left Gabon and arrived in Ghana. In the Gabon sites (Lope and Ivindo) we have a bifg problem with elephants destroying about 75% of the litter traps every month.
    We are looking into creative solutions, e.g. maybe having marked squares on the ground rather than litter traps, or greatly increasing the number of traps and just repairing them every month. Any other suggestions and ideas welcome.

    Add a comment
  • Thumb_sam_0693
    Sam Moore
    Almost 11 years ago
    Fine litter fall,  Mondah Plot 1,  Comprehensive description of the carbon cycle of African forests

    The litter trap factory in Mondah Plot 1

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  • Thumb_terhi_walkway
    Terhi Riutta
    About 11 years ago
    Carbon dynamics in Wytham Woods,  Fine litter fall

    Litter trap

    Thumb_littertrap
    Add a comment
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