This is an adult male Willow Ptarmigan. He greeted us this morning!
It was a windy day, all day! The forecast is for stronger winds tomorrow. The days are much less cold, but working in the wind all day really wears you down. We did get alot done today however. The focus today was on the Drying experiments. These experiments were designed by Dr. Natali over the last couple of years and are now ready to be put to the test.
The question here is, will having less water available change the carbon balance? We all now know that as plants photosynthesize in the sunlight they take in CO2, which makes the levels in the atmosphere go down. But at the same time, the decomposers are hard at work braking down organic matter and releasing the CO2 into the atmosphere. Remember that the decomposers work during the day and night. But the decomposers don't work will in the cold. They slow down, which is why we use refrigerators to cool our food so that is won't spoil so quickly.
In a warmer world the plants will be stimulated by the temperature. Some plants will thrive and take off while others will be harmed by the change and drop out of some areas. But the plants will not get more sunlight in a warmer world. The decomposers are not affected by the amount of sunlight as much as they are by the temperature. The warmer things get the better they decompose and release more CO2.
The metal frame on the drying area keeps the water out from the surrounding areas.
Decomposers and plants like water also. Here they are similar in that neither one does will if there is not enough water and also if there is too much water. The tundra is a wet place after the thaw. The plants here love it, but are the decomposers being limited by all of this water? Too much water limits the amount of oxygen decomposers can get at for respiration. With that in mind, we should see an increase in respiration in dryer parts of the tundra and also by drying sections that are usually wet.
Elizabeth and I installed the bases for the chambers being used in the drying plots.
The pump for the drying plot is placed in a rubbermaid container to protect it from the rain.
The Drying Experiment is set up with the same chambers as the warming experiments. The big difference here is the wells that have been driven into the ground so that water can collect. In these wells a pump is placed and when the water reaches a certain level, the pump turns on and pumps the water out of the ground and away from the drying area. The pumps are set on an automatic cycle so that they will pump at all times when the water in the well gets too high. The drying areas also look different because they are surrounded by a metal frame that has been driven 50 to 60 cm into the ground. This is deep enough into the frozen layer to keep water in the ground, outside of the frame, from entering the drying area inside of the frame.