Explaining Variation in Greenhouse Gas Fluxes from Bottomland Hardwood Forest Soils
Academic Level at Time of Presentation
Senior
Major
Biology
List all Project Mentors & Advisor(s)
Dr. Jessica Moon
Presentation Format
Oral Presentation
Abstract/Description
Wetland ecosystems are diverse environments – the plant communities, microbial communities, and inundation patterns all work together to create the aboveground complexity that we can see. But what role does spatial complexity have in this? At what scale do these processes occur? We investigated the role spatial complexity may have on emissions of greenhouse gases from wetland soils. For this study, we focused on a 100 m2 bottomland hardwood plot in Clark’s River National Wildlife Refuge - bottomland hardwood forests, which are typically found in floodplains, often experience fluctuations in water levels, with flooding, leading to changes in delivery of nutrients (e.g., nitrate (NO3 - )) and oxygen availability in the soil. We used a spatially explicit sampling design to collect 30 soil cores from the top ~7 cm of soil at the site. These cores were then inundated using 50 mL of a 1 mg/L nitrate solution to simulate a flooding event. Using LiCor N2O, CH4, and CO2 analyzers, we measured gas fluxes from each of the soil cores over a 10-hour incubation period. We also collected data on vegetative cover, organic matter composition, and tree proximity to determine what spatial effect these factors may have on GHG emissions in mineral soil wetlands.
Spring Scholars Week 2026
Honors College Senior Thesis Presentations
Explaining Variation in Greenhouse Gas Fluxes from Bottomland Hardwood Forest Soils
Wetland ecosystems are diverse environments – the plant communities, microbial communities, and inundation patterns all work together to create the aboveground complexity that we can see. But what role does spatial complexity have in this? At what scale do these processes occur? We investigated the role spatial complexity may have on emissions of greenhouse gases from wetland soils. For this study, we focused on a 100 m2 bottomland hardwood plot in Clark’s River National Wildlife Refuge - bottomland hardwood forests, which are typically found in floodplains, often experience fluctuations in water levels, with flooding, leading to changes in delivery of nutrients (e.g., nitrate (NO3 - )) and oxygen availability in the soil. We used a spatially explicit sampling design to collect 30 soil cores from the top ~7 cm of soil at the site. These cores were then inundated using 50 mL of a 1 mg/L nitrate solution to simulate a flooding event. Using LiCor N2O, CH4, and CO2 analyzers, we measured gas fluxes from each of the soil cores over a 10-hour incubation period. We also collected data on vegetative cover, organic matter composition, and tree proximity to determine what spatial effect these factors may have on GHG emissions in mineral soil wetlands.