Site Overview:
This "study site is a patchy mosaic of grassland, shrub (bearberry Arctostaphylos uva-ursi, cherry Prunus spp., serviceberry Amelanchier arborea, sweet fern Comptonia peregrina), jack pine (Pinus banskiana), and planted red pine (Pinus resinosa). It is located on a glacial outwash plain that has excessively well-drained, droughty, sandy soil (Albert 1995) that is very nutrient poor, containing 3% soil organic matter (E. C. Farrer, unpublished data). The combination of low nutrients and low organic matter, sandy soil, frequent droughts, and growing season frosts makes this ecosystem fairly stressful overall (Kost 2004). The site has not burned in over 50 years (Michigan Department of Natural Resources, personal communication)."
- Farrer, EC, Goldberg DE, King AA. 2010. Time Lags and the Balance of Positive and Negative Interactions in Driving Grassland Community Dynamics. The American Naturalist. 175(2):160-173