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UMBS Fifty Year Plots

Longitude/Latitude: 
45.5592, -84.6986
Address: 
US
Site Overview: 
During the summer of 1938, F. C. Gates, W.F. Ramsdell and L.R. Schoenmann initiated a long-term study of the relationship between the forest soils and vegetation over a fifty year period. Seven plots were chosen to represent local conditions on the more important soil types. Plot 1 is no longer active following early clearcut and replanting to Jack Pine by the MI DNR; Plots 2-5 are representative of forested upland sites in the region and represent a dry-mesic to wet-mesic soil moisture gradient (Roberts and Richardson 1985); Plots 6 and 7 are located within Reese’s Swamp and are representative of lowland forests with moist soils dominated by aspen and conifers, respectively (Sakai and Sulak 1985). In general the plots were located in younger, growing forest stands where appreciable changes were taking place in volume and composition. More specifically, the UMBS Fifty Year Plots aim to*: 1. To establish the quantitative and qualitative make up of the ground cover found in typical forest cover associations on defined soils with a given drainage. 2. To determine the relationships and changes taking place in ground cover, forest cover, and soil condition. 3. To ascertain the most reliable plant indicators, if any, correlating soil and drainage with forest cover type and its stage of development, ground cover associations, and rate of growth of tree species. 4. To determine and predict the probable composition of the ground and forest cover at intervals in the future on soils which are now of a given drainage and cover. *Modified from: Duncan, D. P., & R. W. Varner. 1938. Experiment designed to show the relationship between soil and changes in the vegetational cover. UMBS Student Paper. Plot Locations Plot 1 - Defunct. Was located on DNR land off of the Indian River Plot 2 - 125m due east of the 1936 UMBS Burn Plot Plot 3 - Crump Hill Plot 4 - 470m west of Bryant rd and 130m south of Riggsville Road Plot 5 - Approximately 300m due north of the Munro Township Beach Plot 6 - Reese’s Swamp (only shrub ramets) Plot 7 - Reese’s Swamp