- Long-life soil moisture, temperature, and EC sensor
- Increased volume of influence (1010 mL)
- Robust, epoxy body for tough field conditions
TREELINE ECOSYSTEMS FIGHT TO SURVIVE
Seedlings and recruiting plants will be forced to survive longer periods without precipitation. This won’t make a difference to plants that have sufficient water. But what about the trees and shrubs teetering on the edge of survival near the tree line?
Here at 3,150 m (10,400 feet), the growing season is short, the weather is stark, and soil water is controlled by snowmelt and late-summer monsoonal storms. While simplistic models suggest that climate warming will push trees into mountain meadows, currently, many treelines appear to be static, possibly because of the unpredictability of summertime soil moisture.
MYSTERIOUS GROWTH PATTERNS MAKE SCIENTISTS CURIOUS
At treeline, forests abruptly end, giving way to grass and forb-dominated vegetation, with infrequent, dispersed tree islands. Scientists want to understand why these trees and shrubs persevere only in certain areas and what role they may play in recruiting forest into meadows with climate change.