One Organism's Litter is Another's Treasure

During our last day in Niquette Bay, we completed an inventory of the forest structure and the potential for wildlife habitat by tallying standing snags (dead standing trees) and coarse woody debris (sticks and logs greater than 10cm in diameter on the ground) using a meter stick and a clinometer.

Snags provide habitat for insects and decomposers as well as the birds that feed on them and other animals like squirrels, mice, bats, and racoons. Below is a summary of our snag inventory of the 19 specimens on our plot. As noted, most of the snags were originally eastern white pines, and most were fairly small in diameter and height, indicating that most snags were fairly young when they died, or that larger snags have fallen over.

Table 1. Snag Inventory. Degree of decay was measured on a 1-5 scale, with 1 meaning a tree that has recently died to 5 meaning a snag that has almost completely decayed.

Average Height (ft.)	Average DBH (in.)	Average degree of decay (1-5 scale)	Most common species
42.09175	9.131579	1	Eastern white pine

In our plot, we also analyzed the presence of coarse woody debris (CWD) that are so vital in providing habitat for plants, insects, and animals as well as structure in soil development and a place for seeds to germinate. We used a technique called the line intercept method to create transects of a measured length (150 feet) across each of the different stands in our plot. We have three diverse types of vegetation in our plot: a field of horsetails, a swamp-like area with a vernal stream, and a classic mixed northern hardwood forest. Therefore, we mapped three transects, one through each stand in our plot, with a fourth through a mix of swamp and hardwood to obtain volumes of coarse woody debris in each area. This information can help tell us if our plot is suitable habitat for animals or insects that depend on decomposing wood for food or habitat, or why certain organisms would not be found here. CWD can also indicate the health of the soil because it helps feed the bacteria that live in the dead wood to recycle nutrients like carbon, nitrogen, potassium, and phosphorous and convert it into rich, organic matter.

Table 2. Volume of Coarse Woody Debris (CWD) Across Dominant Vegetation Areas

Transect#	Dominant Vegetation	Volume of CWD (m3/ha)
1	Horsetail	3.15 m3/ha
2	Hardwood/ Swamp Mix	48.2 m3/ha
3	Hardwood	338.89 m3/ha
4	Swamp	106.8 m3/ha
TOTAL		497.04 m3/ha

Our data shows the greatest amount of coarse woody debris in the hardwood area of our plot. There were sections in this area that displayed evidence of a windstorm that blew through the plot, leaving several woodpiles and downed trees that could invite more woodland birds, salamanders, or insects to live there. The transect through the swamp section of our plot probably also had a relatively large amount of CWD because it is characteristic of these to have thick, nutrient rich environments that developed from the large amount of woody debris littered throughout. The lowest volume of CWD was understandably in the field of horsetails due to the lack of trees that inhabit the area. However, as a whole, our plot is does not have a significant amount of CWD compared to old growth forests that have such large amounts they are effective in sequestering tons of carbon back into the soil.