Human Disturbance Effects on soils

9597diwo Human Disturbance Effects on soils - Soil Organism Diana Wall

Johnson Hall 107 Fort Collins CO 80523 US

Diana.Wall@colostate.edu http://wp.natsci.colostate.edu/walllab/ https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9466-5235 McMurdo Dry Valleys LTER http://mcmlter.org/ 2014-11-12 English

Concerns over environmental disturbance in the McMurdo Dry Valleys are increasing with increasing foot traffic from tourists and scientist. The effect of pedestrian disturbance were monitored by comparing the species composition, depth distribution and soil properties between adjacent high-, low- and no- traffic sites. This study began in the austral summer 1995/1996.

biomass human disturbance nematodes rotifers soil LTER Controlled Vocabulary Antarctica biomass LTER nematodes rotifers soil biota tardigrade Station Keywords disturbance population dynamics LTER Core Areas

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https://mcm.lternet.edu/content/human-disturbance-effects-soils-soil-organism 1995-10-01 1997-04-01 Data and metadata enhanced in 2015 by Inigo San Gil This file was created by Mark St. John on 9 Nov 1998, using raw data from the Excel workbook '9612diwo.raw'. The file format was suggested by the LTER data manager, to conform with the relational database structure. McMurdo Dry Valleys LTER http://mcmlter.org/ McMurdo Dry Valleys LTER http://mcmlter.org/ McMurdo Dry Valleys LTER

Sampling bags were prepared with one sterile 'Whirlpak' bag and clean plastic scoop per sample. Soils were sampled from three areas: heavy traffic (H), light traffic (L) and control (C) where soils had not been walked upon; and at 2.5 and 10 cm depths. The location of the sampling was recorded each year so that areas were not re-sampled. Using the plastic scoop, soil was collected to 10 cm depth. Very large rocks (>20 mm diameter) were excluded from the sample. The soil was shoveled into the 'Whirlpak' bag until three quarters full (about 1.5 kg soil). The soil was mixed well in the bag, then the bag was closed tightly, expelling as much air as possible. The soil samples were stored in a cooler for transportation. On return to the laboratory (within 8 hours of sampling), the soils were stored at 5 C until further processing. In the laboratory, soil samples were handled in a laminar flow hood to prevent contamination. The Whirlpak bags of soil were mixed thoroughly prior to opening . Approximately 200cm3 of soil was placed in a pre-weighed 800mL plastic beaker. Rocks greater than 3-4mm in diameter were removed from the sample. A sub-sample of approximately 50g was removed and placed in a pre-weighed aluminum dish, and weighed on a balance accurate to 0.01g. This sample was dried at 105C for 24 hours. The sample was removed, placed in desiccator to cool down, and re-weighed. These data were used to calculate water content of the soil and to express data as numbers of soil organisms per unit dry weight of soil. The remaining soil in the plastic beaker was weighed. Cold tap water was added up to 650 mL. The soil suspension was stirred carefully (star stir or figure of 8) for 30 seconds, using a spatula. Immediately the liquid was poured into wet screens - a stack of 40 mesh on top of a 400 mesh. The screens were rinsed gently with ice cold tap water (from a wash bottle) through the top of the stack, keeping the screens at an angle as the water filtered through. The water was kept on ice at all times. The top screen was removed, and the lower screen rinsed top down, never directly on top of the soil, but at the top of the screen and from behind. The water was allowed to cascade down and carry the particles into the bottom wedge of the angled screen. The side of the screen was tapped gently to filter all the water through. The suspension was rinsed from the front and the back, keeping the screen at an angle and not allowing the water to overflow the edge of the screen. The soil particles were backwashed into a 50mL plastic centrifuge tube, tipping the screen into the funnel above the tube and rinsing the funnel gently. The suspension was centrifuged for five minutes at 1744 RPM. The liquid was decanted, leaving a few mL on top of the soil particles. The tube was filled with sucrose solution (454g sucrose per liter of tap water, kept refrigerated) up to 45mL. This was stirred gently with a spatula until the pellet was broken up and suspended. The suspension was centrifuged for one minute at 1744 RPM, decanted into a wet 500 mesh screen, rinsed well with ice cold tap water and backwashed into a centrifuge tube. Samples were refrigerated at 5 C until counted. Samples were washed in to a counting dish and examined under a microscope at x10 or x20 magnification. Rotifers and tardigrades were identified and counted. Nematodes were identified to species and sex, and counted. Total numbers in each sample were recorded on data sheets. All species of nematode, and all rotifers and tardigrades found in the sample were recorded. Data were entered in to Excel files, printed, and checked for errors.

9597diwo 9597diwo.csv 279978 1 0 \n column , " https://mcm.lternet.edu/sites/default/files/9597diwo.csv LOCATION LOCATION Name of area where measurement was made string Name of area where measurement was made DATE_TIME DATE_TIME Date on which sample was gathered date mm/dd/yyyy SAMPLE # SAMPLE # Sample ID string Sample ID TYPE OF ORGANISM TYPE OF ORGANISM Family associated with organism string Family associated with organism SPECIES SPECIES Species found in soil string Species found in soil SEX SEX Gender of organism (male vs. female) string Female Female Male Male Combined Both Female and Male Undetermined Undetermined Sex LIVE/DEAD/COMBINED LIVE/DEAD/COMBINED Survival Status (living, dead, or both) string Live Live Dead Dead Combined Combined Undetermined Undetermined ADULT/JUVENILE/COMBINED ADULT/JUVENILE/COMBINED Maturity (adult, juvenile, or both) string Adult Adult Juvenile Juvenile Combined Combined Undetermined Undetermined TOTAL (#/KG DRY SOIL) TOTAL (#/KG DRY SOIL) Number of organisms found in that category #/kg dry soil real COMMENTS COMMENTS Helpful hints about the sample string Helpful hints about the sample FILE NAME FILE NAME Name of file in which data was stored string Name of file in which data was stored