Tag: Leaf Litter Lab (Page 2 of 2)

3-year Permit to do Research at Mount St. Helens

April 25, 2020 / tholau29

Hiking the 3 miles out to our field sites in the morning. Photo by Shauna Bittle, The Evergreen State College.

With the Mount St Helens National Volcanic Monument as a protected landscape, our team has a 3-year permit to do research on the Pumice Plain. We hike several miles to reach our study sites, often packing along heavy equipment, but the views of the volcano are worth it!

Dr. Carri LeRoy and Evergreen undergraduate Angie Froedin-Morgensen filtering water for chemical analysis. Photo by Shauna Bittle, The Evergreen State College.

Our research in the newly formed watersheds of the Pumice Plain includes chemical analysis and water quality sampling. These data help us to understand the potential differences in water sources across Pumice Plain watersheds and predict influences on ecosystem function!

Dr. Carri LeRoy recording field notes with the mountain as a backdrop. Photo by Shauna Bittle, The Evergreen State College.

The most important thing in field work is proper documentation! What may seem like a tedious task, is a vital component of ensuring our team can continue publishing data about the primary succession of riverine communities at Mount St. Helens! Thanks to Evergreen State College for the great photos!

Animals Colonizing the Pumice Plain of Mount St Helens

April 23, 2020 / tholau29

Photo trap intended to measure stream flow captures a mountain goat running along Willow Creek!

Surely, it’s not only plants on the Pumice Plain! Ecosystems have gradually flourished as more species have filled ecological niches. Ungulates and other mammals have colonized the Pumice Plain.

Our team has documented many animals on accident in our photo traps intended to measure water flow, ephemerality, and seasonality of streams!

*Huge herds of elk call the Pumice Plain home. They are protected from hunting within the National Volcanic Monument. Photo by Carri LeRoy*

While hiking across the Pumice Plain our team has encountered huge herds of elk. They were some of the first large animals to return to MSH after the eruption and they utilize this landscape for grazing the grasses, sedges, and willows of the Pumice Plain!

Sometimes our camera trap stream gauges capture other things! A big fall storm caused massive sediment movement in our streams and also carried other debris downstream. This partial elk carcass got caught up on our stream gauge on Willow Creek.

Check out the black bear print on Goose Creek on the Pumice Plain of Mount St. Helens in summer 2018! Photo by Carri LeRoy

An elk leg got wrapped around our stream gauge during a high flow event in Willow Creek! Photo by Carri LeRoy

The Phenomenal Landscape of the Pumice Plain

April 22, 2020 / tholau29

Ribbons of green show riparian vegetation along streams on the Pumice Plain. Photo by Shannon Claeson

Alongside getting to conduct research at Mount St Helens, our team has the opportunity to explore the beautiful landscape of the Pumice Plain.

The Pumice Plain is a 20 km2 region, essentially devoid of life in 1980, but slowly being colonized by a riparian willows and alders.

Close-up view of Loowit Falls on the north side of the mountain (right) and a corner of Crater Glacier (left). Photo by Shannon Claeson

Five new watersheds have formed on the Pumice Plain of MSH since 1980, each receiving water from different sources (springs, groundwater, snowmelt, glaciers). Crater Glacier is one of the only glaciers in the lower 48 to be actually growing!

We get to spend hours gazing across fields of wildflowers on the Pumice Plain of Mount St. Helens. Photo by Carri LeRoy

Landscape scale patterns across watersheds at MSH have allowed us to explore environmental differences across watersheds that don’t vary in age, parent material, slope, or aspect on the sterile and relatively homogeneous Pumice Plain, that 40 years later, is bursting with life!

Collaborators- involvement outside of Evergreen!

April 21, 2020 / tholau29

USFS collaborator Shannon Claeson explaining aspects of the eruption to an undergraduate student. Photo by Carri LeRoy

Here are a few of the fantastic collaborators that we’ve been fortunate to have on our team!

Shannon Claeson (USFS Aquatic Ecologist; @ForestServiceNW) has been working at Mount St. Helens for over 10 years and collaborating with us for the past five years. She brings expertise in aquatic insect taxonomy and ecology to the team.

Dr. Debra Finn (@streambug) is an assistant professor at Missouri State University (@MissouriState) and collaborates with us on hyporheic flows, stonefly secondary production, and invertebrate genetics. She received an NSF-ROA extension grant to collaborate with our team!

Joy Ramstack Hobbs is a limnologist from the Science Museum of Minnesota/St. Croix Watershed Research Station and is senior personnel on the NSF EAGER grant. Joy provides expertise in phycology, statistics and undergraduate training and been a great collaborator the past 2 years!

It’s hard work hauling well pounders and hyporheic wells out to the field site. Dr. Deb Finn collaborated on hyporheic zone studies in summer 2019.

Laying out hundreds of litter bags for installation in Geo-West Creek, on the Pumice Plain of MSH. Collaborator Joy Hobbs and undergraduate student Victoria Cowan tied bags onto string. Photo by Carri LeRoy

Measuring stream width and velocity in closed canopy sections of Forsyth Creek, on the Pumice Plain of Mount St. Helens. Look at that riparian colonization! Photo by Carri LeRoy

Data Collection in Newly Created Watersheds at MSH

April 20, 2020 / tholau29

When Mount St. Helens erupted, it resulted in a massive landslide that buried existing forests, streams, and watersheds. Since the eruption, five (5) novel watersheds have developed on the Pumice Plain. These streams on the north face of MSH have been our team’s main interest.

Undergraduates, faculty and collaborators have been able to conduct studies on environmental variation and biotic communities across these watersheds to address in-stream primary succession because of the unique ecosystem the eruption of MSH created.

We are especially interested in how riparian plants influence stream channel dynamics, increase shade, and input organic matter to these newly developing streams. Stay tuned for more about how willow sex differences and a wandering weevil alter in-stream ecosystem function!

Stream gauges in all five watersheds help us track water flow and sediment movement- even through the dark and deep snow of winter. Photo by Carri LeRoy

Tricky work of trying to keep our light loggers facing upwards in the middle of each streams – strap them to big rocks! Photo by Carri LeRoy

Field work involves a lot of hiking!

April 19, 2020 / tholau29

A group selfie after a long field trip! Wrapping up our field work in late summer 2018! Photo by Carri LeRoy

The past 3 years our team has been working under an NSF EAGER grant to Dr. LeRoy which allows undergraduates at The Evergreen State College to gain amazing field experiences and research opportunities.

Our team is composed of undergraduates, SURF students, research assistants, faculty, and many wonderful collaborators (stay turned to learn more about our collaborative work) that dedicate their summers to exploring the landscape of Mount St. Helens (MSH).

MSH is an exemplary ecosystem for our team to study how the flora and fauna are responding to large, intense disturbances as well as their processes of early succession.