1. FIA Ground Layer Indicator
Robert Smith, Sarah Jovan, Andrew Gray, Bruce McCune

2. Interior is a lichen/moss wonderland…

3. Wildlife forage

4. Peltigera lichen and Pleurozium moss
Nitrogen fixation
Nostoc cells
Peltigera lichen and Pleurozium moss
(both fix N)

5. Peatlands on the Tanana River, Bonanza Creek LTER
C storage
1/3 of world’s soil C is in peat, mostly derived from bryophytes ~540 billion tons
Peatlands on the Tanana River, Bonanza Creek LTER

6. Graphic by R. Smith

8. Goal: estimate the biomass , C content, and N content of the ground layer.
Functional groups:
Crust lichens
Forage lichens
Fruticose lichens
N-fixing lichens
Feather moss
N-fixing moss
Sphagnum moss
Turf moss

9. mass = f(density, volume)
1. Calibrate:
bulk density,
elemental content
2. Measure:
depth, cover
non-destructive
3. Estimate:
mass = f(density, volume)
by functional group
N=96 plots

10. Method: FIA Ground Layer Indicator
Microquads
(cryptogam sampling)
360°
180°
90°
270°
315°
135°
45°
225° 2 1 3 4
Subplot
Transects
Exclusion zone
Measure depth and area, live+dead,
× 32 microquads

11. See Smith et al. 2015. The Bryologist 118: 32-45

12. Totals (in thousand tons)
Mass…………....12,588 (±1356)
Carbon…..…… (±601)
Nitrogen……….138 (±12)
Per acre
Mass………………5.53 (±0.60) tons/ac
Carbon ………….2.46 (±0.26) tons/ac
Nitrogen………..122 (±13) lbs/ac

13. Functional group Functions
Mass (lb acre−1)
C (lb acre−1)
N (lb acre−1)
Cover (%)
Mean SE
Orange lichens
Indicate nutrient, over-enrichment
<0.1
Biotic soil crust
Soil trapping, soil water influx, disturbance indicator 3 1
Other foliose Lichens
Invertebrate habitat, bare site colonization 9 2 4
Stem-and-leaf liverworts
Soil/detritus binding, water infiltration 16 7
Flat (thalloid) liverworts 29 20 13
N-fixing fruticose lichens
N-fixation, increases albedo 32 22 14 10
Other fruticose lichens 70 31
N-fixing foliose lichens
N-fixation, nutrient cycling
148 28 66
Forage lichens
Wildlife forage (caribou, etc.)
394 93
175 41 6
Other feather mosses
Rainfall interception, soil cooling
645
184
286 82 8
Turf (acrocarp) mosses
Soil accrual, bare site colonization
1050
147
466 65 11 18
Sphagnum peat-moss
Carbon storage (peat), water regulation, soil cooling
1853
619
823
275 17
N-fixing feather mosses
Broad-area N-fixation, soil cooling
6818
802
3026
356 78 57 5

14. Estimates by forest type
Mass (thousand tons)
C (thousand tons)
N (thousand tons)
Forest type
Total SE
Black spruce
9551
1472
4238
653
104 16
Paper birch
1508
340
669
150 17 4
White spruce
1276
439
566
195 15 5
Aspen
199
133 89 59 2 1
Nonstocked 43 39 18
Balsam poplar 11 7
12588
1356
5586
601
138
Mass (tons acre−1)
C (tons acre−1)
N (lb acre−1)
Forest type
Mean SE
Black spruce
8.58
0.92
3.81
0.41
187 19
White spruce
4.18
0.95
1.85
0.42 95 21
Aspen
2.36
0.85
1.05
0.38 52
Paper birch
2.35
1.04
0.17 9
Nonstocked
1.22
0.54 25
Balsam poplar
0.11
0.04
0.05
0.02 3 1
Total
5.53
0.6
2.46
0.26
122 13

16. Thanks!