1. The Effects of Canopy Cover on Soil Texture and Color in the Ribbon Forest and Glade
Tina Nguyen
Vegetation Ecology
Summer 2018
CU Mountain Research Station

2. Introduction
Factors influenced by the forest (MacKinney, 1929) (Anderson, et al. 1968)
Temperature
Amount and intensity of precipitation reaching soil
Sunlight
Depth of litter
The litter layer affects the soil (Nagler, et al. 2000)
Nutrients
Carbon
Water
Energy
The biota influences the soil in the Ribbon Forest and Glade
The forest influences many factors that affect the soil such as temperature, amount precipitation, shade, and the depth of the litter. The litter layer is important because it provides nutrients, carbon, water, and energy to the soil.
During this course we learned about how the Ribbon Forest and the Ribbon Glade were formed. Out of the five functional factors that control the composition of soil, the biota affects the soil in these two location. The direct way that the biota affects the soil is what decomposes in each area. In the Ribbon Forest, the needles from the tree will fall and decomposes and the soil absorbs the broken down organic matter. In Ribbon Glade is a bit different since there are not much canopy cover and the soil absorbs the decomposed plants in the surrounding area. This changes the soil structure since in each area, the soil is absorbing majority of the pine needs that have decomposed by the Ribbon Glade’s soil is absorbing majority herbaceous species. By looking at the canopy cover in the Ribbon Forest and Ribbon Glade, we can take a look at the soil texture in each area to see if there is a relationship between percent canopy cover and soil texture and color.

3. Introduction
Question: How does the different canopy cover and vegetation cover in the Ribbon Forest and the Ribbon Glade affect the soil color and soil texture?
My question is How does the different canopy cover and vegetation cover in the Ribbon Forest and the Ribbon Glade affect the soil texture and color? Will we see that the texture and color is different?

4. Introduction
Ho: There is no significant difference in the soil between the Ribbon Forest and Glade.
HA: There is significant difference in the soil between the Ribbon Forest and Glade.
My Ho says we will not see statistical difference in the soil between the Ribbon Forest and the Ribbon Glade.
My Alternative Ha says we will a statistical difference in soil color and texture in the Ribbon Forest and the Ribbon Glade.

5. Methods Three sites of Ribbon Forest and Glade
Location: Ribbon Forrest and Glade near Cable Gate, Niwot Ridge
Canopy Cover in Forest is greater than 80%
Three sites of Ribbon Forest and Glade
Three plots on each site
Measured the litter layer
The Munsell Color to determine the color of soil
The Ribbon test to determine the soil texture (Thien, 1979)
Total of 18 samples of soil
I choose to go to three sites of Ribbon Forest and Ribbon Glade near cable gate. In the Ribbon Forest, I would measure at three plots on the transect line. I chose the plot by using a random number generator on my cell phone. I also measured three plots in the Ribbon Glade and I also used the number generator to have random plots. I also measured the litter that was pushed to the side to get to the top layer of the soil. I used the Munsell Book to determine the color of the soil. I used the soil diagram to determine the soil texture. I had a total of 18 soil sample between the Ribbon Forest and the Ribbon Glade.
My design was with replication and it was random

6. Methods Limitations Small number of samples
Hard to obtain soil in areas
Other materials in soil
Some limitation are not enough samples since the time span for this project was short.
Hard to get large amounts of soil in certain area. If the experiment were to be done again, ideally it would be better to have a bigger and sharper shovel to get through the litter layer and roots
Some soil samples had very tiny sticks or the pine needles that are not completely decomposed

7. Results s
When looking at the soil color we can see that in the Glade, the soil is more dark brown while the the Forest has soil that is a dark yellowish color.
But the data I collected was not significant but we should take a further look at since the p-value is very close to 0.05

8. Results s
The soil in the Glade is majority clay loam while in the Forest the soil texture is sandy loam.
This is statistically significant which mean that there less of chance that the differences is a coincidence.
The 3 stars also indicate that the pvalue is less than 0.001

9. Results s
The litter layer for the glade was not deep commpared to the forest. The Forest had a range of of litter depth.
This is statistically significant which mean that there less of chance that the differences is a coincidence.
The 2 stars also indicate that the pvalue is less than 0.01

10. Summary of Results There is not significant difference in soil colorp=
There is significant difference in soil texture
p= **
There is significant difference in amount of litter
p= ***
This is a is a summary of the results I got using the chi square

11. Discussion Data is not a significant difference but here’s the pattern
Soil color in the Ribbon Glade
Dark Brown
Soil color in the Ribbon Forest
Dark Yellowish Brown
Decomposed pine needles made soil in the Ribbon Forest very gritty
Litter affects the soil in forest (Pescott, 2000)
Layer of litter was generally less than 1 cm in Ribbon Glade and the soil was more fine.
Question: How does the different canopy cover and vegetation cover in the Ribbon Forest and the Ribbon Glade affect the soil color and soil texture?
Even though the data for the soil color was not significant, there seem to be a slight pattern in color. The soil in the Ribbon Glade was a dark brown while the soil color in the Ribbon Forest were more dark yellowish brown.
I found that the that the decomposed pine needles mabe the soil in the Ribbon Forest very gritty and it wasn’t actual sand
This is important because the needle offers the soil different nutrients than the herbaceous plants in the Glade. Its also backs up the claim that litter is a factor that affect soil in the forest like many of the journal articles have mentioned
The layer of litter was not as deep, I found the soil more fine which the texture was more clay loam
WHAT DOES IT MEAN? Why is this important

12. Conclusion Not significant difference in soil color
Significant difference in soil texture and litter layer
Suggested Patterns
Ribbon Forest
Dark yellowish brown
Sandy Loam
Range of depth of litter layer
Ribbon Glade
Dark brown
Clay loam
<1 cm of litter layer
To conclude, there was not a statistical difference in the soil color but we should further investigate since the pvalue was close to 0.05
There were a significant difference in soil texture and the layer of litter
We also can see there are characteristics in the soil. These are the suggested patterns from the data that we can take a closer look at in the future.

13. Literature Cited
Anderson, R. C., O. L. Loucks, and A. M. Swain. "Herbaceous Response to Canopy Cover, Light Intensity, and Throughfall Precipitation in Coniferous Forests." Ecology, vol. 50, no. 2, 1969, pp DOI: /
MacKinney, A. L. "Effects of forest litter on soil temperature and soil freezing in autumn and winter." Ecology 10.3 (1929): DOI: /
Nagler, P. L., C. S. T. Daughtry, and S. N. Goward. "Plant litter and soil reflectance." Remote Sensing of Environment 71.2 (2000): DOI: /S (99)
Prescott, Cindy E. "The influence of the forest canopy on nutrient cycling." Tree physiology (2002): DOI: /treephys/
Thien, Steve, “A flow diagram for teaching texture-by-feel analysis, “Journal of Agronomic Education, 1979, vol. 8, pp Cited in soil handout