Soil Moisture in the Stockton

University Forest Management

Plots, Galloway, New Jersey.
Lindsey A. Nordaby
Stockton University

Abstract
Soil moisture is an important aspect for the health of wild foliage and local forests, this is why
examining the effects forest management has on soil moisture. Forest management area are a
controlled way to examine possible situations like the effects of forest fires on soil moisture in the
form of controlled burning in specific management areas. The research that applies to this paper can
be used to improve the forest ecosystem. The moisture in which the soil holds is essential for the
growth for plants, and the preservation of the forests.
Soil Moisture Lindsey Nordaby

Introduction:

The amount of moisture that is present in the soil is directly correlated to the soils area,

canopy cover, soil type and the surrounding plants. During this experiment, different forest

management areas were the area of focus. The forest management plots that were studied were

plots that have undergone thinning, clear cutting and control burning. The purpose of this

experiment was to find out how soil moisture is effected by the change in the landscape. Soil

moisture, and the porosity of soil is also directly correlated with plant growth and the way the

roots of those plants may grow. Gray, Spies, Easter (2003)

Soil moisture has proven to be correlated with plant growth. Plant growth gets stunted

from the stress that is cause due to the lack of water. Denmead (1960) When a pant is deprived

moisture it is common for it to be shorter and less full.

Another forest management practice that effects Soil moisture is logging and fire. When

removing the forest by logging or fires, it takes away the canopy cover of the soil. As learned in

class, canopy cover directly effects soil moisture and the distribution of precipitation. Areas that

have a thick canopy layer would have less moisture in their soil then an area that has recently

been burned or logged. Another factor that is relevant to logging and fires is the canopy cover. If

a forest is thinned it allows more precipitation to make it through the canopy cover, making the

opportunity for it to be infiltrated by the soil greater. (Primicia et al., 2013)

This experiment was conducted to test the soil moisture in specific forest management

types. Examining the soil moisture content in three different forest management sites, that have

different foliage and canopy cover.

Soil Moisture Lindsey Nordaby

Site Description

The samples were taken from the Stockton University campus in Galloway, New Jersey.

This part of southern New Jersey experiences four distinct seasons and is considered to have a

continental climate, though New Jersey as a whole is not viewed as an area that receives much

precipitation it is considered a moist climate. The forest where this experiment was conducting in

is categorized as an upper mixed pinelands forest, most of New Jersey forest are dominated by

pine-oak and oak-pine trees. (U. Sainju-R. Good - Plant and Soil – 1993)

New Jersey is part of the coastal plains, and has soil that may be typical of the

physiography. The soil in the area consist of quartz sand; also known as cohansey sand. Below

the layer of sandy loam there is a white, yellow, red and light grey silt and clay. (U. Sainju-R.

Good - Plant and Soil – 1993)

Figure one show’s the area of study on the Stockton University campus. The areas out lines are the specific forest management
sites.
Soil Moisture Lindsey Nordaby

Figure two shows the soil types on the Stockton University campus.

Treatment Descriptions

The forest on Stockton University has undergone multiple treatments such as controlled

burning, thinning and clear cutting the forest. In 2015 two sections of the forest were thinned,

also in 2015, while two additional sections remained unharvested. In 2016 one section that was

thinned went through the controlled burning process. The other section was unharvested.

(Stockton.edu 2013)

Field Methods

This experiment took place on the Stockton University, Galloway campus. The

experiments objective was to investigate soil moisture around the campus, and distinguish the

effects that soil treatment has on the moisture. (Stockton.edu 2013) In order to understand how

forest management plots effect soil moisture, samples were taken throughout the semester.
Soil Moisture Lindsey Nordaby

There were six plots in totaled that were tested, this paper discusses four plots, these plots

are located on the Stockton university campus were sampled, including the areas of controlled

burned, clear cut, thinned and unharvested. The plots that were left out of this study, results were

inconclusive.

There are multiple ways for soil moisture to be tested, the way that was used during this

experiment is the Thermogravimetric method. This method requires every samples to be

weighted, dried via oven and then weighted again. The water that comes out of the soil sample

(evaporation in the oven) is known as the soil water content. Gardner (2000) The data that is

collected before and after the oven drying process gets plugged into an equation. The water

content is equal to the mass of the wet soil, subtracted by the mass of the dry soil, then it is

divided by the mass of the dry soil.

An application on an IPhone called The Random Number Generator which was

developed by Nicholas Dean was used to randomly generate numbers which were used to locate

the area in which the soil sample would be taken. A soil probe was used to collect the sample,

letting the samples get taken from about seven inches into the ground. The samples than gets

placed the data in to small metal tins that were numerically labeled. Once the samples were

taken, they were put on a scale without the lid and weighted in grams. The sample was then

placed into an oven and cooked at 100 degrees Celsius. The samples stayed in the oven

overnight. Then next morning each sample was taken out of the oven and re-weighed, the

difference in the weight was then subtracted (field sample-dry). The difference was the amount

of moisture the soil lost when in the oven. This is known as the thermogravimetric method.
Soil Moisture Lindsey Nordaby

Results

Figure three shows the data of the three sampled areas, controlled, thinned and clear cut.

The controlled area shows the greatest deviation, 0.254435. The thinned portion showed

0.3351765 and the clear-cut portion shows 0.318525.

0.4
0.35
0.3
Soil Moisture (g)

0.25
0.2
0.15
0.1
0.05
0

Forest Managment plots

Figure three shows the total of soil moisture in grams for each of the three forest management areas.

Figure four shows the total anova for all areas.

Discussion

When viewing the results of the data, it is seen that the controlled area is the area which

has the least amount of moisture. While the thinned portions of the studied area have the highest

amount of moisture in the soil. Monitoring soil moisture is beneficial for ecosystems, when

examining the effects of controlled burning on soil moisture from a study by Ma, S. et al. (2004)

which states that burning of the forest ecosystems changes the soil moisture significantly. Even
Soil Moisture Lindsey Nordaby

with the temperature increasing the rate of evaporation. In another study done by Anderson, K.

L. (1965) agrees, stating “range burning has clearly been shown to reduce significantly the

levels of soil moisture at all depths.” Confirming the importance of monitoring soil moisture in

forest management areas.

Conclusion

The results of the study yield that soil moisture is directly effect by the canopy cover of

the forest. The canopy cover inhibits the water from having a direct path to the soil, in return the

soil is less moist. Controlled burning and logging of the forest can be slightly beneficial to the

ecosystem, knowing the effect of the canopy cover.

Soil moisture is also directly related to plant growth and health as well. In areas that

contained a lot of canopy cover and less soil moisture contained less undergrowth of plants. In

areas that have low soil moisture, like desert ecosystems, have little plant growth.
 Soil Moisture Lindsey Nordaby

References

Anderson, K. L. (1965). Time of burning as it affects soil moisture in an ordinary upland

bluestem prairie in the Flint Hills. Journal of Range Management, 311-316.

Denmead, O. T., & Shaw, R. H. (1960). The effects of soil moisture stress at different stages of

growth on the development and yield of corn. Agronomy Journal, 52(5), 272-274.

Gardner, Catriona MK, et al. "Soil water content." Soil analysis: Physical methods (2000): 1-74.

Hartanto, H., Prabhu, R., Widayat, A. S., & Asdak, C. (2003). Factors affecting runoff and soil

erosion: plot-level soil loss monitoring for assessing sustainability of forest

management. Forest Ecology and Management, 180(1), 361-374

Ma, S., Chen, J., North, M., Erickson, H. E., Bresee, M., & Le Moine, J. (2004). Short-term

effects of experimental burning and thinning on soil respiration in an old-growth, mixed-

conifer forest. Journal of Environmental Management, S148. doi.org/10.1007/s00267-

003-9125-2

Primicia, I., Artázcoz, R., Imbert, J., Puertas, F., Traver, M., & Castillo, F. (2016). Influence of

thinning intensity and canopy type on Scots pine stand and growth dynamics in a mixed

managed forest. Forest Systems, 25(2), e057. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.5424/fs/2016252-

07317
Soil Moisture Lindsey Nordaby

Sainju, U. M., & Good, R. E. (1993). Vertical root distribution in relation to soil properties in

New Jersey Pinelands forests. Plant and Soil, 150(1), 87-97.

Schmugge, T. J., Jackson, T. J., & McKim, H. L. (1980). Survey of methods for soil moisture

determination. Water Resources Research, 16(6), 961-979.

Stockton.edu. (2013). Welcome - Stockton Forest Management Plan | Stockton University.

[online] Available at: https://stockton.edu/forest-management/ [Accessed 29 Nov. 2017].

Veihmeyer, F. J., & Hendrickson, A. H. (1927). Soil-moisture conditions in relation to plant

growth. Plant physiology, 2(1), 71.