Bream Buster Ecology; my name is dirt

Well, anytime I run a lab for my students something has to go wrong. It's one of those laws of nature. This Ecology Lab was no different. After Meeting at the South Carolina Environmental Training Center for some last minute instructions we caravaned Manchester State Forest's Toumey Tract.

This Area was purchased by the state of South Carolina fairly recently, and converted from agriculture to silviculture. The Forestry Comission had a few difficulties with this Longleaf Pine (Pinus palustris) stand, so we came to check it out. Our job was to determine if the soil pH was proper for this species (longleaf pines prefer acidic soils).

After a very informative talk from our local soil experts (from the USDA/NRCS) we set out to collect some data. After hours of grueling sampling we ran into the major glitch for this lab. Our pH probe had lost its calibration while bumping down the dirt roads of Wedgefield SC. In the words of Homer Simpson "D'oh" No worries. Luckily our sampling methodology was such that I can sample the pH Monday. Yeah for me!

When we broke for lunch the 'old folks' hung around Toumey for some bologna sandwiches, boiled p-nuts, chips, and pretzels (anything tastes like gourmet when you're out in the field). The younger crowd jumped in their trucks and headed to Batens for lunch. To my knowledge none of them was brave enough to try fried 'gator tail. It's pretty tasty, but probably not a good idea when you're in the field, far away from modern conveniences.

After lunch we investigated seedling survivorship in some other tracts around Toumey. Our experts from the SC Forestry Commission taught us how to use their secret weapon, a bream buster, to calculate survivorship (hey, nobody ever said that science had to be super technical). By extending the bream buster 11.8' and counting the surviving seedlings within that area you can figure out how many seedlings have survived in 1/100th of an acre. After you take a representative sample you can then extrapolate to the entire area.

All in all, it was an excellent day. I would like to extend a special thanks to Jackie and Caleb from the USDA/NRCS and Scott and Mike from the South Carolina Forestry Commission for their time and expertise. Thanks guys!