A variety of collaborative efforts are underway at SSHCZO including researchers affiliated with the Shale Transect satellite sites as well as colleagues from other institutions not directly affiliated with SSHCZO. A summary of some of the colleagues and their research is listed in the table below. Detailed descriptions of two collaborative research efforts are described here, including phenological research using a high resolution camera and work on nitrogen cycling.

Phenology 

Dr. Andrew Richardson (Harvard University) has recently provided a high resolution video camera (StarDot NetCam SC Megapixel Hybrid IP Camera) that we have mounted at the eddy flux tower at the Shale Hills CZO. This camera monitors changes in phenology (e.g. leaf emergence and fall leaf senescence) and snow cover with greater temporal resolution than is logistically feasible for individual observers. This camera also helps support a PSU student-initiated project to monitor phenology in central PA (PennPhen, www.sites.google.com/site/psuphenology), contributes data to a larger network of camera based phenology observations (http://phenocam.sr.unh.edu/), and provides data that supports ongoing projects at the CZO.

Nitrogen fixation

Dr. Anne Kraepiel from Princeton University has been using the Shale Hills watershed to work on the NSF-funded project, “Acquisition of nitrogenase metal cofactors in soils: role of metallophores and limitation of N2-fixation.” In September 2011 and July 2012, Anne traveled to SSHO to conduct experiments with co-PI Sue Brantley and graduate student Ashlee Dere.  Organic layer samples were collected at three valley floor sites within the watershed and incubated in the laboratory to determine nitrogen fixation rates and mechanisms in the watershed. Nitrogen fixation activity was determined by incubating the samples with acetylene for 8 hrs and measuring the production of ethylene over time using the GC at Princeton University.  Preliminary results suggest that nitrogen fixation rates are not measurable in the fall and low in the summer months. The experiment will be repeated in July 2013 at SSHO CZO and at the Christina River Basin CZO.