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USE OF GREENHOUSE CHAMBERS FOR ENHANCING GROWTH OF TUNDRA TRANSPLANTS ON THIN GRAVEL FILL IN PRUDHOE BAY, ALASKA
Citation:
Shirazi, M., P. Haggerty, M. Bollman, AND J. Wyant. USE OF GREENHOUSE CHAMBERS FOR ENHANCING GROWTH OF TUNDRA TRANSPLANTS ON THIN GRAVEL FILL IN PRUDHOE BAY, ALASKA. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, D.C., EPA/600/A-94/171 (NTIS PB94209772).
Description:
An approach is presented that could facilitate disturbed tundra revegetation and monitoring in Alaska North Slope Oil Fields. xperiments were conducted on an abandoned drilling pad where the gravel was removed to a thin layer (Ca. 20 am) above tundra grade and mixed with underlying compacted original sod. ntact plugs 13.3 an in diameter were transplanted from a donor plot into the thin gravel in treatments with and without mini greenhouses covering single plugs and double plugs (i.e., 2 adjacent single plugs). t the end of the first growth season, the greenhouse air temperature (in aggregate thawing degree C days) was elevated 68% and the greenhouse soil temperature was elevated 17% above the ambient air and soil temperatures, respectively. wo independent methods were used for estimating plug growth. isual cover estimation showed that double plugs with greenhouse produced cover values significantly greater than single plugs. adiometry measurements developed and modeled to predict plug canopy dry weight showed that the dry weight for all treatments except double plugs with greenhouse fall within ranges of samples taken from stressed areas in the native tundra. ouble plugs with greenhouses fall within the lower range of samples taken from the donor plot. he study identified some potential difficulties with applying radiometry in the North Slope environment, but also suggested that radiometry can provide an accurate measure of plug biomass without having to harvest them.