8/25/14 - The University of Michigan says that a 57-acre forest plot it owns in Livingston County has become part of a Smithsonian Institution global network for studying forest function and diversity. The university says the plot is at its 1,297-acre Edwin S. George Reserve, west of Pinckney in Putnam Township. The school says the plot was added Aug. 12 to the Smithsonian's Forest Global Earth Observatory. The network of inventory plots includes 60 locations in 24 countries. Preparation for adding the plot to the Smithsonian inventory involved 12 Michigan and Middlebury College students tagging, mapping and measuring every tree greater than 1 centimeter in diameter at chest height. The school says they inventoried about 45,000 trees. The reserve was established in 1930. Since then, more than 475 research papers have been published using studies carried out wholly or partly at the reserve. Long-term studies at the reserve include decades-old investigations of turtle life histories and reproductive success, a demographic study of the resident white-tailed deer herd, and a study of amphibian communities in 37 ponds on the property. Pictured: Student recording data at a research plot in U-Mâs Edwin S. George Reserve. Image credit: Dale Austin (JK)
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