Where is the missing nitrogen?

Hey everyone!!

First of all I would like to thank you for visiting our page! We are really excited to get our blog up and running. Stay tuned for updates on our work, events happening at Pleasant View and Hubbard Brook, and other events!

So to tell you a little bit about me, my name is Paloma. I am a rising senior at Cornell University studying biogeochemistry and environmental engineering.

Prepared for sampling in the field!

I first heard about Hubbard Brook my sophomore year in an Intro to Biogeochemistry course and have been intrigued since then about the place and the experiments that occur here. I never thought that I would one day pack my bags for New Hampshire and conduct my own experiments in this forest. Since coming here I have learned so much not only about the natural world and the aspects of my research project, but also about the tons of other questions that bring numerous professors, scientists, and students to this location. I quickly noticed that Hubbard Brook is so much more than an experimental forest; it is a historic site that has motivated and intrigued scientists since the 1950s and continues to build a thriving community of new and experienced scientists alike today. I'm really excited to be given the opportunity to learn from the various individuals who have spent so much time exploring and inquiring here as well as hopefully make my small contribution to the rich and expansive archive of research at Hubbard Brook this summer. The adventure begins!

Adventure? Yes! In my opinion, I have embarked on several adventures since coming to Pleasant View in late May. Part of the adventure of course has consisted of hanging out with the crew at Pleasant View, going on hikes in New Hampshire, and traveling to places I had never been to before like Boston, Maine, Vermont, and more. The other part of the adventure still continues as I delve deeper into my research project. Because biogeochemistry is one of my main interests, I decided to come study it at Hubbard Brook, a place where biogeochemistry is largely a topic of discussion, which makes me really happy! I am on the "N Budget" project, which you might have heard about. Currently the watersheds are exporting an amount of nitrogen that is not matching up with the amount that is coming in as inputs such as atmospheric deposition, decomposition, etc. The so called "missing Nitrogen" term is what we are after; we are trying to close the gap between inputs and outputs by studying the ecosystem processes that affect Nitrogen fate more closely. I was interested in specifically looking at sorption of dissolved organic carbon and nitrogen from the organic horizon onto the mineral soils at Hubbard Brook and sites in the area such as on Mt. Moosilauke. Getting to the sites and working in the sites have been an adventure in themselves. It's really awesome how if one actually pays attention to the details--the bark of a tree or the small flower poking out of the ground--one can see so much.

Moose antlers found while bushwhacking at Mt.Moosilauke

Mushrooms west of Watershed 6

One of our newer sites right off of Rt. 118

I go out into the field to collect my soil samples by hand coring and then I take these samples into the lab and prepare them for my sorption experiments.

Soil tea I made from organic horizon soil and leaves

An exceptional E horizon (gray) I found in a soil sore typically taken in the field

I really enjoy lab work as well as field work and this project is giving me the opportunity to do a little bit of both. Last weekend I took my first batch of samples to Cornell to get analyzed and I hope to see some results soon!