Khaled Hamdan
PhD Graduate, 2007-2012
Effects of bigleaf maple on soil properties in a conifer forest of southwest British Columbia: a geo-spatial approach
Research Objectives:
1. Quantify the spatio-temporal heterogeneity of the water flux to the forest soil under a bigleaf maple canopy as compared to Douglas-fir, and examine the effect of seasonal changes in bigleaf maple canopy cover and phenology on throughfall chemical properties.
2. Determine the influence of bigleaf maple on: (1) throughfall chemical properties, (2) stemflow chemical properties, (3) under-canopy forest floor chemical properties and (4) near trunk forest floor properties.
3. Using ESDA techniques, namely, Krig mapping, spatial autocorrelation analysis (SAA), local indicator of spatial association (LISA), and variance partitioning (VP), to explore and compare the effect of bigleaf maple canopy and stem on the spatial distribution of forest floor pH, NO3 and NH4.
4. Optimize an appropriate sampling design for detecting soil patterns surrounding bigleaf maple at plot scale.
