While the past two winters have featured plenty of the white stuff, snow packs over the last couple of decades have dwindled, say climate experts. Now, two doctoral researchers at the University of Maine are trying to find out exactly how a thinner- or absent- snow pack might affect the state's ecology.
This winter, two students shoveled four 16.5-foot by 33-foot plots of land in the University Forest in Old Town, by hand, every time it snowed.
"So we basically removed a thermal barrier" says doctoral student Corianne Tatariw. The idea, she says, was to keep those areas clear to compare how soil was impacted by snow pack and lack thereof.
The researchers found that ground temperature with snow pack maintains a constant temperature of around freezing, even during the deeper, sub-zero cold of January. Without it, ground temperatures swing wildly. "And as a result you're going to lose the root biomass, you're going to lose the microbial population, and that would affect nutrient availability as well, says Kaizad Patel, another doctoral researcher on the project.
Tatariw and Patel say species die off and dramatic change to the boreal forest are possible outcomes.
The research continues into next winter. It's believed to be the first such study in Maine.
