It is time...

... to get cozy, drink tea and stay inside. The days of long fieldwork shifts are already history and A2 is ready to move in the laboratory. Maybe it is good to remember that habitat trees are standing trees, dead or living which bear or can develop some special structures (tree-related microhabitats, or TreMs) which are essential for the life of many forest-dwelling species. In the previous years, it has been shown that the diameter of the trees or their species, status (living/dead) have a significant effect on the richness and abundance of TreMs. After collecting data about tree-related microhabitats in the field, it is time to find out which is the age of the habitat trees and whether the age has an influence on the TreM community.

How do we do that? We extracted some thin cores from the trees – we dried them and mounted them on straight supports. After being cut by a professional and very precise cutter, the cores landed on the lab desk. Now A2 team counts rings, check sthe growth patterns of the trees, measures the rings…and has a lot of fun!

And guess what – we already found an old spruce, that was from the 18th century. Cool facts from the Black Forest 😊

by Andreea Spinu (A2)