Alice Holt - United Kingdom

DEIMS.iD

https://deims.org/d47ec839-5d20-4315-9f88-1e9edbab22e8

Basic Information

Site Name

Alice Holt

Short name

T09

Country

United Kingdom

Web Address

ECN Data Centre: Alice Holt

Forest Research: Alice Holt Forest

ECN Data Centre: Home

Site Manager

Sue Benham

Operating Organisation

Forest Research (UK)

Site Description

UK ECN site. Alice Holt forest lies in the Weald between the North and South Downs in southern England. Alice Holt Forest Park covers 851 hectares of mainly Corsican pine but approximately 140 ha. of original 1820 oak still remain. The ancient forest is now a truly multi-purpose woodland where research, conservation, timber production and recreation co-exist. The target sampling square is located in 90 hectares of 80 year old semi-natural oak woodland. Gault clay dominates the underlying geology. For the past 25 years intensive monitoring has been carried out under a variety of programs at this highly instrumented site. The site is part of a network of such highly monitored forests across both the UK and Europe. The Alice Holt site is owned by the Forestry Commission and is run by Forest Research under the Integrated forest monitoring programme. Collaboration with other research programs is actively encouraged.

Last modified

2020-06-29 10:06:52

General Characteristics, Purpose, History

Site Status

Operational

Year Established

1946

Purpose

Sustainable forest management requires an understanding of the effects of management on ecosystem function, biodiversity and the wider environment. The Long term Intensive monitoring within the research forest, including an Eddy co-variance system, allows us to understand management and climate effects on ecosystem function. The research aims to (i) provide integration and analysis of environmental data to improve our understanding of the drivers and responses of environmental change; (ii) identify natural and human induced change and understand their causes, (iii) provide comparable long-term data sets for modelling and research purposes.

History

The history of Alice Holt forest can be traced back over 2000 years and is believed to have originated during the Atlantic period. Iron Age and Roman relics found within the forest point to a long history of human inhabitation. The forest has belonged to the crown since William the Conqueror adopted it as a Royal Hunting Forest around 1030. The Forestry Commission has actively managed the forest since 1924 and it has been the focus of research activities since 1946. From 1994 onwards extensive environmental monitoring activities have been carried out at the site.

Research Topics

depositions chemistry

soil chemistry

soil solution chemistry

water chemistry

atmospheric chemistry

environmental science

Parameters

dissolved organic carbon in soil

atmospheric parameter

air humidity

air specific humidity

air temperature

carbon dioxide concentration

dew point

interception

precipitation intensity

diffuse radiation intensity

direct radiation intensity

sunshine duration

global radiation irradiance

incoming radiation intensity

long wave radiation

net far infrared radiation irradiance

net radiation irradiance

radiation below canopy intensity

reflected global radiation irradiance

solar radiation

diffuse solar radiation intensity

net solar radiation irradiance

total radiation irradiance

wind direction

wind speed

plant carbon concentration

plant nitrogen concentration

below ground autotrophic respiration

ammonium content

ammonium nitrogen content

percent nitrogen

percent organic carbon

soil organic residual

total carbon

total organic carbon

available phosphorus

cation exchange capacity

inorganic carbon content

inorganic nitrogen content

percent carbon

soil gas flux

soil nitrate leaching

soil pH

dissolved organic phosphorus

soil solution concentration

dissolved organic carbon in water

ecosystem parameter

tree distribution

above ground net primary production

ecosystem structure

ground water level

litter residence time

naturalness

community composition

deadwood decaying rate

deadwood position

deadwood volume

vegetation layer composition

vegetation layer structure

vegetation layer type

floristic diversity

species composition

plant species composition

vegetation reflectance

diversity index

annelida presence

tree diameter at breast height

carbon-to-nitrogen ratio

cation exchange capacity

potential evaporation

soil moisture field capacity

soil temperature

soil respiration

soil solute amount

soil solution concentration

dissolved organic nitrogen in soil

soil texture

thickness of soil horizon

Photos

not defined

Geographic

Size

851.00ha

Elevation (average)

77.00msl

Elevation (min)

110.00msl

Elevation (max)

125.00msl

Affiliation and Network Specific Information

Affiliation

Projects

ALTER-Net

CarboEurope

UK Environmental Change Network

ICP Forests (Level II)

Download

Site information [.json]

Centroid coordinates [.shp] [.kml]

Bounding Box [.shp] [.kml]

Boundaries [.shp] [.kml]

Site Details

Ecosystem and Environmental Characteristics

GEO-BON Biome

Terrestrial

Biome

Mixed Forest

Ecosystem and Land Use

Temperate broadleaf and mixed forests

Temperate coniferous forests

Biogeographical Region

Atlantic Bio-geographical Region

Air Temperature: Average Annual

10.70°C

Air Temperature Range (Monthly Minimum)

-5.00°C

Air Temperature Range (Monthly Maximum)

24.00°C

Precipitation Annual

869.00mm

Precipitation Maximum Monthly

153.00mm

Precipitation Minimum Monthly

18.00mm

EUNIS habitat

Woodland, forest and other wooded land (G)

Design and Scale of Site

Site Type (Spatial Design)

Complex Site

Design of Experimentation

partly experimentation

Scale of Experimentation

plot scale

Design of Observation

mainly observation

Scale of Observation

plot without link to explicit catchment

Infrastructure

Accessible All Year

Yes

All parts of Site Accessible

Access Type

regular car

Permanent Power Supply

Yes

Operation

Permanent Operation

Yes

Operation Notes

ECN terrestrial site monitoring takes place at least once a week

Site Visit Interval

Data Management

General Data Policy

Formal acknowledgement of the dataset providers

Data Notes

Data available via ECN Data Centre: http://data.ecn.ac.uk/index.asp

Data Policy Notes

The ECN datasets are hosted by the NERC Environmental Information Data Centre (EIDC - http://eidc.ceh.ac.uk/), managed by the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (CEH) - https://catalogue.ceh.ac.uk/documents/4971bce4-8a81-4e23-9637-7fcff37c5f21. They are available under the Open Government Licence and can be cited via DOI's (digital object identifier).

Data Policy URL

http://data.ecn.ac.uk/datapolicy.asp

Data Storage Location

Central

Data Services

Data portal

Network related information

LTER Site Classification

Master

Related Resources

Additional data

There is EURO-CORDEX climate scenario data available for this site:

Projected Near Surface Specific Humidity Change	RCP26	RCP45	RCP85
Projected Precipitation Change	RCP26	RCP45	RCP85
Projected Sea Level Pressure Change	RCP26	RCP45	RCP85
Projected Surface Downwelling Shortwave Radiation	RCP26	RCP45	RCP85
Projected Near-Surface Wind Speed	RCP26	RCP45	RCP85
Projected Near-Surface Air Temperature	RCP26	RCP45	RCP85
Projected Daily Maximum Near-Surface Air Temperature	RCP26	RCP45	RCP85
Projected Daily Minimum Near-Surface Air Temperature	RCP26	RCP45	RCP85

You can also download the entire climate scenario dataset for this site from the EUDAT B2SHARE data store.