An inspiration for artwork, a hidden world of mini-beasts and mycorrhizae, a major consideration in woodland management, a vital player in the carbon sequestration and climate change story - soil is fascinating whichever way you look at it.
Last Sunday KFCG held its first event under the banner Kilsture: Art | Science | Forest, bringing together people from different disciplines to explore the forest together. Artist Morag Paterson, ecologist Malcolm Haddow and forester Andy Macqueen co-led a walk through the forest to share their knowledge of and interest in soil on the forest floor. A group of 10 of us visited three sites chosen ahead of time to illustrate different soil characteristics in the forest. Morag handed out notebooks to record our impressions of each site, encouraging us to pick up handfuls of soil, smell them and rub small samples into the pages to create patterns as the soil dries.
The soil was dramatically different from one place to the next, a positive indication of healthy biodiversity across the forest, as each site will support a different range of plants and animals. To follow are thumbnail sketches of each site:
Site 1 – semi wetland – flooded in winter, soggy in summer. The wetland soil is very dark, with only a faint smell, dense and moist and very good for carbon storage – 70% of carbon storage in a forest is in the soil.
Site in April showing level of water retention
You won’t find many earthworms there, because they drown in soil with too much water in it, and the density of the soil makes it difficult for most species to get through. But there will be plenty of bacteria and mini-beasts, mostly in the upper layers of the soil to do the heavy lifting of turning organic matter into soil. Wetlands are brilliant for diversity and KFCG is planning to put in a sluice to keep to create a year-round wetland in the forest. The only trees at this site currently are stricken ash, but alder and willow thrive in this kind of damp fertile soil and could be planted round the edge of a permanent wetland.
Site 2 - beech and conifer. The soil here is very layered – black on top from the rotten leaf mould, with different shades of rusty orange soil below with a wonderful mushroomy smell. Soil colour and minerals will depend on the underlying geology below, in this case there was iron in the rock causing the rusty colour. Although there is very little understorey, the subterranean life is rich and diverse, supporting more fungal activity than other soils.
Beech and conifer stand
There are four categories of plants and animals related to soil: micro flora and fauna (up to 0.1m in size), macro flora and fauna (worms, mini-beasts, alga etc) and, the beautifully named, soil mega fauna – e.g that titan - the mole!
The fourth category is fungi which includes mycorrhizal fungi. These tiny threads facilitate plant soil interaction, the beneficial exchange of water, sugars and minerals between the two species. The exchange is integral to how plants get the nutrients they need to grow and thrive. The networks are very extensive, connecting groups of trees to each other; mushrooms are the fruiting bodies of these networks. The networks are very delicate and vulnerable to damage by forest machinery.
Mycorrhizal fungi
Site 3 - ash. The soil here is a dull, monotone grey brown colour and has a strong, spicy, sweet smell. The colour indicates that it is the most integrated of the three soils we looked at - the contrasts found in the beech related soil have been mixed up creating a uniform colour. This is because ash leaves let in more light and the more light you have the more energy there is to stimulate microflora and bacterial activity which in turn increases the abundance of macrofauna. Unimproved temperate grassland probably has the highest soil diversity for this reason.
Ash dominated area
In most cases the presence of particular trees will indicate what type of soil they are growing in. But with ash it is the other way round – they actually change the soil to meet its needs, so supporting its seedlings. With regards to ash dieback, the advice is – if it is safe (e.g not at risk of falling onto path, road, building etc) leave stricken ash trees in place as they could develop resistance to the disease. There was a lot of bracken growing on that site. Although it is very dominant, it has its uses in forestry particularly by insulating the soil and protecting saplings.
Inspired by nature and science: At each site Morag shared examples of work that had been inspired by soil and the life within it.
Some of Morag's images of microflora
The examples she brought were soil rubbings, images of microscopic life and soil chromatographs – an almost alchemical process by which soil samples are transformed into exquisite images - which can be used as a practical guide by farmers or gardeners for identifying the availability of humus in the soil and whether or not there are pollutants.
Chromatograph of bog soil @Morag Paterson
She explained how ideas for her work will often start by sitting in the forest absorbing it through all her senses, noting thoughts and ideas that come to her. She then follows up these ideas with research into the science back at home, finding ways to combine her experiences in the forest with her fascination for the science.
Mud: Our final unscheduled stop-off was a muddy puddle along the side of the trail.
Mud is really important to insects not adapted to water – in particular butterflies, moths and bees - providing a safer source of water than ponds and streams, as there is no risk of drowning. It is also a valuable building material for birds and bees.
“Forests are the fruiting body of the soil.” This has to be the headline from the walk, emphatically expressing the primary importance of the soil in a healthy functioning forest ecosystem.
This has implications for woodland management and was central to the themes we explored in our Mycorrhizae Symposium in May. Increasingly, attention is being paid to respecting and maintaining the integrity of its structure and the diverse and complex ecology it supports in order to support a healthy ecosystem. Just as regular ploughing is being seen increasingly as contributing to the loss of fertility and productivity of agricultural land, so the heavily mechanised methods of extracting timber and planting trees are being seen as contributing to biodiversity loss, because of the harm done to the soil ecosystem in the process.
Working across disciplines: The starting point for Kilsture: Art | Science | Forest is a question: How can working across different disciplines help KFCG deliver on our core aims which are: to support the forest to be as climate resilient and biodiverse as possible and to be accessible to all? The feedback from our specialists about this first outing was very positive. All three found it stimulating and enjoyable, appreciating a rare opportunity to break out their silos and to learn from each other. Morag found the interdisciplinary walk fascinating: “Listening to Andrew and Malcolm, along with the insightful questions from fellow walkers has provided a wealth of inspiration for future projects.”
Getting to know the forest: When we think about extending access to the forest, we think a lot about how to remove barriers that keep different groups from visiting the forest. This drives our current feasibility study to set up a permanent forest school in Kilsture with the long term ambition of reaching every child in the Machars.
The walk at the weekend illustrated the other really important part of extending access - which is to open up opportunities to discover different ways of seeing and understanding the forest. People have different interests, learn in different ways, using different parts of their brain, calling on different senses. By working across disciplines Art | Science | Forest promises to open up how we see, experience and learn about the forest leading to new connections and insights into how we can support Kilsture Forest to thrive.
Many thanks to D&G Woodlands for inviting us to be part of their summer programme and MAC-CAN for supporting the event as part of their yearlong focus on soil.
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