Monthly Archives: February 2011

Footprints

By sarahemily | Published: February 11, 2011
Footprints in the mud can be a reflection of a soil’s n-value. Soil Taxonomy (USDA 1999:84) lists the n-value as a [mineral] soil property that “characterizes the relation between the percentage of water in a soil under field conditions and its percentages of inorganic clay and humus” (Pons and Zonneveld 1965). The n-value “is helpful... Continue reading »
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Black Soil Crayfish

By sarahemily | Published: February 9, 2011
According to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (i.e., in comments about crayfish as potential field indicators of wetland hydrology in their Atlantic and Gulf Coastal Plain Regional Supplement), there are over 300 species of crayfish in the southeastern US. I suspect that the crayfish that excavated their burrows in these “black soils” may be... Continue reading »
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Cape Elizabeth, Maine: Just Right

By sarahemily | Published: February 3, 2011
On Thursday, September 2, 2010, I walked the Outer Loop Trail at the Robinson Woods tract in Cape Elizabeth, Maine.  Just as I was approaching the end of the trail and was about to return to my auto, I encountered a patch of False Solomon’s-seal plants (Smilacina racemosa).  There were dozens of individual FSS plants... Continue reading »
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