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At the HBEF, Deane Wang studies sandboxes. Of course, these "sandboxes" aren't the type you may have played in when you were younger, but are actually part of a "mesocosm" experiment. Mesocosms are artificial, created ecosystems that allow for experimental manipulation. The mesocosms that Dr. Wang studies are small (7.5 m X 7.5 m or 2.5 X 2.5 m, all 1.5 m deep) plots, each of which are identical to each other in all respects but one: they each contain a different type of plant. Beginning in 1982, scientists dug the plots, lined them with a waterproof barrier, filled them with sand containing very little nitrogen, and finally planted them. Each of the plots contains a unique type of plant, such as red pine trees, grasses, red spruce trees, gray birch trees, and several others. All atmospheric inputs, such as precipitation and deposition, and all outputs, such as soil water runoff, to and from the mesocosms are regularly measured by scientists. By comparing the plots, scientists learn how different types of plants affect nutrient and element cycling. According to Dr. Wang, the sandboxes, "are the play spaces of an interdisciplinary group of grown scientists. Our research group has included ecosystem ecologists, hydrologists, geologists, and geochemists. The current question revolves around understanding ecosystem processes after removal of the tree component [all trees were cut down in the red pine box] of the ecosystem." For more information about the HBES sandboxes, visit Dr. Wang's website.
Dr. Wang first became interested in science as a student - and eventually an instructor - at the John Dorr Nature Laboratory in Connecticut. "This evolved into a stint working as an instructor at the National Outdoor Leadership School in Lander, Wyoming, then a new, and small organization working out of a warehouse. I was hooked on wandering in wild places often far from the press of people. A B.A from Harvard College and an M.S. from Cornell University provided me with some training in science which I used to work as an environmental consultant in Pennsylvania with a big national firm." After studying at Cornell, Dr. Wang decided to pursue a Ph.D. at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. "That's when I ran into to Herb Bormann, mostly by accident. While I did my thesis research in the Pine Barrens of New Jersey on fire, doing something at Hubbard Brook was inevitable due to my connection with Herb." Dr. Wang now works as a professor at the University of Vermont, and continues to do basic and applied research at the HBEF. "The thought that I [can] get paid have a career for simply pursuing interesting questions [is] mind-boggling. What an interesting society that values learning and knowledge for its own sake. Currently, most of my research is applied research...useful in understanding how to best manage our relationship with nature but when I started this journey it was about wondering and doing research to answer questions." Dr. Wang's research has helped to answer a variety of questions about nitrogen cycling in ecosystems. "Our work in the Sandbox demonstrates that at an early stage in their development, some pines seem to fix nitrogen via some relationship that they have with soil [microorganisms]. I use the word 'seem' because the question is still a subject of hot debate. We know the nitrogen that we measure doesn't come from precipitation or the soil, but can only infer that it comes from fixation. Strong inference is still one of our most powerful tools to understanding. Because nitrogen is such an important forest nutrient, and because it is often viewed as the limiting nutrient in many natural and commercial forests, documenting a novel atmospheric source of nitrogen suggests very different strategies for developing sustainable forest ecosystem management practices. "Figuring out how to ask questions and how to interpret results is the most interesting part of science to me. There is nothing like a complex dataset to keep the puzzling going. Trying out alternative hypotheses to explain the data, starting all over again from a different angle. It's a mental challenge that requires you to examine assumptions and re-examine them, and always, always, always be more rigorous than you plan to be at first." A career in science?When
we asked Dr. Wang if he had any thoughts about what it takes to have a career in
science, he remarked, "Work with good people. Volunteer at first if you can't find paid work. Work hard. Ask lots of questions. Ask "dumb" questions
you'll find that often they are not so dumb. Be an active learner. Don't expect answers
be especially wary of easy answers. Don't believe everything in the text book. Have fun." |
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