Introduction Page 14 |
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What types of animals and plants live in lakes in northern New Hampshire? How are old-growth forests different from those found at the HBEF? What happens in very acidic ponds and coniferous forests? These are some more questions that our scientists are curious about, but might not be able to fully answer by only looking at the forest in the HBEF. Instead, they can compare and contrast nearby sites such as Mirror Lake, Cone Pond, and the Bowl Natural Area to the HBEF.
Mirror Lake The Mirror Lake Ecosystem, located near the mouth of the Hubbard Brook Valley, has been studied extensively since about 1965 as part of the Hubbard Brook Ecosystem Study. The lake has a surface area of 15 hectares, a maximum depth of 11 meters, has a pH that ranges from 6.3 to 6.8, and has surface temperatures approaching 25 degrees C (77 F) in the summer. Mirror Lake is oligotrophic (it contains very few nutrients necessary for plant growth, and is very clear). Research includes work on phytoplankton, zooplankton, benthos, macrophytes, periphyton, microorganisms, fish, salamanders, temperature and heat content, mixing and circulation, hydrology, biogeochemistry, geology, cultural history, paleoecology and especially air-land-water interactions. Mirror Lake is also a great place to cool off - in fact, it's where many students, technicians, and scientists go after a long, hot day of collecting samples in the forest. If you would like to learn more about nearby acidic Cone Pond, or the old-growth Bowl Natural Research Area, click here. ![]() ![]() |