Monitoring ecological recovery of reclaimed wellsites: Protocols for quantifying recovery on forested lands.

We developed a scientifically robust and financially sustainable monitoring protocol to enable a consistent assessment of ecological recovery of physical, chemical, and biological indicators at certified reclaimed industrial wellsites in forested lands in noutheastern Alberta. Using the developed protocols, data can be generated from measurement of soil, vegetation, and landscape indicators at reclaimed wellsites and adjacent reference sites. We selected the appropriate vegetation, soil, and habitat indicators for a long-term reclamation monitoring program and have provided sampling protocols for the selected indicators here.

Extraction and Analysis of Microbial Phospholipid Fatty Acids in Soils.

Phospholipid fatty acids (PLFAs) are key components of microbial cell membranes. The analysis of PLFAs extracted from soils can provide information about the overall structure of terrestrial microbial communities. PLFA profiling has been extensively used in a range of ecosystems as a biological index of overall soil quality, and as a quantitative indicator of soil response to land management and other environmental stressors.

Understory Plant Community Composition Is Associated with Fine-Scale Above- and Below-Ground Resource Heterogeneity in Mature Lodgepole Pine (Pinus contorta) Forests.

Understory plant communities play critical ecological roles in forest ecosystems. Both above- and below-ground ecosystem properties and processes influence these communities but relatively little is known about such effects at fine (i.e.