UK ECN site. Glensaugh is one of two terrestrial ECN sites currently managed by the James Hutton Institute. Glensaugh Research station is 35 miles south west of Aberdeen, NE Scotland (NGR NO 671783), on the edge of the Grampian hills and covers over 1100 hectares. The dominant cover is semi-natural vegetation, and there is a small amount of woodland (5ha) and some short term and permanent grassland (150ha). Much of the ECN monitoring is carried out towards the northern boundary of the research station in the small upland catchment of the Birnie Burn. Winters can be severe and snow may lie in patches until late March. The target sampling site is located at an altitude of 300m on heather dominated (Calluna vulgaris) moorland interspersed with patches of blaeberry (Vaccinium myrtillus). It has a westerly aspect and straight slopes of up to 20 degrees. The soil is predominantly freely draining humus iron podzol of the Strichen Series. The water chemistry sampling point, flume and in-stream measurements are made on the Birnie Burn at an altitude of 240m. The catchment area above the sampling point is around 100ha. Precipitation and atmospheric chemistry samples are collected adjacent to the stream at a similar altitude.

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General Characteristics, Purpose, History

Site Status:

existing

Year Site Established:

1992

Size :

1 125.00ha

Purpose of Site :

Upland research and monitoring is carried out on a working farm. The main enterprises are sheep, beef cattle and deer with some shooting and fishing opportunities. The types of land use and management carried out at Glensaugh are representative of those undertaken across large areas of upland Scotland. Monitoring of environmental variables such as climatic conditions, soil, flora and fauna over a long time frame (decadal) enable cause and effect relationships to be investigated and help to gather evidence with which to test predictive models of, for example acid deposition, climate change impacts and biodiversity change.

History of Site:

Glensaugh has been an experimental farm since 1943. As a fully operational and commercial hill farm, it still continues to support the existing research program. Commercial livestock farming (sheep, cattle, deer) is facilitated by extensive grazing. In recent years both stocking density and the the requirement for additional inputs has been reduced in line with the national trend. Agroforestry plots were established in 1988 and have been managed in a variety of ways over subsequent years. Currently a silvo-pastoral system which allows sheep to roam through the trees is in operation. During the last 10 years there has been an increased focus on long term sustainability of the farm and the installation of a wind turbine, restoration of private water supply, and construction of a biomass boiler have all helped to reduce the environmental impact of the business. Woodland planting has improved biodiversity, provides shelter belts and will create a potential fuel source.

Parameters:

Photos

Geographic

Coordinates:

Latitude: 56.900000000000
Longitude: -2.550000000000

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Site Details

Ecosystem and Environmental Characteristics

Elevation Range FROM:

137.00msl

Elevation Range TO:

487.00msl

Elevation - Average:

241.00msl

Air Temperature Range (Monthly Minimum) FROM:

2.07°C

Air Temperature Range (Monthly Maximum) TO :

2.07°C

Air Temperature: Average Annual:

7.50°C

Precipitation Minimum Monthly :

234.40mm

Precipitation Annual :

1 128.00mm

Precipitation Maximum Monthly :

336.50mm

Biome :

Grasslands

GEO-BON Biome:

Fresh water rivers

Terrestrial

Ecosystem and Land Use:

Agricultural
Grasslands
Temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands
Lakes
Small lakes
Rivers
Small rivers
Fresh Water Rivers

Biogeographical Region:

Atlantic

Geology:

The Highland Boundary Fault divides the Research Station into two distinct geological zones. North of the fault are drifts derived from schistose rock. To the south of the fault are drifts derived from Old Red Sandstone.

Hydrology:

The area is drained by a number of small headwater streams. The ground water table is relatively high and there are many springs across higher ground. There is also a small loch. Some streams are virtually emphemeral and run through deep gravels in the summer.

Vegetation:

The research station comprises 865 hectares (ha) of semi-natural plant communities, 60 ha of predominantly rotational grassland and 88 ha of permanent pasture. On the alluvial soils of the valley bottom the semi-natural vegetation is dominated by species-rich Agrostis-Festuca grassland. This gives way to species-poor Agrostis-Festuca on the lower slopes, with bracken (Pteridium aquilinum) also present. The higher slopes are dry heather (Calluna vulgaris) moor, with blaeberry (Vaccinium myrtillus), wavy hair grass (Deschampsia flexuosa) and bell heather (Erica cinerea) locally important. On the deeper peats at the highest altitude, cross-leaved heather (Erica tetralix) and cotton sedge (Eriophorum vaginatum) become co-dominant. The predominantly rotational grassland is reseeded with perennial ryegrass and white clover mixtures every 7-10 years. This provides grazing for the crossbred ewe flock, swards for experimental work, silage for winter feeding and aftermath grazing for finishing lambs.

Soils:

The soils reflect the underlying geology which is influenced by The Highland Boundary Fault. North of the fault the soils are of the Strichen Association. Brown forest soils and podzols of the lower slopes give way to peaty podzols and, on the highest ground, to peat. To the south of the fault the soils are humus-iron podzols on the lower slopes and peaty podzols at higher elevations.

eLTER Parameters

eLTER Parameters:

Network Affiliation and Network Specific Information

Affiliation:

LTER
eLTER (H2020)
eLTER catalogue
COSMOS-UK
UK Environmental Change Network
UK Eutrophying and Acidifying atmospheric Pollutants (UKEAP) network

LTER related

LTER Site Code:

LTER_EU_UK_048

LTER Site Classification/Category:

Master

Accreditation Status by LTER Member Network:

Accredited formal LTER facility

Protection Status and Resource Management

0 - 25%

Management of Resources :

Yes

Management of Resources - Percent of Site:

0 - 25%

Management of Resources - Notes:

Some upland sheep farming

Design and Scale of Site

Site Type (Spatial Design):

Complex Site

Scale of Observation:

plot without link to explicit catchment

Design of Observation:

mainly observation

Scale of Experiments:

plot scale

Design of Experiments:

partly experimentation

Infrastructure

Infrastructure notes:

For details see: http://www.hutton.ac.uk/about/facilities/glensaugh

Accessible All Year :

Yes

All parts of Site Accessible:

Access Type:

dirt road (4WD)

Permanent Power Supply:

Yes

Infrastructure:

Energy and data infrastructure › Data transmission › Data Transmission Type (within site) › Telephone line
Energy and data infrastructure › Data transmission › Data Transmission Type (from Site) › Telephone line
Energy and data infrastructure › Data transmission › Data Transmission Type (from Site) › GMS/UMTS
Energy and data infrastructure › Energy supply › Permanent Power Supply Location › Central station(s)
Energy and data infrastructure › Energy supply › Permanent Power Produced › 5-10 kW
Supporting infrastructure › Lodging at site › 1 - 5 beds
Supporting infrastructure › Staff room at site › > 5 places
Supporting infrastructure › Transportation › Vehicle 2WD
Supporting infrastructure › Transportation › Vehicle 4WD
Data infrastructure › Data storage › Structured file
Data infrastructure › Data storage › Spatial data file (GIS)
Data infrastructure › Data storage › Relational database
Data infrastructure › Data services › Data portal

Operation

Operation Notes:

ECN terrestrial monitoring is carried out at least once every 7 days

Permanent Operation:

Yes

Site Visit Interval:

Every 7 days

Data Management

General Data Policy:

Access to the data is through an Open Government Licence

Data Policy Notes:

The ECN datasets are hosted by the NERC Environmental Information Data Centre (EIDC - http://eidc.ceh.ac.uk/), managed by the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (CEH) - https://catalogue.ceh.ac.uk/documents/4971bce4-8a81-4e23-9637-7fcff37c5f21. They are available under the Open Government Licence and can be cited via DOI's (digital object identifier).

Data Policy URL:

data.ecn.ac.uk

Data Storage Location :

Central

Data services :

Data portal

Data Notes:

Data available via ECN Data Centre: http://data.ecn.ac.uk/index.asp

Associated Data

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