The Wüstebach catchment is located in the Eifel National Park and covers an area of 38.5 ha, with mean altitude of about 610 m. The geology is dominated by Devonian shale, which is covered by a periglacial solifluction layer of about 1–2 m thickness. Cambisols and Planosols have developed on the hillslopes, whereas Gleysols and Histosols have formed in the valley. The main soil texture is silty clay loam and the litter layer has a thickness between 0.5 and 14 cm. The mean annual precipitation is about 1200 mm. Norway Spruce planted in 1946 is the prevailing vegetation type. During late summer/early autumn of 2013, trees were almost completely removed in an area of 9 ha by the national park forest management in order to promote the natural regeneration of near-natural deciduous forest from spruce monoculture forest.

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General Characteristics, Purpose, History

Site Status:

existing

Year Site Established:

2004

Size :

40.00ha

Purpose of Site :

Investigation of deforestation effects on the ecosystem, hydrological and biogeochemical processes using an integrated observation approach. To this end the site was instrumented to allow for a detailed long-term monitoring of meteorological states and fluxes (above and below the canopy), runoff discharge, groundwater levels, dynamics of soil water content patterns, soil respiration, chemical soil properties, solute concentrations in soil and stream of important elements and stable isotopes, and sediment transport.

History of Site:

The Wüstebach catchment is part of the Lower Rhine Valley-Eifel observatory of TERENO and located within the Eifel National Park. Recently, the National Park forest management started to promote the natural regeneration of near-natural beech forest by removing a significant proportion of the spruce forest that was established for timber production after World War II. Within this context, the effects of such a disturbance on forest ecosystem functioning are currently investigated in a deforestation experiment in the Wüstebach catchment, which is one of the key experimental research sites within the Lower Rhine Valley-Eifel observatory. The deforestation of about 9 ha of Spruce forest took place in summer 2013.

Research Topics:

Parameters:

Photos

Geographic

Coordinates:

Latitude: 50.583300000000
Longitude: 6.433330000000

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Site Details

Ecosystem and Environmental Characteristics

Elevation Range FROM:

595.00msl

Elevation Range TO:

628.00msl

Elevation - Average:

610.00msl

Air Temperature Range (Monthly Minimum) FROM:

-3.40°C

Air Temperature Range (Monthly Maximum) TO :

20.60°C

Air Temperature: Average Annual:

8.20°C

Precipitation Minimum Monthly :

5.00mm

Precipitation Annual :

1 311.00mm

Precipitation Maximum Monthly :

329.00mm

Biome :

Evergreen Forest

GEO-BON Biome:

Terrestrial

Ecosystem and Land Use:

Forest
Temperate coniferous forests

Biogeographical Region:

Continental

eLTER Parameters

eLTER Parameters:

Network Affiliation and Network Specific Information

Affiliation:

LTER
eLTER catalogue
RBV-CZO
ExpeER
TERENO

LTER related

LTER Site Code:

LTER_EU_DE_023_003

LTER Site Classification/Category:

Master

Accreditation Status by LTER Member Network:

Accredited formal LTER facility

Protection Status and Resource Management

National park

75 - 100%

Management of Resources :

Yes

Management of Resources - Percent of Site:

0 - 25%

Design and Scale of Site

Site Type (Spatial Design):

Complex Site

Scale of Observation:

entire catchment

Design of Observation:

partly observation

Scale of Experiments:

catchment scale

Design of Experiments:

partly experimentation

Infrastructure

Accessible All Year :

Yes

All parts of Site Accessible:

Yes

Access Type:

paved road

Permanent Power Supply:

Yes

Infrastructure:

Energy and data infrastructure › Data transmission › Data Transmission Type (within site) › Radio transmission system (repeaters, receivers, centralstation)
Energy and data infrastructure › Data transmission › Data Transmission Type (within site) › GMS/UMTS
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 › More than 100 kW
Supporting infrastructure › Lodging at site › No lodging possible
Supporting infrastructure › Transportation › Vehicle 2WD
Supporting infrastructure › Transportation › Vehicle 4WD
Observation device › Measurement tower › More than 10 m above canopy
Observation device › Temperature Controlled Container
Data infrastructure › Data storage › Spatial data file (GIS)
Data infrastructure › Data storage › Relational database
Data infrastructure › Data storage › Spatial database (GIS)
Data infrastructure › Data storage › XML database
Data infrastructure › Data services › Data portal
Data infrastructure › Data services › Web Catalog Service (CSW)
Data infrastructure › Data services › Web Map Service (WMS)
Data infrastructure › Data services › Web Feature Service (WFS)
Data infrastructure › Data services › Web Coverage Service (WCS)
Data infrastructure › Data services › Sensor Web Enablement (SWE)

Operation

Permanent Operation:

Site Visit Interval:

Every 7 days

Maintenance Interval:

Every 7 days

Data Management

General Data Policy:

Formal acknowledgement of the dataset providers

Data Policy URL:

teodoor.icg.kfa-juelich.de

Data Storage Location :

Central

Data services :

Web Catalog Service (CSW)

Web Feature Service (WFS)

Web Map Service (WMS)

Web Coverage Service (WCS)

Sensor Web Enablement (SWE)

Associated Data

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