AWARDS

Ph.D. student Victoria Wojahn has been awarded $10,000 in equipment from Meter Group, Inc. for her ecohydrology work using integrated tree-soil sensors.

Wojahn will receive SOLYX 14 sensors to measure dielectric permittivity, soil moisture, temperature, bulk electrical conductivity (EC), and pore water EC. She’ll install the sensors into trees in the Manitou Experimental Forest, and will be among the first to use them in woody tissue.

“This project will investigate daily and seasonal water dynamics in ponderosa pine in a snow-dominated forest in northern Colorado,” said Wojahn.

She anticipates the sensors will provide more accurate estimates of moisture content and electrical conductivity, improving the interpretation of her Electrical Resistivity Tomography (ERT) data.

“Four neighboring trees will be instrumented with SOLYX-14 sensors, which will be calibrated in the laboratory across controlled gradients of volumetric water content prior to field deployment. A focal tree will be equipped with permanent trunk ERT arrays at three heights, along with a surface ERT array to image soil moisture distribution. Calibrated stem measurements will be used to constrain ERT interpretation and distinguish moisture-driven from conductivity-driven signals. The results will improve understanding of internal water storage and tree responses to drought.”

Wojahn’s work was detailed in a recent university feature, Tree Store Water. She is advised by Assistant Professor Antônio Alves Meira Neto.