AdaptDam

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Field season under way

The first field season has started at the study sites in Estonia and Latvia. Loggers now record groundwater level, soil moisture, tree growth, and conditions in the ditches, while floating emergence traps collect adult aquatic insects emerging from the ditch. During amphibian surveys, approximately 900 breeding females of brown frogs (Rana arvalis and R. temporaria) were recorded across our study sites, based on spawn-clump counts.

These baseline measurements describe the sites before the adaptive drainage structures are installed.

Sensors mounted on a pole in a shallow forest ditch
Oxygen, light, and pressure sensors measuring primary production in a forest ditch in Latvia.
A white floating emergence trap being set up in a narrow, freshly cleared forest ditch
Setting up floating emergence traps in Latvia.
A mass of frog spawn in shallow water at the grassy edge of a ditch
Common frog spawn in an Estonian study ditch.