Background Information

The forest drought experiment at Hubbard Brook was constructed in 2015. The throughfall exclusion experiment was designed to simulate a 1-in-100-year drought during an average precipitation year by diverting ~50% of forest throughfall from each treatment plot starting in May 2015 (Asbjornsen et al., 2018). Throughfall was intercepted by reinforced polyethylene troughs and diverted passively to the downslope side of each plot. In May 2019, throughfall removal was increased to approximately 95%. Throughfall exclusion treatments ended in February 2020. Recovery and return to baseline conditions were monitored during 2020 (when a natural drought occurred) and 2021 (a more normal year). 

Plots 1 and 2 are control plots.  Plots 7 and 8 received the throughfall exclusion treatment.