The LTER research program at BCEF is designed to study ecosystem structure and function through examination of controls over successional processes in taiga forests of interior Alaska. At six turning points in the floodplain succession and three turning points in the upland succession three replicates of experimental plots were established for experimental projects and to follow the natural changes occuring in ecosystem structure and function. Shift in dominance from deciduous to coniferous trees and establishment of feathermoss.
Mature conifer stands, lowering of soil temperature.
Stem density reduced by snow breakage in 1991 followed by insect mortality. Shift from bare siltbar to initial plant colonization. Willow colonization, buried by fluvial deposition in 1997, resetting vegetation to near Stage 0. Shift from open willow to closed shrub community. Open to closed shrub.