Today's class first began with a review of yesterday. Next, the class headed up to the conference room where they discussed swamps, how molecules work (cold molecules-slow; warm molecules-fast), and the different gases in the atmosphere. They also looked at the CO2Fix model to analyze the changes in the atmosphere carbon level in a specific forest for the past several centuries and even how it will change in the future. They also could play around with some of the forest model's parameters. Zeph then showed a model of the carbon level (carbon intake) in a forest where the trees growth is not controlled. He showed how it increased at first, but then leveled off.
The class then started a experimental report using computer models to answer why the biomass increased for the first 60 years of existence. They looked at the influence of each fo the small parts of the forest to answer this question. Using Excel to graph, first, they saw how the pioneer population had very little influence on the total biomass of the forest, as it first increased and then decreased to almost a 0-level. They saw that the commercially valuable and potential trees all had a large increase in biomass and so they had an influence on the total biomass. The class then began writing these findings into a full follow-up report. The whole class left eagerly awaiting tommorow's workshop.