Ecology Research

Current Findings

NOTE: Whenever possible, only add actual factual data or observations to this section. Keep the possible interpretation and conclusion to the discussion section, so we don't confound things.

Questions to Pursue

Heavy Metals

• Coming soon

Acidity

• Soil Acidity is updated every day at 6:00PM
• Acidity values decrease in increments of 500 per day
• The acidity values do not migrate from day to day

• What is the natural range of soil acidity?
• How much does the acidity level fluctuate over time?
• Does soil acidity decay naturally?
• How does building a compound in an acid neutral site affect the acidity, if at all?
• What about when kilns/firepits/etc. are added?
• Does it react to other activities (e.g. neutralizing acidic soil by doing some other action)?
• Does the acidity travel?

Measurements

Ground Water

• Filling jugs from a Deep well appears to increase the level of ground water.
  • It appears to be the number of times you fill not the number of jugs you fill that matters.
  • Emptying the jugs out does not have any effect.
• Harvesting wood from trees (in large quantities) reduces ground water.
  • Harvesting wood from 11 closely clustered Fern Palms (3 wood, no hatchet), for 45 teppy min reduced the groundwater from 19 to 6 (took about 18 real hours of no activity for it to rise from 0 to 19).
  • This does not appear to be a smooth function. At 0 teppy min (before any harvesting of wood) the ground water was at 19. At 43 min it was at 6, at 75 min it was at 6, at 90 min it was at 0. From 0 min on wood was consistently being harvested.

Soot

• Running 15 charcoal ovens 20 times each increases the soot level to 10 (running them once did not appear to increase the soot level).
  • This creates a square area about 64x64 coords centered on the ovens with the soot level dropping from 10 to 0 on the boarder.

Notes from Beta

Things we found in Beta. Bear in mind that these may have changed before live.

Heavy Metals

• No evidence of heavy metals anywhere tested prior to the opening of Mining, with up to 100 tadpoles used.
  • I also have found no correlation between heavy metals and flax dead areas. The same goes for crowding. -Durgan
• Heavy metal contamination around mines can be as wide as 140-150 coords in diameter.
  • Flax also does not seem to grow in these areas, even if it did before the mine was placed.

Acidity

• Acidity is very high in some areas that cannot grow flax.
• Acidity levels have a sharp demarcation in value (1 coord change).
• Acidity levels do drop over time within an area, naturally and/or due to other unknown activities or factors.
• Coords with acidity 1 may still be unable to grow flax.
• Flax can be grow in soil with an acidity as high as 8.8K (tested in VoK during Beta, no buildings around).
  • Have we ever seen 0 acidity in an area that can't grow flax?
  • Meroe: 825, -3002 (island with an altar) acidity level is 0, flax will harvest 0 due to "pollution", also leaves can be picked but crumble, herbs plentiful

Research Guilds

• EARS - Ecology and Agriculture Research Guild