In the first period of fieldwork, after the registration of point-intercepts, the above-ground biomass of the sample surface was harvested in the following systematic way.
- The outline of the sample surface was traced with a kitchen knife, cutting into the soil surface. Parts of rosette plants, graminoids in tufts and large individual plants (such as Cytisus scoparius and Solidago virgaurea) that extended beyond the sample surface were cut off and were not included in the harvest. Graminoids with numerous and long basal leaves were “combed” so that leaves originating outside of the sample surface perimeter were left out of the harvest, and leaves originating inside the sample surface, but extending outside were included in the harvest.
- The overall approach to harvesting was to include as much plant biomass and as little mineral soil as possible. Plants with mainly vertical growth were gathered in handfuls and cut of at the base, just above the mineral soil, using a set of Gardena grass shears. Rosette plants were cut just below the rosette, to include as much plant material as possible. Above-ground rhizomes were also harvested, when they were visible and no digging was required. Mosses were also harvested, cutting as close to the top layer of soil as possible. Dead plant material was harvested in the same way as living plant material. The humus layer of topsoil was not included in the biomass harvest.
- All harvested plant material was put into clearly marked paper bags. If possible, some early sorting of species was performed, in order to ease the later process of sorting the plant material at the species level. Harvested biomass was placed in a fridge as soon as possible after harvesting, for later sorting.
Harvested plant material was hand-sorted to species in the laboratory and placed into separate paper bags. Some plant material, such as small fragments, was not possible to identify to the species level and was simply labelled as “unknown plant material”. The bags were then placed in a drying oven and dried at 55o celsius until the weight had stabilized. The dried plant material was stored in the paper bags at room temperature and then weighed, using a scientific scale with an accuracy of 0,01 grammes and a plastic tray, after the last day of fieldwork.