Community water content (CWC) was measured across the site
in January 2008. Sponge cores, 2–3 cm diameter and 3 cm depth,
were inserted into the moss beds adjacent to each quadrat, and
were retrieved after 24 h. The sponges were placed in airtight tubes,
returned to the laboratory within 1 h and weighed to determine
fresh weight. The sponges were then left to dessicate in the laboratory, at a relative humidity of 22%, until a constant dry weight was
reached. This method has been shown to give a good correlation
with true turf water content while avoiding destructive analysis