Long-term research at the Fernow Experimental Forest in West Virginia suggests that continued acid deposition from the burning of fossil fuels may acidify soils and stream water, diminish the abundance of important soil nutrients, reduce tree species diversity, and alter the balance of soil nutrients in ways that reduce the ability of forests to grow and sequester atmospheric carbon dioxide. Previous results also demonstrate that not all forests are equally susceptible to the effects of acid rain. Over the next 10 years, researchers will use ecosystem models and continue long-term measurements of precipitation, stream water, soils, and vegetation in both untreated and experimentally manipulated sites in order to determine: (1) how the mix of tree species alters a forests' susceptibility to the effects of acid rain; (2) whether continued acidification (and nitrogen addition) reduces forest growth and carbon storage; and (3) whether continued acidification will reduce the diversity of forest herbs and trees.
Long-term data are rare but necessary for detecting environmental change, and for quantifying its ecological impact. This project will significantly improve our understanding of the link between changes in air pollution and forest productivity in ways that can inform public policy, enhance ecological theory, and improve forest management practices. The investigator will continue a successful fellowship and intern program that provides summer support for graduate and undergraduate students whose research is conducted at the Experimental Forest. He plans to collaborate with the WVU English Department to create a new undergraduate course that challenges students to write creatively about changes in the environment that take place on time scales of decades to centuries. Long-term chemical and hydrological data are publicly available.
