Responses of Northern US Forests to Environmental Change

About this book

The physical and chemical environmental changes associated with global change have increasingly affected the health and productivity of forest ecosystems. Among the important environmental changes manifested by intensive land use and natural disturbances in the Northeastern and North Central United States are escalating levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide, tropospheric ozone, deposition of nitrogen and sulfur compounds, acidic precipitation, and climate variability. This volume presents five years of research of the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service's Northern Global Change Program. This longterm research contributes to our understanding of the effects of multiples stresses on forest ecosystems over multiple spatial and temporal scales. At the physiological level, reports explore changes in growth and biomass, species composition, and wildlife habitat; at the landscape scale, the abundance distribution, and dynamics of species, populations, and communities are addressed. Chapters include studies of nutrient depletion, climate and atmospheric deposition, carbon and nitrogen cycling, insect and disease outbreaks, biotic feedbacks with the atmosphere, interacting effects of multiple stresses, and modeling the regional effects of global change. The book provides sound ecological information for policymakers and land-use planners as well as for researchers in ecology, forestry, atmospheric science, soil science and biogeochemistry. Robert A. Mickler is Project Scientist for Scientific Assessments and Quality Assurance, Southern Global Change Program with ManTech Environmental Technology, Inc. Richard Birdsey is USDA Forest Service Program Manager for the Northern Global Change Program. John L. Hom is USDA Forest Service Assistant Program Manger for the Northern Global Change Program.

Contents

Preface.- An Introduction to Northern U.S. Forest Ecosystems: Forest Resources and Conditions; Geologic and Edaphic Factors Influencing Susceptibility of Forest Soils to Environmental Change; Climate and Atmospheric Deposition Patterns and Trends; Forest Declines in Response to Environmental Change.- Global Change Impacts on Tree Physiology: Interacting Effects of Multiple Stresses on Growth and Physiological Processes in Northern Forest Trees; Physiological and Environmental Causes of Freezing Injury in Red Spruce; Tree Health and Physiology in a Changing Environment; Atmospheric Deposition Effects on Surface Waters, Soils, and Forest Productivity.- Ecosystem-Scale Interactions with Global Change: Nitrogen Saturation in Experimental Forested Watersheds; Effects of Soil Warming on Carbon and Nitrogen Cycling; Regional Impacts of Climate Change and Elevated Carbon Dioxide on Forest Productivity; Regional Impacts of Ozon on Forest Productivity; Effects of Climate Change on Forest Insect and Disease Outbreaks; Forest Responses to Changing Climate: Lessons from the Past and Uncertainty for the Future.- Summary: Summary of Prospective Global Change Impacts on Northern U.S. Forest Ecosystems.- Index.

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