Table Of ContentEcological Studies, Vol. 139
Analysis and Synthesis
Edited by
M.M. Caldwell, Logan, USA
G. Heldmaier, Marburg, Germany
O.L. Lange, Wiirzburg, Germany
H.A. Mooney, Stanford, USA
E.-D. Schulze, Jena, Germany
U. Sommer, Kiel, Germany
Ecological Studies
Volumes published since 1992 are listed at the end of this book.
Springer-Science+Business Media, LLC
Ro bert A. Mickler Richard A. Birdsey
John Hom
Editors
Responses of Northern
u.s. Forests to
Environmental Change
With 172 Figures, 78 in Color
Springer
Robert A. Mickler Richard A. Birdsey
ManTech Environmental USDA Forest Service
Technology, Inc. Northeastern Forest Experiment Station
1509 Varsity Drive 11 Campus Boulevard
Raleigh, NC 27606 Newton Square, PA 19073
USA USA
John Horn
USDA Forest Service
Northeastern Forest Experiment Station
11 Campus Boulevard
Newton Square, PA 19073
USA
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Responses of northern U.S. forests to environmental change/edited by
Robert Mickler, Richard A. Birdsey, John Horn.
p. cm.-(Ecological studies; 139)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-4612-7064-5 ISBN 978-1-4612-1256-0 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-1-4612-1256-0
I. Forest ecology-United States. 2. Global environmental change.
I. Mickler, Robert A. 11. Birdsey, Richard A. III. Horn, John Lun.
IV. Title: Responses of northern US forests to environmental change.
V. Title: Responses of northern United States forests to
environmental change. VI. Series: Ecological studies; v. 139.
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577.3'0973-dc21 99-40960
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Preface
In the Global Change Research Act of 1990, "global change" is defined as
"changes in the global environment (including alterations in climate, land
productivity, oceans or other water resources, atmospheric chemistry, and
ecological systems) that may alter the capacity of the Earth to sustain life."
For the purposes of this book, we interpret the definition of global change
broadly to include physical and chemical environmental changes that are
likely to affect the productivity and health of forest ecosystems over the long
term. Important environmental changes in the Northern United States
include steadily increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide, tropospheric ozone,
wet and dry deposition of nitrogen and sulfur compounds, acidic
precipitation and clouds, and climate variability. These environmental
factors interact in complex ways to affect plant physiological functions and
soil processes in the context of forest landscapes derived from centuries of
intensive land use and natural disturbances.
Research in the North has begun to unravel some key questions about
how environmental changes will impact the productivity and health of forest
ecosystems, species distributions and abundance, and associations of people
and forests. Initial research sponsored by the USDA Forest Service under
the United States Global Change Research Program (USGCRP) was
focused on basic process-level understanding of tree species and forest
v
VI Preface
ecosystem responses to environmental stress. Chemical pollution stresses
received equal emphasis with climate change concerns.
At the most basic plant level, research has highlighted some of the
mechanisms that determine how physiological processes respond to
combinations of factors that affect northern forest trees. Investigators
conducted experiments on the impacts of increases in carbon dioxide (C02)
and ozone (03), and the impacts of nitrogen (N) and acidic deposition.
These environmental factors are expected to have continuing effects on
forests. Less certain but still of concern are anticipated changes in
temperature and precipitation that may be induced by increasing
concentrations of greenhouse gases. Experimental soil warming and
modeling studies are examples of how the potential effects of climate
change on ecosystems are investigated.
Many past experiments involved seedlings or small trees exposed to gases
in chambers. Current research projects involve scaling up experiments from
highly controlled chamber studies to more realistic experiments and
observations on whole ecosystems using open-air exposure systems and
gas exchange measurements. Basic physiological research, combined with
experimental and observational research at the ecosystem level, will lead to
understanding of the causes of observed changes in forest health and
productivity of northern forests, including prospective changes in growth
and biomass, species composition, pest outbreaks and mortality, carbon
allocation and storage, water quality and yield, and wildlife habitat.
Because of these potential changes, there is a need to develop effective
management practices to protect forest health and productivity on both
public and private lands. Landscape-scale studies have an important
integrating function directed at understanding how changes in the physical
and chemical climate affect the abundance, distribution, and dynamics of
species, populations, and communities. Social interactions and economics
research are directed at understanding how the use of trees and forests by
people will be influenced by potential changes in forest ecosystems because
of global change (adaptation), and how human activity can initiate or alter
the processes of change (mitigation). Modeling is used to integrate study
results, to provide understanding and prediction of global change effects on
forest ecosystems, and-along with landscape-scale studies-to provide an
important bridge to assessment, resource management, and policy. Asses-
sment and policy activities ensure that research results and assessments are
transferred to sound management practices and interpreted into policy
options.
Global change researchers in the North are active participants in regional
and national assessments of resource conditions and trends, with a focus on
how forest health and productivity may be affected by global change. A
large part of this effort requires development and application of the
modeling tools needed to make such assessments, to provide scientific input
Preface VB
for national assessment efforts, and to develop and analyze policy options
for local, regional, and national decision makers.
In this book we report progress in understanding how multiple interacting
stresses are affecting or are likely to affect forest ecosystems at multiple
spatial and temporal scales. Although there has been much progress under
the sponsorship of the USGCRP, we are only beginning to understand how
our forest ecosystems are likely to evolve over the next century. Global
change research in the northern United States is built on a solid foundation
of long-term ecological research and a decade of air pollution studies
sponsored by the National Acid Precipitation Assessment Program. The
USGCRP introduced a heightened awareness of the potential of climate
change and climate variability to affect ecosystems, which can only be
understood in the context of widespread chemical stresses. Now that the
USGCRP is nearing the end of its first decade, it is timely to assemble the
available knowledge as a basis for targeting future global change research
and for transferring information to land managers and policy makers
through syntheses such as this book, and through participatory assessments.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Forest Service Global
Change Research Program (FSGCRP) has been a key player in global
change research in the Northeast and North Central United States. Through
full or partial sponsorship of more than 100 research projects in the region,
the FSGCRP established linkages with most of the regional networks and
teams of scientists studying global change issues. Vigorous partnerships
among scientists sponsored by various funding institutions foster the
interdisciplinary research approaches that are essential for understanding
the complex impacts of environmental change. The USDA Forest Service
has a unique role as a land management agency working with both public
and private landowners throughout the region's forested lands. Thus our
research has been regionally dispersed to teams that address specific issues at
temporal and spatial scales that are relevant to land managers. Parallel
efforts are aimed at aggregating our understanding to landscape and larger
domains so that both land managers and policy makers are aware of both
the local and global effects of environmental change, whether positive or
negative, in the Northeastern and North Central United States.
Robert A. Mickler
Richard A. Birdsey
John Hom
Acknowledgments
Many of the studies described in this book were partially or fully sponsored
by the Northern Global Change Program (NGCP), one of five regional
research cooperatives that comprise the United States Department of
Agriculture (USDA) Forest Service Global Change Research Program
(FSGCRP). These programs are designed to provide a sound scientific basis
for making regional, national, and international management and policy
decisions regarding forest ecosystems in the context of global change. The
FSGCRP is part of the U.S. Government's Global Change Research
Program, developed under the direction of the Office of Science and
Technology Policy in the Executive Office of the President, through the
Federal Coordination Council on Science, Engineering, and Technology
and its Committee on Earth and Natural Resources.
The FSGCRP is directed by William Sommers and coordinated by Elvia
Niebla. Their encouragement and support over the years is greatly
appreciated. We also thank Deputy Chiefs Jerry Sesco and Robert Lewis,
Staff Director Richard Smyth, and Research Station Directors Ron
Lindmark, Linda Donoghue, and Bov Eav for their support. Key
supporters in the USDA included Gray Evans, Carol Whitman, and
Margot Anderson.
There are many additional sponsors of the research reported in this book.
We are especially grateful for the support provided by the U.S. Department
ix
x Acknowledgments
of Energy, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. National
Science Foundation, and the National Council for Air and Stream
Improvement.
Over the past decade, the NGCP has received technical guidance from
many individuals. We are grateful for the insight provided by Phil Wargo,
Chip Scott, Keith Jensen, Robert Long, Joanne Rebbeck, Kevin Smith, Jud
Isebrands, Lew Ohmann, Rolfe Leary, Mike Vasievich, John Zasada, Alan
Lucier, Eric Vance, Alan Ek, David Shriner, Steve Rawlins, Doug Ryan,
Paul Van Deusen, Larry Hartmann, Darrell Williams, Boyd Strain, Keith
Van Cleve, and Jerry Melillo. We also thank the many scientists who
provide peer reviews of research proposals and manuscripts.
This book has not been subject to policy review by the USDA Forest
Service or any other U.S. government sponsors and, therefore, does not
represent the policies of any agency. The research findings reported in this
book have not been subject to scientific review by the National Council for
Air and Stream Improvement.
Robert A. Mickler
Richard A. Birdsey
John Hom
Contents
Preface V
Acknowledgments IX
Contributors XV
Section 1. An Introduction to Northern U.S. Forest Ecosystems
1. Forest Resources and Conditions 3
William H. McWilliams, Linda S. Heath, Gordon C. Reese,
and Thomas L. Schmidt
2. Geologic and Edaphic Factors Influencing Susceptibility
of Forest Soils to Environmental Change 27
Scott W. Bailey
3. Climate and Atmospheric Deposition Patterns and Trends 51
Warren E. Heilman, John Hom, and Brian E. Potter
4. Forest Declines in Response to Environmental Change 117
Philip M. Wargo and Allan N.D. Auclair
Xl
