Research Theme Two 2001-2016

Sustaining Ecosystem Health in the Northern Forest

NSRC Theme Two supported research projects to improve understanding and management of forests and associated aquatic ecosystems in the Northern Forest. Land use change, climate change, and regional atmospheric pollutants are among the many threats facing the ecosystem health of the Northern Forest. Pollutants produced throughout central North America are part of the atmospheric deposition received by the Northern Forest, with significant impacts on forest health. Climate change poses uncertain, but potentially large impacts on the ecology and hydrology of the Northern Forest. Land use changes, such as intensive harvesting for biomass energy or conversion of private forest lands to homeowner building lots, have a very high potential for degrading water quality, ecosystem health, and the value of the forest for multiple stakeholders. Sustaining forest integrity into the future and supporting sustainable development in the region both rely on sound, quantitative estimates of the multiple factors that influence ecosystem health of the Northern Forest.

Theme Two supported research that addressed hydrological, biogeochemical, and carbon cycling processes in forested ecosystems.

Research topics included:

  • Addressing threats to forest health, forest productivity, and soil and water resources from regionally important pollutants such as acids, nitrogen, mercury, and ozone; more intensive utilization of forest lands for energy production; conversion of forests to other land uses; climate change; or other regional phenomena.
  • Developing quantitative methods for estimating and predicting changes in carbon storage over time in ways relevant to the use of Northern Forest lands for energy production, emerging carbon credit markets, and carbon management policies.

Projects took one or more of several approaches to addressing these needs, including synthesis of existing data, collection of new data, or increasing the level of communication among researchers, resource managers, policy-makers, regional businesses and residents, and other stakeholder groups. Priority was given to projects that produced clearly defined outcomes, had a direct relationship to the health, productivity, and management of forest and aquatic ecosystems in the Northern Forest, and reflected the needs and interests of stakeholder groups in the region. Proposed outcomes advanced our understanding of ecological processes and relationships affecting the structure and function of forest and aquatic ecosystems and demonstrated the value of this new understanding in addressing the issues of ecosystem health or carbon and energy management in the Northern Forest Region.

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