OPUS: A SYNTHESIS OF FIVE DECADES OF BIOGEOCHEMICAL RESEARCH IN A NORTHERN HARDWOOD FOREST ECOSYSTEM

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The results of long-term biogeochemical and ecological research on the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest, New Hampshire will be assembled, synthesized and published. The quantitative records of precipitation and streamwater amount and chemistry are now the longest, continuous biogeochemical records of this type in the world, representing a treasure-trove of information relevant to current environmental problems, such as acid rain, N-deposition and rising levels of atmospheric CO2. This synthesis will evaluate the linkages between forested watersheds and associated aquatic ecosystems of the Northern Forest Ecoregion, will detect and evaluate changes in ecosystem structure and function (such as water quantity and quality), will test questions of ecosystem function (such as nitrogen saturation), will evaluate response to disturbance, such as climate change, commercial forestry practices, acid rain, and major hydrologic fluctuation (drought or deluge), and will help establish baselines for evaluating change. For researchers and decision makers grappling with solutions to major environmental issues, such carefully documented and synthesized, long-term data are essential to a quantitative perspective on biogeochemical change and to advance the theoretical underpinnings of ecology. Without such long-term and landscape-scale data, there are only limited abilities to detect the magnitude and direction of ecosystem change in New England.