The Fernow Watershed Acidification Study is a long-term, paired watershed acidification study, undertaken in the central Appalachian Mountains of West Virginia, USA. The Study, which began in 1989, includes research on biogeochemical responses of streams, soils and vegetation to air pollution, and also includes research on acidification's effects on salamanders. This book describes the responses to chronic N and S amendments by deciduous hardwood forests, one of the few studies to focus on these important hardwood forest ecosystems. Intensive monitoring of soil solution and stream chemistry, along with measurements of soil chemistry, and vegetation growth and chemistry, provide insights into the acidification process in forested watersheds, evaluating these in the context of nitrogen saturation, soil acidification and base cation leaching models. This volume will be of interest to researchers, ecosystem modellers, managers and policy-makers concerned with the effects of air pollution on forested ecosystems.

Résumé
In the late 1980's, a considerable amount of research addressing the effects of acidic deposition was begun, much of it related to the Congr- sionally mandated National Atmospheric Precipitation Assessment Program (NAPAP). As a result of the 10-year NAPAP program, effects on human health, materials, structures, visibility and terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems were evaluated. As a result of NAPAP funded research, negative effects of acidic deposition were documented on freshwater lakes in the Adirondacks and on the red spruce of the Adirondacks and northern Appalachians. One of the recommendations of the NAPAP Forest Response Program, however, was that a better understanding of the effects of acidic deposition and its constituents on processes within forest ecosystems was needed. In response to this need, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) funded an ambitious program to manipulate the geochemical processes within wat- sheds in the United States. Originally, there were to be many watersheds to be treated, to encompass the scope of vegetation types, climate and deposition regimes. Ultimately only two such studies, one at on the Fernow Experimental Forest in West Virginia and one at Bear Brook Watersheds in Maine (BBWM) were implemented. Both are ongoing more than fifteen years later. Work began in 1987 in preparation for the Fernow Watershed Acidi- cation Study. Much attention was initially devoted to issues related to analyses of water chemistry and the quality control/quality assurance of the data coming from the study.

Contenu

to the Fernow Watershed Acidification Study.- Fernow and the Appalachian Hardwood Region.- Soil Chemical Response to Experimental Acidification Treatments.- Soil Water and Stream Water Chemical Responses.- Vegetation and Acidification.- Response of Salamanders to Experimental Acidification Treatments.- Acidification and Nutrient Cycling.- Implications for Forest Ecosystem Sustainability and Resiliency.- Conclusions and Recommendations from the Fernow Watershed Acidification Study.