Ecosystem Responses to Disturbance
![[image:] trees blown over during a windstorm, showing the shallow root zone](../../local-resources/images/disturbance_150.jpg)
The region's forests have been shaped by past exploitive harvesting, contrasting fire regimes, dramatic changes in the wildlife community, periods of herbivory, persistent acidic depostion for the past 75 years, and a century of impact by non-native forest insects and diseases. Climate change is a relatively new stressor, and the impacts, which could be profound, are only beginning to be identified and incorporated into management decisions. Nonetheless, the region's forests remain prductive, provide essential ecosystem services, support a thriving tourism industry, and provide the raw materials for the important forest products industry.
Selected Research Summaries
- Air Pollution and Sustainable Forest Ecosystems
- Understanding and Using Prescribed Fire
- Sediment Delivery and Best Management Practices
- Understanding Effects of Oil and Natural Gas Development
Last Modified: 11/02/2009