Stemming from previous research efforts for the National Park Service and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, E&S has expanded investigations into effects of expected increased air temperature on more than 1,000 understory plant species characteristic of vegetation communities within National Parks. Previously developed statistical models for each species were used in this project to model the …

E&S recently developed a white paper documenting an exploratory analysis of drivers of tree growth and survival responses to climate-related variables and aspects of air pollution, among other drivers, with colleagues at EPA and partner Universities. The study utilized US Forest Service Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) data for more than 1,000,000 individual trees; with …

E&S has completed a research project for the National Park Service to apply niche models from a database of more than 1,500 statistical models previously developed by E&S to evaluate expected future changes in understory vegetation occurrence in response to air pollution and climate change across eight NPS units: Acadia NP, Glacier NP, Grand Teton …

E&S has initiated a project for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to advance statistical model development related to the response of tree growth and survival to air pollution, climate change, and forest disturbance. Working collaboratively with project partners, a primary objective of this research is to generate critical loads of atmospheric N and S deposition …

E&S staff developed a comprehensive assessment of the expected risk to various biological endpoints within all National Forests and wilderness areas of the Intermountain Region. Risk was characterized with critical loads of atmospheric N deposition to protect against species levels of effects on aquatic biota, lichen communities, and individual tree species. Substantial portions of the …

E&S recently updated the Ecosystem Management Decision Support (EMDS) system previously developed for the U.S. Forest Service (FS) by E&S and FS staff. Results of model scenarios showed that many southern Appalachian Mountain streams exhibited modest recovery of acid neutralizing capacity (ANC), but soil base saturation is not expected to recover to levels approaching pre-industrial …

E&S scientists Todd McDonnell and Timothy Sullivan will attend the fall 2018 conference of the National Acid Deposition Program (NADP) in Albany, NY in early November. Drs. McDonnell and Sullivan are heavily involved in activities of the NADP Critical Loads Science Committee that synthesizes and projects effects of atmospheric sulfur and nitrogen air pollution  on …