In northeastern North America, hardwood forests may be impacted by several human-induced changes at once. These changes can include habitat fragmentation and atmospheric deposition of pollutants such as acid rain or mercury, resulting in altered soil chemistry, changes in soil and leaf litter invertebrates, and changes in communities of forest-nesting bird species that may be important for control of insect infestations and for the dispersal of seeds. Together, these changes have the potential to alter the trajectory of forests and their responses to perturbation, making the development of sustainable silviculture more difficult. Given the economic importance of silviculture and the maple industry in New York and other Northeastern states, understanding these relationships across trophic levels should be a research imperative. Such multiple stressors may also have strong negative effects on biodiversity, hence on environmental health and quality. We will improve the understanding of a diversity of stakeholders, from policy makers and individual citizens to forest owners and managers, of the need for sustainable and compatible energy practices by providing the results of these studies in technical reports and peer-reviewed journals, as well as through Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology’s award-winning popular publications and web site. After the two years of funding, we will seek extension support to actively recruit and educate individual citizens, 4-H groups, and Master Forest Owners to participate in continued monitoring efforts. This will serve both to inform the stakeholders of our results and to strengthen our conclusions by broadening the spatial scale of this research.

Past work has shown that acid precipitation has altered soil chemistry, resulting in a deficiency of calcium rich prey for wood thrushes.

Formed partnerships for analysis of soil mercury concentrations.
Planned for field work in spring 2007.

Salary support for assistants for Stefan Hames.

McIntire-Stennis