Effects of Acid Deposition on Calcium Nutrition and Health of Southern Appalachian Spruce Fir Forests
McLaughlin SB, Wullschleger S, Stone A, Wimmer R, Joslin JD. 1995. Effects of Acid Deposition on Calcium Nutrition and Health of Southern Appalachian Spruce Fir Forests. CONF-9409307-1 ON: DE95006622; TRN: 95:003000. Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Oak Ridge, Tennessee
ABSTRACT: The role of acid deposition in the health of spruce fir forests in the Southern Appalachian Mountains has been investigated by a wide variety of experimental approaches during the past 10 years. These studies have proceeded from initial dendroecological documentation of altered growth patterns of mature trees to increasingly more focused ecophysiological research on the causes and characteristics of changes in system function associated with increased acidic deposition. Field studies across gradients in deposition and soil chemistry have been located on four mountains spanning 85 km of latitude within the Southern Appalachians. The conclusion that calcium nutrition is an important component regulating health of red spruce in the Southern Appalachians and that acid deposition significantly reduces calcium availability in several ways has emerged as a consistent result from multiple lines or research. These have included analysis of trends in wood chemistry, soil solution chemistry, foliar nutrition, gas exchange physiology, root histochemistry, and controlled laboratory and field studies in which acid deposition and/or calcium nutrition has been manipulated and growth and nutritional status of saplings or mature red spruce trees measured. This earlier research has led us to investigate the broader implications and consequences of calcium deficiency for changing resistance of...
- Type
- Published Report
- Authors
- McLaughlin, S; Wullschleger, S; Stone, A; Wimmer, R; Joslin, J
- Date of Issue
- 1995-02-01
- Publisher
- Oak Ridge National Laboratory
- Units
- GRSM
- Keywords
- Abies fraseri, acid deposition, APHN, Appalachian Highlands Network, biological effects, calcium, Fraser fir, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, GRSM, GRSM-00666, nutritional deficiency, Picea rubrum, plant growth, red spruce, SER, soil chemistry, Southeast Region