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The Effects of Acidic Deposition and Ozone on Forest Tree Species in the Eastern United States: Results from the Forest Response Program

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Forest Decline in the Atlantic and Pacific Region

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Abstract

By the early 1980s in North America, several researchers reported problems in northeastern spruce-fir forests. Johnson and Siccama (1983) reported that since the early 1960s red spruce forests at high elevations in New York, Vermont, and New Hampshire have shown dieback and large reductions in basal area and density that are characteristic of a stress-related disease. Because of the locations of these forests, it was suggested that climatic stresses, such as drought, and pollutants in the form of acid deposition and airborne trace metals may contribute to the decline. Hornbeck and Smith (1985) used tree cores from a broad-scale survey of New England low-elevation, dominant, and codominant red spruce and found a large reduction in tree basal area increment occurring since the early 1960s. Reports of red spruce decline are not restricted to the northeast. Bruck (1984) and Adams et al. (1985) reported red spruce declines in the southern Appalachian Mountains.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. USDA Forest Service, 100 Matsonford Road, Suite 200, P.O. Box 6775, 19087-4585, Radnor, PA, USA

    G. D. Hertel, C. Eagar & M. W. McFadden

  2. USDA Forest Service, North Carolina State University, 1509 Varsity Drive, 27606, Raleigh, NC, USA

    S. A. Medlarz

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  1. G. D. Hertel
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  2. C. Eagar
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  3. S. A. Medlarz
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  4. M. W. McFadden
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Agricultural Landscape and Landuse Research, Institute of Forest Ecology, Dr.-Zinn-Weg, O-1300, Eberswalde, Federal Republic of Germany

    Reinhard F. Huettl

  2. Department of Botany, University of Hawaii at Manoa, 3190 Maile way, 96822, HI, Honolulu, USA

    Dieter Mueller-Dombois

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© 1993 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Hertel, G.D., Eagar, C., Medlarz, S.A., McFadden, M.W. (1993). The Effects of Acidic Deposition and Ozone on Forest Tree Species in the Eastern United States: Results from the Forest Response Program. In: Huettl, R.F., Mueller-Dombois, D. (eds) Forest Decline in the Atlantic and Pacific Region. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-76995-5_4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-76995-5_4

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-76997-9

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