Importance of Calcium-Rich Forest Patches as Refugia of Biodiversity and Productivity
Effective conservation of biodiversity during a period of rapid environmental change requires understanding how protected ecosystems might respond to pervasive and large-scale human-caused changes in the biosphere. During the 20th century, Northern Forest ecosystems experienced large-scale drivers of change related to land use, atmospheric deposition (“acid rain”), forest diseases, invasive species, and climate. In particular, decades of acidification have left a complex of soil nutrient deficits, forest decline, and potential loss of regional biodiversity. Such impacts threaten even the most strictly protected places, such as the Adirondack Park of northern New York State, where acidification remains a challenge to conservation of key habitats and species.
Many of these ecological changes resulting from acidification can be traced to depletion of calcium in soils. However, variation in calcium availability in parent materials across the Northern Forest landscape suggests that calcium depletion and its impacts may be highly variable. NSRC researchers hypothesize that calcium-rich forest communities have maintained higher biodiversity and productivity despite persistent exposure to acidic deposition, relative to forests with low calcium availability. Moreover, because calcareous parent material occurs in patches, these areas may function as important refugia of diversity and productivity in an increasingly acidified landscape.
To investigate how forest diversity and productivity relate to calcium availability, researchers will measure the diversity and abundance of plant, invertebrate, amphibian, and bird populations at sites where calcium availability has been previously studied in detail. Researchers hope to generate valuable new insights on acidification impacts in protected ecosystems, as well as practical tools for describing current conservation assets and prioritizing future conservation needs in the Northern Forest region.
