NSRC RESEARCHER PROFILE:  Lindsey Rustad
Integrating observational, experimental, and modeling techniques to evaluate Northern Forest ecosystem response to acidic deposition and climate change.

"As the earth approaches a population of eight billion, the demands on our planet to provide food, fiber, and energy are going to continue to intensify and are going to place increasing pressure on natural and managed ecosystems," predicts Lindsey Rustad, research ecologist with the U.S. Forest Service Northern Research Station in Durham, New Hampshire and associate research professor at the University of Maine. For more than 20 years, Lindsey has worked with a multidisciplinary team of researchers to assess the impacts of human-induced disturbances on forested ecosystems of northeastern North America, with particular emphasis on acidic deposition and climate change.

"Both of these perturbations have had, and will continue to have, profound and complex impacts on the composition and productivity of the Northern Forest as we know it today," she stresses. "To realistically evaluate the response of northern forests to these disturbances and to provide a sound scientific basis for national and international environmental regulation policies, it will be increasingly necessary to integrate observational, experimental, and modeling techniques into a unified multidisciplinary approach to understanding ecosystem response to global change."

Probably her biggest passion, she admits, "is to facilitate better communication, collaboration, and synthesis among ecosystem, regional, and global change scientists." With National Science Foundation (NSF) and Northeastern States Research Cooperative (NSRC) support, she has organized several on-going regional and international networks of scientists and research sites throughout the northeastern U.S., eastern Canada, and Europe.

She spear-headed a NSRC-funded project to increase communication, share research data in a regional database, and synthesize accumulating research on response of the northern forest and aquatic ecosystems to environmental change. Lindsey oversaw compilation of a researcher-accessible database, which includes data and summary statistics for water, soils, and vegetation and regional maps of nitrogen, sulfur, and mercury deposition

"This represents a huge resource for our research community and eventually for the general public," notes Lindsey. The NSRC funding provided leverage for a NSF grant awarded to Gary Lovett, of the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, who will continue building the interactive database and make it publicly available.

"Lindsey has been a central figure in research on the northern forests for more than two decades," states University of New Hampshire Provost John Aber, a renowned researcher of nitrogen cycling and the effects of acid rain on forests. "Lindsey has been the driving force behind some of the most important synthesis efforts. These cooperative efforts are crucial for retrieving maximum value from all the research supported across the region. Data collected at individual sites are important, but each data set increases in value when compared with information from other sites. This is the only way we can build a regional perspective of the current state and future trends for the region's forests."

Much of Lindsey's own ecosystems research has centered on nitrogen deposition (from fossil fuel burning, automobile emissions, and high intensity agriculture) and its effects on forest soils, plant roots, and forest floor decay processes. "Increases in atmospheric nitrogen deposition during the second half of the twentieth century present an interesting paradox," she suggests. "On the one hand, nitrogen has historically been considered the nutrient that most limits northern forest growth and productivity; therefore, adding nitrogen to our forests should be a 'good' thing. On the other hand, concern exists that some forest ecosystems may become nitrogen saturated, a state where the input of nitrogen approaches or exceeds the biotic demand, resulting in forest decline; therefore adding nitrogen to our forests is a 'bad' thing."

Lindsey collaborates with other scientists across several long-term research sites in Europe and North America, including Bear Brook Watershed in Maine. "I have been a co-principal investigator on the Bear Brook Watershed Manipulation (BBWM) study since its inception in 1986," Lindsey explains. "The BBWM is a long-term, paired watershed study designed to evaluate the effects of experimentally elevated atmospheric nitrogen and sulfur deposition on a small, forested ecosystem in northern New England." Major findings show that experimental additions of nitrogen and sulfur result in acidification of soils and surface waters and declines in critical soil nutrients such as calcium, as well as changes in plant foliar and root chemistry.

As part of this long-term study, Lindsey was awarded NSRC funding to determine if elevated nitrogen deposition alters fine roots in north temperate and boreal forest ecosystems. Her study revealed a syndrome of decline in fine root length and biomass and changes in fine root chemistry. These findings suggest that chronic nitrogen deposition in northern forest ecosystems may result in root systems that are highly susceptible to secondary stresses such as drought, nutrient loss, and pests and pathogens.

Lindsey's most recent NSRC-funded project addresses the effects of ice storms on forested ecosystems of the northeastern U.S. An overwhelming scientific consensus exists that climate in the northeastern U.S. has changed, is changing, and will continue to change, and scientific projections for the future suggest that temperature and precipitation will continue to increase. "This combination of warmer temperatures and greater precipitation during the winter is projected to result in a greater frequency and severity of ice storms during the coming decades, although the ability to predict the timing of these events remains challenging," she explains.

But Lindsey is up for the challenge. She and her colleagues are gathering existing research on ice storms in the northeastern United States and eastern Canada. They will then use the latest generation of climate simulation models to refine future predictions of ice storms. Lindsey is also excited to field test fire-fighting and snow-making equipment to create simulated ice glazing on forest trees under controlled, experimental conditions at the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest in New Hampshire.

Her excitement for the Northern Forest includes not only conducting ecological research and compiling good sound science on which to base environmental regulations but also enjoying the many opportunities for hiking, biking, kayaking, and cross country skiing the region has to offer.

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© 2010 NORTHEASTERN STATES RESEARCH COOPERATIVE
Funding for this website provided by the USDA Forest Service, an equal opportunity provider. Partners include:
The Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources at the University of Vermont
University of New Hampshire in cooperation with the Hubbard Brook Research Foundation
Center for Research on Sustainable Forests at the University of Maine
State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry