LTER: Long Term Ecological Research at the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest

The need for long-term research on forest ecosystems has accelerated markedly in recent years. Traditional interests in provision of wood products and clean water have expanded to include climate mitigation, biodiversity conservation, and ecological and social resilience. Forests are complex ecosystems, dominated by long-lived organisms, and are highly connected to adjacent ecosystems at many scales.

Long-term research at the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest has focused on the ecology and management of hardwood forests, with a focus on understanding the role of disturbance in how forest ecosystems work. The research has continually evolved as unexpected observations emerge from long-term studies, raising questions that can only be addressed with continued long-term research.

Recent surprises that will be explored in this latest phase of research are: 1) unexpected changes in the elevational distribution of some tree species that have surprisingly migrated downward instead of up-slope as would be expected in response to warming temperatures; (2) abrupt increases in water use by plants over the past 10-years, and (3) significant declines since the 1970s in some species of birds, salamanders, caterpillars, and beetles. The long-term nature of studies at Hubbard Brook has allowed researchers to build deep relationships with stakeholders.

These relationships are also evolving, and researchers will diversify them to increase participation of underrepresented groups. Specifically, they will make the lens of research more inclusive and more holistic and will recruit new participants to make the site and community more diverse.

The overarching research theme of this project is the long-term response of ecosystem structure, composition, and function to disturbance. The conceptual model underpinning the project envisions three principal types of disturbance acting as drivers of change in the ecosystem: changing atmospheric chemistry, changing climate, and changing biota. The effects of these drivers play out on a biogeophysical template that includes variation across the landscape in topography, geology, soils, vegetation, and history of past disturbance.

Within the ecosystem, the disturbances affect the interacting processes of hydrology, biogeochemistry, vegetation, and food web dynamics. The conceptual model is evolving to focus on “control points of change” in the landscape - specific places and times where significant changes will begin or accelerate. The research is integrated with broader impacts activities driven by four goals: (1) establish long-term, trusting relationships with diverse community members and environmental decision-makers across the northern forest ecoregion; (2) recruit and train the next generation of ecosystem scientists and environmental leaders; (3) support diversity, equity, inclusion, and anti-racism (DEI&A) within the site and broader scientific communities; and (4) drive innovations in research, education, and outreach.

To achieve these goals, five approaches are planned: public and policy engagement programs, science education and training programs, an art-science program, development and maintenance of infrastructure for DEI&A, and use of a Critical Ecology approach to make the lens of the site’s research more inclusive and holistic.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.