Unexpected ecological advances made possible by long‐term data: A Coweeta example. (9th January 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Jackson, C. Rhett; Webster, Jackson R.; Knoepp, Jennifer D.; Elliott, Katherine J.; Emanuel, Ryan E.; Caldwell, Peter V.; Miniat, Chelcy F.
• Is Part Of: Wiley interdisciplinary reviews. Volume 5:Number 2(2018)
• Page Start: n/a
• Page End: n/a
• Publication Date: 2018-01-09
• Subjects: long‐term -- nitrogen -- recovery -- regime change -- hydrology -- resilience -- watershed; Hydrology -- Periodicals; 553.705
• DOI: 10.1002/wat2.1273
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2049-1948

Abstract

Abstract : In the 1970s, Forest Service and academic researchers clearcut the forest in Watershed 7 in the Coweeta Basin to observe how far the perturbation would move the ecosystem and how quickly the ecosystem would return to its predisturbance state. Our long‐term observations demonstrated that this view of resistance and resilience was too simplistic. Forest disturbance triggered a chain of ecological dynamics that are still evolving after 40 years. Short‐term pulses in dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN) (3 years) and streamflows (4 years) were followed by several years in which the system appeared to be returning to predisturbance conditions. Then however, changes in forest composition triggered a regime change in DIN dynamics from biological to hydrological control as well as persistent high stream DIN levels mediated by climatic conditions. These forest composition changes also led to later reductions in streamflow. These long‐term observations of streamflows, stream DIN concentrations, stream DIN exports, and stand composition have substantially advanced our understanding of forest ecosystem dynamics; and they demonstrate the value of long‐term observational data in revealing ecosystem complexities and surprises, generating new hypotheses, and motivating mechanistic research. Shorter observational records from this experiment would have produced incomplete or erroneous inference. WIREs Water 2018, 5:e1273. doi: 10.1002/wat2.1273 This article is categorized under: Science of Water > Hydrological Processes Science of Water > Water Quality Water and Life > Nature of Freshwater Ecosystems Abstract : The joint long‐term response of dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN) and annual streamflow in response to clearcut harvest and natural regeneration of Coweeta Watershed 7 relative to a reference watershed shows interactions with forest succession and climate cycles but no return to initial conditions after 40 years.