Protection of forest ecosystems in the eastern United States from elevated atmospheric deposition of sulfur and nitrogen: A comparison of steady-state and dynamic model results.

ABSTRACT: Critical loads (CLs) and target loads (TLs) of atmospheric deposition of sulfur (S) and nitrogen (N) specify the thresholds of air pollution above which damage to ecosystems is expected to occur and are used to inform environmental regulation and natural resource management. Model estimates of CL and TL can vary for a given location, and these differences can be important for characterization of ecosystem effects from elevated S and N deposition. Moreover, TLs are used to evaluate associated timeframes of ecosystem recovery. We compared published CLs and TLs based on soil acidity criteria derived from steady-state versus dynamic models for terrestrial ecosystems. We examined the magnitude of differences in the CL/TL results from the two types of models for the same regions in the Eastern U

SUBMITTER: McDonnell TC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10348011 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature