Watershed Nitrogen and Mercury Geochemical Fluxes Integrate Landscape Factors in Long-term Research Watersheds at Acadia National Park, Maine, USA |
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| Authors: | J S Kahl S J Nelson I Fernandez T Haines S Norton G B Wiersma G Jacobson Jr A Amirbahman K Johnson M Schauffler L Rustad K Tonnessen R Lent M Bank J Elvir J Eckhoff H Caron P Ruck J Parker J Campbell D Manski R Breen K Sheehan A Grygo |
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| Institution: | (1) University of Maine, Orono, ME, USA;(2) U.S. Geological Survey, Orono Field Station, Leetown Science Center, Orono, ME, USA;(3) Northeastern Research Station, USDA Forest Service, Durham, NH, USA;(4) National Park Service, University of Montana, Missoula, MT, USA;(5) Water Resources Division, US Geological Survey, Augusta, ME, USA;(6) National Park Service, Acadia National Park, Bar Harbor, ME, USA;(7) Present address: Center for the Environment, Plymouth State University, Plymouth, NH 03264, USA;(8) Present address: Department of Biological Sciences, University of Maine, Orono, ME, USA;(9) Present address: Harvard School of Public Health, Department of Environmental Health, Boston, MA, USA;(10) National Park Service, Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield, Republic, MO, USA |
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| Abstract: | This paper is an overview of this special issue devoted to watershed research in Acadia National Park (Acadia NP). The papers
address components of an integrated research program on two upland watersheds at Acadia NP, USA (44° 20′ N latitude; 68° 15′
E longitude). These watersheds were instrumented in 1998 to provide a long-term foundation for regional ecological and watershed
research. The research was initiated as part of EPA/NPS PRIMENet (Park Research and Intensive Monitoring of Ecosystems Network),
a system of UV-monitoring stations and long-term watershed research sites located in US national parks. The initial goals
at Acadia NP were to address research questions about mercury, acid rain, and nitrogen saturation developed from prior research.
The project design was based on natural differences in forests and soils induced by an intense wildfire in one watershed in
1947. There is no evidence of fire in the reference watershed for several hundred years. We are testing hypotheses about controls
on surface water chemistry, and bioavailability of contaminants in the contrasting watersheds. The unburned 47-ha Hadlock
Brook watershed is 70% spruce-fir mature conifer forest. In contrast, burned 32-ha Cadillac Brook watershed, 4 km northeast
of the Hadlock watershed, is 20% regenerating mixed northern hardwoods and 60% shrub/rocky balds. Differences in atmospheric
deposition are controlled primarily by forest stand composition and age. The watersheds are gauged and have water chemistry
stations at 122 m (Cadillac) and 137 m (Hadlock); watershed maximum elevations are 468 and 380 m, respectively. The stream
water chemistry patterns reflect, in part, the legacy of the intense fire, which, in turn, controls differences in forest
vegetation and soil characteristics. These factors result in higher nitrogen and mercury flux from the unburned watershed,
reflecting differences in atmospheric deposition, contrasting ecosystem pools of nitrogen and mercury, and inferred differences
in internal cycling and bioavailabilty. |
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| Keywords: | watershed science hydrology mass balances mercury acidic deposition nitrogen forest health paleoecology forest fire Acadia National Park |
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