Forest Ecosystem Responses to Chronic Nitrogen Additions

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In this activity, students work with data collected during 15 years as part of a long-term research project at Harvard Forest. Students analyze the data to address the question, "How have stands of pine and hardwood forest responded to long-term nitrogen fertilization?" Students address the question using data on several ecosystem characteristics and processes: net primary productivity, tree photosynthetic capacity, soil respiration, and soil microbial biomass.

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Primary or BEN resource type	Dataset
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Format	html
Temporal and geographic description	Harvard Forest, Massachusetts, USA.
Ecological Core Concept	Human impacts -- Alteration of biogeochemical cycles Human impacts Ecosystems -- Biogeochemical cycling Ecosystems
Drought & Water-Ecosystem Services Collection	Off
Conservation Targets Under Global Change Collection	Off
Big Data Collection	Off
Editor's Choice	No
Audience	Undergraduate upper division 15-16 Undergraduate lower division 13-14
Pedagogical Use Description	This activity can be used to teach students about the effects of long-term nitrogen deposition on forest ecosystems. It provides background information on nitrogen deposition and the research project that generated the data. There are complete instructions that guide students through the data analysis as well as guidelines for teachers on how the activity can be used and adapted. The activity incorporates active learning methods to engage students in their own learning process. Open-ended questions, synthesis activities and criteria for student evaluation are included.
Keywords	nitrogen, nitrogen deposition, soil respiration, photosynthesis, primary production, NPP, hardwood, pine, soil microbes, Harvard Forest, long term ecological research, LTER
Key taxa	American beech, Fagus grandifolia, red maple, Acer rubrum, Betula lenta, black birch, Quercus rubra, red oak, Quercus velutina, black oak, red pine, P
Life science discipline (subject)	Ecology
Primary Author Controlled Name	Serita Frey
Primary Author Affiliation	Department of Natural Resources, University of New Hampshire
Primary Author email	serita.frey@unh.edu
Rights	Author retains copyright
Resource Editor	Unknown
Reviewer A	Unknown
Reviewer B	Unknown
Date Of Record Submission	2007-09-24

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