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The Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest (HBEF) was established in 1955 by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service out of concerns about the effects of logging increasing flooding and erosion. To address this issue, within the HBEF hydrological and micrometeorological monitoring was initiated in small watersheds designated for harvesting experiments. The Hubbard Brook Ecosystem Study (HBES) originated in 1963, with the idea of using the small watershed approach to study element fluxes and cycling and the response of forest ecosystems to disturbances, such as forest management practices and air pollution. Early evidence of acid rain was documented at the HBEF and research by scientists at the site helped shape acid rain mitigation policies. New lines of investigation at the HBEF have built on the long legacy of watershed research resulting in a shift from comparing inputs and outputs and quantifying pools and fluxes to a more mechanistic understanding of ecosystem processes within watersheds. For example, hydropedological studies have shed light on linkages between hydrologic flow paths and soil development that provide valuable perspective for managing forests and understanding stream water quality. New high frequency in situ stream chemistry sensors are providing insights about extreme events and diurnal patterns that were indiscernible with traditional weekly sampling. Additionally, tools are being developed for visual and auditory data exploration and discovery by a broad audience. Given the unprecedented environmental change that is occurring, data from the small watersheds at the HBEF are more relevant now than ever and will continue to serve as a basis for sound environmental decision‐making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The design of a precipitation monitoring network must balance the demand for accurate estimates with the resources needed to build and maintain the network. If there are changes in the objectives of the monitoring or the availability of resources, network designs should be adjusted. At the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest in New Hampshire, USA, precipitation has been monitored with a network established in 1955 that has grown to 23 gauges distributed across nine small catchments. This high sampling intensity allowed us to simulate reduced sampling schemes and thereby evaluate the effect of decommissioning gauges on the quality of precipitation estimates. We considered all possible scenarios of sampling intensity for the catchments on the south-facing slope (2047 combinations) and the north-facing slope (4095 combinations), from the current scenario with 11 or 12 gauges to only 1 gauge remaining. Gauge scenarios differed by as much as 6.0% from the best estimate (based on all the gauges), depending on the catchment, but 95% of the scenarios gave estimates within 2% of the long-term average annual precipitation. The insensitivity of precipitation estimates and the catchment fluxes that depend on them under many reduced monitoring scenarios allowed us to base our reduction decision on other factors such as technician safety, the time required for monitoring, and co-location with other hydrometeorological measurements (snow, air temperature). At Hubbard Brook, precipitation gauges could be reduced from 23 to 10 with a change of <2% in the long-term precipitation estimates. The decision-making approach illustrated in this case study is applicable to the redesign of monitoring networks when reduction of effort seems warranted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examined long-term changes in soil solution chemistry associated with experimental, whole watershed-acidification at the Bear Brook Watershed in Maine (BBWM). At BBWM, the West Bear (WB) watershed has been treated with bimonthly additions of ((NH) SO) since 1989. The adjacent East Bear (EB) watershed serves as a biogeochemical reference. Soil solution chemistry in the EB watershed was relatively stable from 1989-2007, with the exception of declining SO-S concentrations associated with a progressive decline in SO-S deposition during this period. Soil solution chemistry in WB reflected a progressive change in acid-neutralization mechanisms from base cation buffering to Al buffering associated with treatment during this period. Total dissolved Al concentrations progressively increased over time and were ~4× higher in 2007 than in 1989. Treatment of WB was also associated with long-term increases in soil solution H, SO-S, and NO-N, whereas soil solution dissolved organic carbon (DOC) was unresponsive to treatment. For solutes such as Ca, H, and SO-S, changes in stream chemistry were generally parallel to changes in soil solution chemistry, indicating a close coupling of terrestrial and aquatic processes that regulate the chemistry of solutions in this first-order stream watershed. For other solutes such as Al and DOC, solute concentrations were higher in soil solutions compared with streams, suggesting that sorption and transformation processes along hydrologic flow-paths were important in regulating the chemistry of solutions and the transport of these solutes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ion-exchange resins (IER) offer alternative approaches to measuring ionic movement in soils that may have advantages over traditional approaches in some settings, but more information is needed to understand how IER compare with traditional methods of measurement in forested ecosystems. At the Bear Brook Watershed in Maine (BBWM), one of two paired, forested watersheds is treated bi-monthly with S and N (28.8 and 25.2kgha−1yr−1 of S and N, respectively). Both IER and ceramic cup tension lysimeters were used to study soil solution responses after ∼11 years of treatment. Results from both methods showed treatments resulted in the mobilization of base cations and Al, and higher SO4—S and inorganic N in the treated watershed. Both methods indicated similar differences in results associated with forest type (hardwoods versus softwoods), a result of differences in litter quality and atmospheric aerosol interception capacity. The correlation between lysimeter and IER data for individual analytes varied greatly. Significant correlations were evident for Na ( r=0.75), Al ( r=0.65), Mn ( r=0.61), Fe ( r=0.57), Ca ( r=0.49), K ( r=0.41) and NO3—N ( r=0.59). No correlation was evident between IER and soil solution data for NH4—N and Pb. Both IER and soil solution techniques suggested similar interpretations of biogeochemical behavior in the watershed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The foliar chemistry of sugar maple (Acer saccharum Marsh.), American beech (Fagus grandifolia Ehrh.), and red spruce (Picea rubens Sarg.) was studied from 1993 to 2003 at the Bear Brook Watershed in Maine (BBWM). The BBWM is a paired-watershed forest ecosystem study, with one watershed treated bimonthly since 1989 with ammonium sulfate ((NH4)2SO4) at a rate of 25.2 kg N·ha–1·year–1. Foliar N concentrations were higher in all tree species within the treated watershed compared with trees within the reference watershed. Foliar Ca and Mg concentrations were lower in American beech and red spruce within the treated watershed. There were no significant differences in foliar K concentrations between watersheds. Foliar P and Mn concentration differences between watersheds were inconsistent among years. Differences in foliar N concentrations between watersheds declined over time in sugar maple but not in red spruce or American beech. Differences in foliar Ca and Mg concentrations between the treated and reference watersheds increased over time for American beech and red spruce, primarily because of a consistent decline in concentrations of these nutrients in trees within the treated watershed. No temporal trends in foliar Ca and Mg concentration differences between watersheds were observed for sugar maple. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is concern that changes in atmospheric deposition, climate, or land use have altered the biogeochemistry of forests causing soil base-cation depletion, particularly Ca. The Bear Brook Watershed in Maine (BBWM) is a paired watershed experiment with one watershed subjected to elevated N and S deposition through bimonthly additions of (NH[sub 4])[sub 2]SO[sub 4]. Quantitative soil excavations in 1998 measured soil pools of exchangeable base cations 9 yr after treatments began. Stream sampling at the weirs on a weekly and event basis, and weekly precipitation sampling, were used for input-output estimates. The treated watershed had lower concentrations of exchangeable Ca and Mg in all horizons, with evidence for the greater depletion in the O horizon compared to underlying mineral soils, and in softwoods compared to hardwoods. This difference between watersheds is interpreted to be treatment-induced base-cation depletion, which was reinforced by model simulations. The difference between watersheds was 66 and 27 kg ha[sup -1] of exchangeable Ca and Mg, respectively, after accounting for soil mass differences between watersheds. This was comparable with the total cumulative excess stream Ca and Mg export in West Bear after 9 yr of treatment of 55 and 11 kg ha[sup -1], respectively. Model simulations of watershed response to treatments predicted excess soil exchangeable Ca and Mg losses in the treated watershed of 47 and 9 kg ha[sup -1], respectively. These results indicate that the response to a step-increase in N and S deposition during the first decade of treatments in this experimental forested watershed was to invoke cationexchange buffering, resulting in a net decline in soil exchangeable base cations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent concerns about climate change and atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations have demonstrated the importance of understanding ecosystem C source/sink relationships. Soil organic matter fractionation was carried out in three paired, forested watershed sites where one of each watershed pair represented a different ecosystem perturbation. The perturbations were 8 years of experimental N amendments at the Bear Brook Watershed in Maine (BBWM), a 50 year old intense wildfire and subsequent regeneration at Acadia National Park (ANP), and a 17 year old whole-tree harvest at the Weymouth Point Watershed (WPW). At each site, mineral soils were sampled by uniform depth increments. Mineral soil (< 2 mm) was separated into light, occluded light, and heavy density fractions by floatation in NaI solution (1.7 g cm-3). Mineral soil (< 2 mm) was also separated into particle-size fractions of sand (2.0 to 0.05 mm), silt (0.05 to 0.002 mm), and clay (< 0.002 mm) by wet sieving and centrifugation. Whole soils, and density and particle-size fractions were analyzed for total C and N. Both fractionation schemes showed that all soil organic matter fractions had lower C/N ratios as a result of N enrichment at BBWM. At ANP, soil organic matter fractions generally had lower C/N associated with the wildfire and subsequent shift from softwood to hardwood regeneration. Few significant whole soil and soil organic matter fraction differences were associated with the whole-tree harvest. Within watershed pairs, both density and particle-size fractionation techniques usually indicated similar responses. Soil organic matter fractionation results indicated that there were no consistent shifts in fraction distributions in response to perturbation that were consistent across all paired watershed study sites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While the influence of antecedent conditions on watershed function is widely recognized under typical hydrologic regimes, gaps remain in the context of extreme climate events (ECEs). ECEs are those events that far exceed seasonal norms of intensity, duration, or impact upon the physical environment or ecosystem. In this synthesis, we discuss the role of source availability and hydrologic connectivity on antecedent conditions and propose a conceptual framework to characterize system response to ECEs at the watershed scale. We present four case studies in detail that span a range of types of antecedent conditions and type of ECE to highlight important controls and feedbacks. Because ECEs have the potential to export large amounts of water and materials, their occurrence in sequence can disproportionately amplify the response. In fact, multiple events may not be considered extreme in isolation, but when they occur in close sequence they may lead to extreme responses in terms of both supply and transport capacity. Therefore, to advance our understanding of these complexities, we need continued development of a mechanistic understanding of how antecedent conditions set the stage for ECE response across multiple regions and climates, particularly since monitoring of these rare events is costly and difficult to obtain. Through focused monitoring of critical ecosystems during rare events we will also be able to extend and validate modeling studies. Cross-regional comparisons are also needed to define characteristics of resilient systems. These monitoring, modeling, and synthesis efforts are more critical than ever in light of changing climate regimes, intensification of human modifications of the landscape, and the disproportionate impact of ECEs in highly populated regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]