Acid Deposition Research and Ecosystem Science: Synergistic Successes

Abstract

In this chapter we have suggested that the relationship between acid deposition research and ecosystem science has been synergistic, and that both have benefited. Not only did ecosystem science help to initiate and contribute to acid deposition research, but significant advances have been made in the discipline of ecosystem science over the past few decades as a result of studying acid deposition and its effects.It was through the study of ecosystems that the regional extent of air pollution and its potential ramifications were first brought to the attention of the scientific community as well as to the public. The national and international attention resulted in a high degree of public interest and substantial funding. The ecosystem research, synergism among disciplines and among scientists, and the research process itself yielded important benefits for the discipline of ecosystem science. These benefits fall into three categories of success: (1) scientific, including advances in our knowledge about the structure and function of ecosystems; (2) infrastructure, which concerns development of new physical, informational, and human resources for the field; and (3) experience on the public stage, which involves the discipline's first tentative steps toward achieving effective science about complex issues in the public spotlight.