Anyone interested in a more complete summary of the status of air pollution on forests should have a look at John Innes' (Swiss Fed. Inst. Forest...Research) book, "Forest Health: Its assessment and status" (1993, CAB International). The picture and issues aren't as clear as Grant's summary would have us expect, esp. in comparison of European vs. N. American research. For example, most of the detailed work at the Fichtelgebirge site in southern Germany was unreplicated and descriptive only; when they experimentally tried to exacerbate the N interference with Mg nutrition, they found the saplings were in fact N limited! (see _excellent_ experiment by Buchmann, N., Oren, R., and Zimmermann, R. 1995. Response of magnesium-deficient saplings in a young, open stand of Picea abies (L.) Karst. to elevated soil magnesium, nitrogen, and carbon. Environ. Poll., 87:31-43.) Clear adherence to the scientific method (replication, experimentation, falsification of hypotheses) goes a long way in trying to deduce what's likely true and likely untrue in forest health issues. Dan Binkley Professor, Department of Forest Sciences and Director, Graduate Degree Program in Ecology Colorado State University Ft. Collins, CO 80523 USA Phone 970 491 6519 Fax 970 491 2796
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