Acid Precipitation and Catastrophes in Forest Dynamics: A Conceptual Framework

The focus of this paper will be on the intrinsic nonlinear nature of the vegetation response to acid precipitation, which plays a principal role in causing catastrophes in forest dynamics. We contemplate three possible mechanisms of forest disruption from acidic deposition: (i) through direct effects upon vegetation (such as physical damage to tissues), (ii) through increased soil acidity, which inter alia entails the release of toxic amounts of aluminum and manganese, (iii) through accumulation in the tree biomass of excessive amounts of nutrients, which may be harmful to the plants. We analyze the three corresponding modes of forest decline and demonstrate, within the framework of catastrophe theory, that the second and third mechanisms give rise to a so-called fold catastrophe.

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