Project Overview:

Hubbard Brook has a long history of developing knowledge about how forest ecosystems function, using the small watershed as an experimental unit. This project recognizes that all landscapes are summations of watersheds at various scales, and that all watersheds are made up of varying hillslope positions that fit together, influence, and depend on each other in specific ways. Hydropedology is a transformative scientific perspective that emphasizes the role that water plays in influencing development of soils, and, conversely, how geologic and soil materials affect pathways, rates, and transformations of water and soluble chemical elements as they move through the forest and into streams. Questions that the hydropedology project seeks to answer include: What are the processes by which water interacts with rocks and minerals to create soil, buffer acidity, release nutrients, and influence carbon and other elemental cycles? How do geologic and soil materials regulate the pathways of water through the forest and delivery of water to streams? How do forests regulate water quality? How does the hydropedologic template affect the distribution of plant and animal species and the structural development of forest and aquatic ecosystems?