Acid Rain and Maple Forests

Maples fight to push through the leaf litter

As greenhouse gases continue to accumulate nitrogen deposits in the soil are beginning to increase. The presence of the nitrogen is causing maple forests in the upper great lakes area to suffer

The nitrogen falls as acid rain and saturates the soil. This nitrogen slows the microbial decay of sugar maples leaves. It is not chemical inhibitors but physical inhibitors that are posing a threat to these forests' health.

When the forest litter does not decompose fast enough the carpet on the forest floor builds up and causes less saplings to push up and find sunlight or grow down and root in soil.

If nitrogen levels continue to increase as predicted leaf litter could build up so much that sapling numbers decrease by up to 90%. Without an abundance of saplings the underbrush of the forest could die completely and the forests would slowly die.