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You are here: NRS Home / Scientists & Staff / Scott Bailey
Scientists & Staff

[image:] Scott Bailey Scott Bailey

Title: Geologist
Unit: Center for Research on Ecosystem Change
Address: Northern Research Station
234 Mirror Lake Road
North Woodstock, NH 03262
Phone: (603) 535 3262
E-mail: Contact Scott Bailey

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Education

  • Ph.D., Syracuse University, Geology, 1994
  • M.S., University of New Hampshire, Hydrology, 1984
  • B.S., University of Massachusetts-Amherst, cum laude, Geology, 1982

Civic & Professional Affiliations

  • Soil Science Society of America
  • American Geophysical Union
  • New England Botanical Club
  • North American Shetland Sheepbreeders Association

Current Research

With an undergraduate training in traditional geology, my graduate work turned to hydrology and biogeochemistry. Although my position is classified as a geologist, the term geoecology better describes my work. I am broadly interested in the influence of substrate, including soils, geologic parent-materials, landforms, and water, on the structure and function of ecosystems. The bulk of my work is based on observational studies. This approach is supplemented with field experiments and modeling. Specific areas of current focus include (1) evaluation of watershed mass balance studies and retrospective soil monitoring to determine temporal dynamics of forest soil base cation supply, (2) the role of secondary minerals as nutrient reservoirs in forest soils, (3) site factors responsible for nutritional stress in sugar maple, and (4) the role of seepage and fractured-rock groundwater discharge in nutrient cycling and biodiversity. Current projects range in location from the Allegheny Plateau in Pennsylvania to the Chic-Choc Mountains in Quebec, with a special emphasis on the Hubbard Brook, Cone Pond, and Sleepers River Research Watersheds.

Why is This Important

This research is important so we can understand how forest ecosystems respond to a changing environment. Air pollution, land management, and climate variability are among the factors driving ecosystem change. Understanding these dynamics is essential to develop sound environmental policy and land management strategies.

Future Research

Future research will emphasize questions of scaling between observations made at the point scale, to hillslopes and small catchments to regional patterns. Understanding spatial variability will help put intensive research sites into a broader context, allow development of site specific management recommendations, and fuse our understanding of watershed-scale mass balance trends with a mechanistic view of dominant processes.

Featured Publications

Additional Online Publications

Last Modified: 02/15/2012