Forest Service Scientist Lends Expertise to International Water Resources Journal

Science Contact: Ge Sun, ge.sun@usda.gov

RALEIGH, NC (December 18, 2008)—Dr. Ge Sun, research hydrologist with the U.S. Forest Service, recently served as guest associate editor for a special issue of the Journal of the American Water Resources Association (JAWRA). Sun joined three international scientists from the Chinese Academy of Forestry, Beijing Forestry University, and the University of British Columbia to blend a collection of 11 papers featuring forest hydrology research in China. The special issue can be found in the JAWRA October 2008 edition.

“China is undergoing forestry revitalization with its economic boom,” says Sun on the country’s emphasis and programs targeted at reducing soil erosion and flooding, sequestering carbon, improving water quality, and addressing ecosystem degradation. “Many efforts are resulting in positive effects on water resources as well as overall ecosystem health.”

The collection of papers addresses the impact of management and climate change and variability on watershed hydrology and forest-water relationships across multiple scales and landscapes. Sun and fellow editors prefaced the compilation in, “Forest Hydrology in China: Introduction to the Featured Collection.” The introduction provides a context for forest hydrology research in China, from the historical importance of forests and water throughout Chinese culture to the stress China’s natural forest and water resources have sustained from population growth, development, and global environmental change. The 11 articles represent significant ongoing forest hydrology research and can serve as a benchmark for understanding forest-water relations in China.

Sun and fellow editors hope the featured collection “will serve as a window for the international research community to collaborate with Chinese forest hydrologists to contribute to our understanding of forest-water relations in a changing world.”

Sun, who conducts forest hydrology research with the Eastern Forest Environmental Threat Assessment Center’s Southern Global Change Program in Raleigh, also joined fellow Forest Service Southern Research Station scientists who co-authored several articles—Drs. John Stanturf and Yongqiang Liu with the Center for Forest Disturbance Science in Athens, GA; Dr. Steve McNulty with the Southern Global Change Program; and Dr. Jim Vose with the Coweeta Hydrologic Lab in Otto, NC.

For additional information, please contact Ge Sun at ge.sun@usda.gov or visit http://www.forestthreats.org and http://www.awra.org/jawra.