HAMILTON, N.Y., Jan. 19 (AScribe Newswire) -- Colgate University professors Tim McCay, Randy Fuller, and Rich April, along with Alfred University professor Michele Hluchy, have teamed up to investigate the impact of acid precipitation on the forests, watersheds, and wildlife of New York's Adirondack Mountain region. The group's findings, they said, could ultimately demonstrate the success or failure of the U.S. Clean Air Act of 1970 and the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990.

The team recently received a four-year National Science Foundation (NSF) grant for $975,807 to complete the study. The NSF Cross-disciplinary Research at Undergraduate Institutions (C-RUI) award is the largest research grant ever given to Colgate, and tops a list of awards already received by the university's professors during the 2004-2005 academic year.

McCay, assistant professor of biology; Fuller, professor of biology; April, Dunham Beldon Jr. Professor of geology and natural sciences; and Hluchy, professor of geology/environmental studies at Alfred, will use the funding to determine how the loss of calcium from soil and water affects Adirondack ecosystems. Calcium depletion is a major consequence of acid snow, rain, fog, sleet, and other types of acid deposition.

Research shows that prevailing winds carry pollution from coal-fired power plants in the Midwest into the mountains of the Adirondacks, making the region one of the hardest hit in the world by acid deposition. As the winds rise over the mountains, water droplets in them cool and condense into the clouds, which then reach the point of saturation.

The resulting precipitation contains high concentrations of sulfur and nitrogen pollution. Sulfur dioxides become sulfuric acid, and nitrogen oxides become nitric acid. Those substances then trickle into the soil and bodies of water, depleting them of calcium and other nutrient elements.

The Colgate/Alfred team will examine how such acid deposition and low levels of calcium in the ecosystem impact litter decomposition, soil invertebrates, and small mammals in the forests, as well as bacteria, algae, and invertebrates in the streams of the Adirondacks. They will also compare the chemistry of soils to archived samples that April and Hluchy gathered in the 1970s and 1980s, when Hluchy was an undergraduate research assistant of April's at Colgate.

Analysis of the historical data will provide insight on the effectiveness of environmental legislation enacted in the United States since then, including the Clean Air Act of 1970 and the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990, the team said.

"There is growing evidence that chemistry of surface waters is responding to the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990. However, we know less about the chemistry of forest soils and virtually nothing about biological responses and potential recovery," said McCay, principal investigator of the project. "We are excited to be able to link chemical changes to biological responses."

The grant will enable the team to support 30 Colgate and Alfred student research assistants during the four academic years and summers. It will also allow the group to launch outreach programs for high school science teachers in the region to learn more about acid deposition and its ecological consequences.

"We are thrilled that a Colgate initiative of this scope and magnitude was recognized by the NSF and awarded funding," said Lyle Roelofs, provost and dean of the faculty. "Not only does the project benefit our faculty, students, and institution, but it will have lasting effects on the community and environment as well."

According to the NSF, the goal of the C-RUI initiative is to support research efforts involving professors from different fields and undergraduate students at predominantly undergraduate institutions. It is intended to boost student participation and "to contribute to the development of the next generation of scientists well-trained in 21st century biology."

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CONTACT: Caroline Jenkins, Colgate Media Relations, cajenkins@mail.colgate.edu, 315-228-6637

ABOUT COLGATE: Members of the faculty at Colgate excel at engaging undergraduates in their research, tying classroom learning to applied experiences. Recent student-faculty research collaborations have touched on a wide range of topics, including female artists of the Southwest, hydrogeology, corporate governance reform in Asia, sacred music, the warming of Antarctica, and the effects of gestures on cognition.