Introduction and Site Description

Abstract

This volume is a collection of chapters describing results of a variety of research efforts with forested catchments as the common basis of ecosystem interpretation. The Coweeta Hydrologic Laboratory was established 50 years ago as a testing ground for certain theories in forest hydrology. That research required development of a firm data base describing the hydrologic cycle in watersheds (see Chapter 2). Later, in 1968, efforts began to establish an extensive data base on nutrient cycling phenomena in Coweeta watersheds with joint USDA Forest Service-National Science Foundation funding. This research was a logical extension of the research on watershed hydrology. Both types of research have been based on an ecosystem concept, explicitly for nutrient cycling studies and implicitly even for early studies in forest hydrology (see Chapter 30).