The Southern Global Change Program, SRS RWU 4854, has developed the conceptual and functional basis for conducting integrated assessments of forest ecosystems response to global change. Modeling and experimental approaches will provide land managers and policy makers with the tools and data needed to ensure sustainability of forested landscapes in the southern U.S.

This research will significantly contributes to the regional and to the larger world-wide effort to integrate data across multiple natural resources to study natural and human-induced changes in terrestrial processes. On-going and future environmental assessments will utilize new technology to synthesize scientific information at the regional scale to increase our understanding of interactions among forest resources. These tools will provide policy makers with the information necessary to provide for a sustainable future while meeting the resource needs of the southern U.S.

The SGCP was formed in 1990 as a part of the Congressionally mandated US Global Change Research Program. Our goal has been to study the interactive effects of pollution and global climate change on southern forests. There are three components to our Program: 1) the collection and analysis of existing and new databases; 2) the establishment of research initiatives to increase scientific understanding of ecosystem processes; and 3) the development of new and the use of existing models which link research across spatial and temporal scales within the framework of integrated assessments. These three components are being used to evaluate current status of forest resources, relate ecosystem trends to causes and consequences, predict future impact scenarios, and to formulate adaptation and mitigation strategies.