WVU researchers team up with middle school students to study potential benefits of acid rain
October 24, 2023
West Virginia University biologists will tap local eighth graders for help on research studying what happens when acid rain stops falling.
Years of this environmental phenomena in the eastern U.S. have led to nitrogen pollution in streams and waterways. However, it’s also helped trees grow and microbes capture carbon from the atmosphere. Edward Brzostek, associate professor in biology at the WVU Eberly College of Arts and Sciences, has been working in the Fernow Experimental Forest in Tucker County studying the effects of acid rain on the region’s forests and watersheds.
A recent five-year award from the National Science Foundation’s Long Term Research in Environmental Biology program will support continued study on the topic by WVU, the U.S. Forest Service and local students.