It is reported that in Connecticut in the 1970s the dogwood trees began dying. Now, in some hard-hit areas like the Catoctin Mountains of Maryland, they are gone. Preconditioning by acid rain for a disease is the cause. Dogwood loss should be recognized as a white flag of distress, if not surrender, of the Eastern Forest Ecosystem. Visibility is reduced by air pollution too.
More people travel more to look at views that are disappearing in smog caused by their own travel.
Here air pollution is most clearly seen to be the cause of definite forest decline as its workings in eastern forests are elucidated. The detail is consistent, fascinating, and convincing. Acid rain acidifies streams and kills trout, other fish, and reduces other aquatic life. Here micro-organisms and fungi are reduced and fallen leaves, even trees, are not turned to humus, and nutrients then are not being recycled. The communities considered are those of salamanders and trout, and their decline in an era of acid rain.