AIR POLLUTION

• How does long-term ozone exposure effect plant genetics and communities?
• How does elevated mercury concentrations in park fish and wildlife effect productivity and behavior?
• Do PCB contaminant burdens in park bald eagles change over time?
• What other atmospherically transported toxic substances pose public health and/or ecological risks to park visitors and natural resources (e.g., dioxins)?
• How do park watersheds, forests, and estuaries respond to nitrogen deposition?
• What are the effects of episodic acidification on stream biota?
• How does fire influence the fate of atmospherically deposited metals and organic compounds?
• Are park biota at risk from UV exposure?

INCREASING DEVELOPMENT ADJACENT TO PARK

• How do park coastal wetlands respond to increasing amounts of septic waste and yard fertilizers associated with new and expanding residential development on Mount Desert Island?
• What are the ecological consequences for park plant and animal populations to increasing habitat fragmentation outside the park boundary?

CONSERVATION OF BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY – PLANTS

• Some of the rarest park plants are abundant in other parts of Maine or New England. Should the NPS be concerned about their rarity in Acadia National Park? What is the park’s role in protecting rare plants?
• Should we be trying to protect certain plant populations when their rarity may be related to a natural extinction or the result of vegetation succession?
• What are the statistically appropriate long-term monitoring techniques for small populations of rare plants?
• What are cost-effective techniques to control highly invasive non-native plants at the park, such as Japanese barberry, alder buckthorn, and oriental bittersweet?
• How do sub-alpine plant communities and boreal forests at Acadia respond to anticipated changes in climate?
• What are the long-term effects of browsing on plant succession in a post-fire forest environment?
  

CONSERVATION OF BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY – ANIMALS

• Have there been changes in the invertebrate fauna over the last 75 years?
• What are the effects of landscape disturbance on native pollinators?
• What are the most cost-effective techniques to monitor changes in terrestrial invertebrates?
• How do harlequin duck survival rates vary among sexes, age classes and seasons?
• What is the status of common eiders nesting on park offshore islands?
• What birds nest in park estuaries? What role do park estuaries play as staging habitat for migratory birds?
• What raptors nest in the park?
• How have beaver populations responded to forest succession?
• What are the effects of fish stocking on native freshwater aquatic ecosystems?

SOCIAL SCIENCE RESEARCH NEEDS

• What are the most effective interpretive techniques to educate visitors about important park natural resource issues?
• What are appropriate visitor carrying capacities for sensitive park habitats such as mountain summits and offshore islands?
• What are appropriate visitor carrying capacities for the Schoodic Peninsula and Isle au Haut?
• What are recreation patterns in the park?
• How satisfied are visitors with the park’s new shuttle bus system?