Coweeta (CWT) and the temperate montane deciduous forest of the southern Appalachians: Topographically complex, climatically variable, disturbed at multiple time scales, and human modified and utilized

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The Coweeta LTER (CWT) is guided by a single overarching question: "How do natural disturbances, topography, climate variability, and human activities interact with ecological processes to affect ecosystem states in temperate montane deciduous forests?" The CWT study area is centered on the USDA Forest Service Coweeta Hydrologic Laboratory and extends into the surrounding human-dominated exurban landscapes. This juxtaposition allows for long-term detailed mechanistic studies of relatively undisturbed systems as well as studies of the interactions of ecological and social processes at local and regional scales. We are thus able to predict anthropogenic and ecosystem changes to inform regional management priorities.