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Research

Justin Mathias measures the responses of leaf photosynthesis at the Fernow Experimental Forest in Parsons.  

After a 50-year period of declining growth of the tree species prior to the Clean Air Act, a new study by Justin Mathias, a biology Ph.D. candidate, and Richard Thomas, chair and professor in the Department of Biology, found that declining air pollution alongside increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide and warmer spring temperatures have resulted in dramatic forest growth recovery.