In the late 1990s, Dr. Jon Evans and Sarah McCarthy Neumann (C'99) surveyed the trees of Sinking Pond, a karst depression that fills with water for a large part of the year (November through July). This wetland is punctuated with overstory overcup oak (Quercus lyrata), but the population is experiencing regeneration failure. They concluded that rainfall patterns must have changed in the last 60 years, making it impossible for overcup oak seedlings to grow tall enough to survive. This research exists as a Water Resource-Investigations Report, and the population dynamics work was published in the Journal of the Torrey Botanical Society.
In June. Dr. Jon Evans and Callie Oldfield (C'15) revisited the site on the Arnold Air Force Base, accompanied by John Lamb, wildlife biologist with the AEDC. They discussed the possibility of resurveying the trees in the wetland and setting up an experiment to test whether the water levels are limiting recruitment.