...Pennsylvania by way of salamanders. Just 3 or 4 inches long, redback salamanders are the most abundant creatures in many Eastern forests, and Maerz wanted to know why they were disappearing in some areas, changing behavior. "Wherever we found earthworms...

...disabled one in every four inner-city black children, of acid rain that sterilized Adirondacks lakes and destroyed Eastern forests and of air pollution that killed 30,000 Americans each year -- conclusions of the National Academy of Science...

...with huge and increasingly unhunted populations in rural and suburban areas east of the Mississippi. The regrowth of eastern forests offers cover for deer, and succulent suburban shrubbery offers year-round food. Young male mountain lions, called...

...in part because their traditional predators, including mountain lions and gray wolves, were eliminated from most Eastern forests long ago. Also, white-tailed deer reproduce quickly -- a female bears one to three fawns each year -- and they're...

...critical component to modern forest management. "Aspen is an important component in the biological diversity of our eastern forests," says Dan Dessecker, senior wildlife biologist for the Ruffed Grouse Society. "These habitats are found virtually...