History of late- and post-glacial vegetation and disturbance around Upper South Branch Pond, northern Maine

Anderson, R. Scott; Davis, Ronald B.; Miller, Norton G.; Stuckenrath, Robert

doi:10.1139/b86-262

Cited by 111 publications

(55 citation statements)

References 30 publications

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“…It is marked at individual sites by several centuries of high Tsuga pollen percentages, followed by a steep decline to low or trace levels that persist for at least two millennia (Davis 1981). Plant macrofossil sequences show similar patterns (Anderson et al 1986, Jackson 1989, Spear et al 1994, Reeves 2006, confirming that the Tsuga decline represents a reduction in population size rather than pollen productivity. The decline at individual sites appears to have occurred in less than a century, possibly less than a decade (Allison et al 1986).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 59%

Decomposing the mid‐Holocene Tsuga decline in eastern North America

Booth

Brewer

Blaauw

et al. 2012

Ecology

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Abstract. The mid-Holocene decline of Tsuga canadensis (hereafter Tsuga) populations across eastern North America is widely perceived as a synchronous event, driven by pests/ pathogens, rapid climate change, or both. Pattern identification and causal attribution are hampered by low stratigraphic density of pollen-sampling and radiometric dates at most sites, and by absence of highly resolved, paired pollen and paleoclimate records from single sediment cores, where chronological order of climatic and vegetational changes can be assessed. We present an intensely sampled (contiguous 1-cm intervals) record of pollen and water table depth (inferred from testate amoebae) from a single core spanning the Tsuga decline at Irwin Smith Bog in Lower Michigan, with high-precision chronology. We also present an intensively sampled pollen record from Tower Lake in Upper Michigan. Both sites show high-magnitude fluctuations in Tsuga pollen percentages during the pre-decline maximum. The terminal decline is dated at both sites ca. 5000 cal yr BP, some 400 years later than estimates from other sites and data compilations. The terminal Tsuga decline was evidently heterochronous across its range. A transient decline ca. 5350 cal yr BP at both sites may correspond to the terminal decline at other sites in eastern North America. At Irwin Smith Bog, the terminal Tsuga decline preceded an abrupt and persistent decline in water table depths by ;200 years, suggesting the decline was not directly driven by abrupt climate change. The Tsuga decline may best be viewed as comprising at least three phases: a long-duration predecline maximum with high-magnitude and high-frequency fluctuations, followed by a terminal decline at individual sites, followed in turn by two millennia of persistently low Tsuga populations. These phases may not be causally linked, and may represent dynamics taking place at multiple temporal and spatial scales. Further progress toward understanding the phenomenon requires an expanded network of high-resolution pollen and paleoclimate chronologies.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 59%

Decomposing the mid‐Holocene Tsuga decline in eastern North America

Booth

Brewer

Blaauw

et al. 2012

Ecology

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“…In addition, where pine was present it may have contributed to greater inflammability of the forest (cf. Anderson et al, 1986). …”

Section: Vegetation and Climate Reconstructionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A 6 ka BP Reconstruction for the Island of Newfoundland from a Synthesis of Holocene Lake-Sediment Pollen Records

Macpherson¹

2007

gpq

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A 6 ka reconstruction for the island of Newfoundland is presented in the context of a synthesis of Holocene pollen records for twelve sites within or at the margin of the boreal forest, five of which are new. Climatic reconstruction is based primarily on representation of the major boreal taxa: balsam fir, spruce, birch and pine, with charcoal data for some sites. The period of greatest Holocene warmth began at 6 ka. Although temperatures at inland sites were at or close to modern values as early as 8.5-8.0 ka, it was not until 6 ka on the Avalon Peninsula, in the southeast, and 5.5 ka in the north, that coastal sites registered expansion of more thermophilous taxa. Thus oceanic warming lagged terrestrial warming. Temperatures during the period of greatest warmth were no more than 1.0°C higher than modern, based on fluctuations of the upper forest limit and post-Hypsithermal contraction of the range of indicator taxa. Fire importance increased after 6 ka as pine expanded, but moisture availability also increased. The first indications of cooling occurred on the coast at 4.5-4.0 ka, but at different times after 4.0 ka inland; thus oceanic cooling led terrestrial cooling. The latest Holocene has been cool, moist and relatively free from fire.La reconstitution a été faite à partir des données polliniques holocènes tirées de 12 sites (dont 5 nouveaux) situés à l'intérieur de la forêt boréale ou à sa marge. La reconstitution climatique est d'abord fondée sur la représentation des principaux taxons boréaux : le sapin baumier, l'épinette, le bouleau et de pin, avec données sur charbon à certains sites. La période la plus chaude de l'Holocène a commencé à 6 ka. Si les températures atteignaient les valeurs modernes ou en étaient près dès 8,5-8,0 ka à l'intérieur de l'île, ce n'était pas avant 6 ka dans la péninsule d'Avalon, au sud-ouest, et à 5,5 ka au nord que les sites côtiers ont enregistré l'expansion des taxons plus thermophiles. Ainsi, le réchauffement océanique a suivi le réchauffement terrestre. Les températures au cours de la période la plus chaude étaient plus élevés d'à peine 1°C que maintenant, évaluées sur la base des fluctuations de la limite altitudinale de la forêt et la réduction post-hypsithermale de la gamme des taxons indicateurs. L'importance des feux s'est accrue après 6 ka avec l'expansion du pin, mais l'humidité a aussi augmenté. Les premières indications d'un refroidissement se sont manifestées sur la côte vers 4,5-4,0 ka, et à différentes périodes après 4 ka à l'intérieur. Ainsi, le refroidissement océanique a entraîné le refroidissement terrestre. L'Holocène le plus récent a été frais, humide et relativement exempt de feux de forêts.Die Rekonstruktion wird im Kontext der Synthèse von Holozân-Pollenbelegen von zwôlf Plâtzen innerhalb oder am Rand des nôrdlichen Nadelwaldgùrtels vorgestellt, von denen fùnf neu sind. Die Klima-Rekonstruktion stùtzt sich vor allem auf das Vorkommen der hauptsàchlichen borealen Taxa: Balsam-tanne, Fichte, Birke und Kiefer, mit Kohledaten fur manche Plàtze. Die wàrms...

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“…This suggests that there was an initial period of base-rich, calcareous conditions associated with the leaching of transported or locally derived carbonate-containing minerals from the glacial drift. At Tom Swamp, Massachusetts (Miller, 1989), and Upper South Branch Pond, Maine (Anderson et al, 1986), the abrupt simultaneous appearance of spruce needles and dis- Macrofossil and pollen records at lower Lakes of the Clouds contain no evidence of an early calcicolous flora, perhaps for two reasons: the lowermost sediments (between 11,000 and 13,000 yBP) were devoid of plant macrofossils (or at least none was recovered from the sampled sediment), and/or the thin covering of glacial drift on the high alpine summit did not contain transported calcareous rocks and minerals (and no calcicoles grew nearby).…”

Section: Impact Of Soil Development On the Alpine Floramentioning

confidence: 99%

Late-Quaternary history of the alpine flora of the New Hampshire White Mountains

Miller¹,

Spear²

2002

gpq

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A distinctive flora of 73 species of vascular plants and numerous bryophytes occurs in the ca. 20 km 2 of alpine tundra in the White Mountains, New Hampshire. The late- Quaternary distribution of these plants, many of which are disjuncts, was investigated by studies of pollen and plant macrofossils from lower Lakes of the Clouds (1 542 m) in the alpine zone of Mount Washington. Results were compared with pollen and macrofossils from lowland late-glacial deposits in western New England. Lowland paleofloras contained fossils of 43 species of vascular plants, 13 of which occur in the contemporary alpine flora of the White Mountains. A majority of species in the paleoflora has geographic affinities to Labrador, northern Québec, and Greenland, a pattern also apparent for mosses in the lowland deposits. The first macrofossils in lower Lakes of the Clouds were arctic-alpine mosses of acid soils. Although open-ground mosses and vascular plants continued to occur throughout the Holocene, indicating that alpine tundra persisted, fossils of a low-elevation moss Hylocomiastrum umbratum are evidence that forest (perhaps as krummholz) covered a greater area near the basin from 7 500 to 3 500 yBP. No calcicolous plants were recovered from sediments at lower Lakes of the Clouds. Climatic constraints on the alpine flora during the Younger Dryas oscillation and perhaps during other cold-climate events and intervening periods of higher temperature may have led to the loss of plant species in the White Mountain alpine zone. Late-glacial floras of lowland western New England were much richer than floras of areas above treeline during late-glacial time and at the present.

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History of late- and post-glacial vegetation and disturbance around Upper South Branch Pond, northern Maine

Cited by 111 publications

References 30 publications

Decomposing the mid‐Holocene Tsuga decline in eastern North America

Decomposing the mid‐Holocene Tsuga decline in eastern North America

A 6 ka BP Reconstruction for the Island of Newfoundland from a Synthesis of Holocene Lake-Sediment Pollen Records

Late-Quaternary history of the alpine flora of the New Hampshire White Mountains

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