uid=HFR,o=lter,dc=ecoinformatics,dc=org
all
public
read
doi:10.6073/pasta/63c12fc4c11f00e3da2bd114682f87d4
Lake Sediment Pollen from Berry Pond in North Andover MA from 15000 BP to Present
Wyatt
Oswald
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6217-1831
David
Foster
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1171-3762
Elaine
Doughty
Researcher
Edward
Faison
Researcher
Barbara
Hansen
Researcher
2023
English
Aim
We analyzed lake-sediment pollen records from eight sites in southern New England to address: (1) regional variation in ecological responses to post-glacial climatic changes, (2) landscape-scale vegetational heterogeneity at different times in the past, and (3) environmental and ecological controls on spatial patterns of vegetation.
Location
The eight study sites are located in southern New England in the states of Massachusetts and Connecticut. The sites span a climatic and vegetational gradient from the lowland areas of eastern Massachusetts and Connecticut to the uplands of north-central and western Massachusetts. Tsuga canadensis and Fagus grandifolia are abundant in the upland area, while Quercus, Carya and Pinus species have higher abundances in the lowlands.
Results
Our analyses revealed a sequence of vegetational responses to climate changes occurring across southern New England during the past 14,000 calibrated radiocarbon years before present (cal yr BP). Pollen assemblages at all sites were dominated by Picea and Pinus banksiana between 14,000 and 11,500 cal yr BP; by Pinus strobus from 11,500 to 10,500 cal yr BP; and by P. strobus and Tsuga between 10,500 and 9500 cal yr BP. At 9500-8000 cal yr BP, however, vegetation composition began to differentiate between lowland and upland sites. Lowland sites had higher percentages of Quercus pollen, whereas Tsuga abundance was higher at the upland sites. This spatial heterogeneity strengthened between 8000 and 5500 cal yr BP, when Fagus became abundant in the uplands and Quercus pollen percentages increased further in the lowland records. The differentiation of upland and lowland vegetation zones remained strong during the mid-Holocene Tsuga decline (5500-3500 cal yr BP), but the pattern weakened during the late-Holocene (3500-300 cal yr BP) and European-settlement intervals. Within-group similarity declined in response to the uneven late-Holocene expansion of Castanea, while between-group similarity increased due to homogenization of the regional vegetation by forest clearance and ongoing disturbances.
Main conclusions
The regional gradient of vegetation composition across southern New England was first established between 9500 and 8000 cal yr BP. The spatial heterogeneity of the vegetation may have arisen at that time in response to the development or strengthening of the regional climatic gradient. Alternatively, the differentiation of upland and lowland vegetation types may have occurred as the climate ameliorated and an increasing number of species arrived in the region, arranging themselves in progressively more complex vegetation patterns across relatively stationary environmental gradients. The emergence of a regional vegetational gradient in southern New England may be a manifestation of the increasing number of species and more finely divided resource gradient.
lakes
paleoecology
pollen
region
sediments
vegetation dynamics
LTER controlled vocabulary
disturbance
populations
LTER core area
Harvard Forest
HFR
LTER
USA
HFR default
This dataset is released to the public under Creative Commons CC0 1.0 (No Rights Reserved). Please keep the dataset creators informed of any plans to use the dataset. Consultation with the original investigators is strongly encouraged. Publications and data products that make use of the dataset should include proper acknowledgement.
Creative Commons Zero v1.0 Universal
https://spdx.org/licenses/CC0-1.0.html
CC0-1.0
https://harvardforest.fas.harvard.edu/exist/apps/datasets/showData.html?id=hf184
Berry Pond (North Andover MA). Coordinates based on WGS84 datum.
-71.08733
-71.08733
+42.6201
+42.6201
43
43
meter
-13000
2010
genus
Betula
species
spp.
birch
genus
Fagus
species
spp.
beech
genus
Picea
species
spp.
spruce
genus
Pinus
species
spp.
pine
genus
Quercus
species
spp.
oak
genus
Tsuga
species
spp.
hemlock
complete
Information Manager
Harvard Forest
324 North Main Street
Petersham
MA
01366
USA
(978) 724-3302
hf-im@lists.fas.harvard.edu
Harvard Forest
324 North Main Street
Petersham
MA
01366
USA
(978) 724-3302
(978) 724-3595
https://harvardforest.fas.harvard.edu
We collected sediment cores from three lakes in eastern and north-central Massachusetts (Berry East, Blood and Little Royalston Ponds). Pollen records from those sites were compared with previously published pollen data from five other sites. Multivariate data analysis (non-metric multi-dimensional scaling) was used to compare the pollen spectra of these sites through time.
Harvard Forest Long-Term Ecological Research
Harvard Forest
324 North Main Street
Petersham
MA
01366
USA
(978) 724-3302
(978) 724-3595
https://harvardforest.fas.harvard.edu
https://ror.org/059cpzx98
pointOfContact
The Harvard Forest Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) program examines ecological dynamics in the New England region resulting from natural disturbances, environmental change, and human impacts.
National Science Foundation LTER grants: DEB-8811764, DEB-9411975, DEB-0080592, DEB-0620443, DEB-1237491, DEB-1832210.
hf184-01-pollen-Berry.csv
pollen
hf184-01-pollen-Berry.csv
627038
f3018a6efabc624837eb9de5aeacc17c
1
\r\n
column
,
https://harvardforest.fas.harvard.edu/data/p18/hf184/hf184-01-pollen-Berry.csv
cal.age.bp
calibrated age before present in years
number
0.0001
real
NA
missing value
depth
depth in sediment column
centimeter
1
whole
NA
missing value
taxa
name of taxa
name of taxa
count
number of pollen grains or spores of individual
number
0.5
real
NA
missing value
23360
hf184-02-age-Berry.csv
age
hf184-02-age-Berry.csv
562
2f8277a4a7f76a54f7153da98d64e261
1
\r\n
column
,
https://harvardforest.fas.harvard.edu/data/p18/hf184/hf184-02-age-Berry.csv
depth
depth in sediment column
centimeter
1
real
NA
missing value
cal.age.bp
calibrated age before present (years; present=1950 AD)
number
0.00000001
real
NA
missing value
notes
notes and methods of age determination; 210Pb=lead-210 dating; 14C=radiocarbon dating; Euro settlement=determined by rise in abundance of weedy and agricultural taxa
notes and methods of age determination; 210Pb=lead-210 dating; 14C=radiocarbon dating; Euro settlement=determined by rise in abundance of weedy and agricultural taxa
c14
un-calibrated radiocarbon years
number
1
whole
NA
missing value
error
analytical error for 14C dates in years
number
1
whole
NA
missing value
17
hf184-03-microchar-Berry.csv
microchar
hf184-03-microchar-Berry.csv
3618
be249918322356431765f08eb2eeaa5e
1
\r\n
column
,
https://harvardforest.fas.harvard.edu/data/p18/hf184/hf184-03-microchar-Berry.csv
depth
depth in sediment
centimeter
1
whole
NA
missing value
char.area
area of charcoal pieces greater than 10 and less than 180 microns in length
squareMillimeters
0.00001
real
NA
missing value
exotic.char
number of exotic marker grains encountered during charcoal analysis
number
1
whole
NA
missing value
pollen.sum
number of pollen grains and spores of upland taxa encountered during pollen analysis
number
0.1
real
NA
missing value
exotic.pollen
number of exotic maker grains encountered during pollen analysis
number
1
whole
NA
missing value
exotic.added
total number of exotic marker grains added to sample
numberPerCentimeterCubed
1
whole
NA
missing value
sed.vol
volume of the sediment samples
centimeterCubed
1
whole
NA
missing value
96
historical
paleological
https://harvardforest.fas.harvard.edu/exist/apps/datasets/showData.html?id=hf185
https://harvardforest.fas.harvard.edu/exist/apps/datasets/showData.html?id=hf186
numberPerCentimeterCubed