Influence of Little Ice Age on New England Vegetation

• Investigators: Sylvia Barry, David Foster, Donna Francis, Janice Fuller, Dorte Koster, Reinhard Pienitz
• Contact: David Foster
• Start date: 2000 BP
• End date: present
• Location: Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Vermont
• Latitude: 41.7 to 44.5
• Longitude: -73.3 to -71.3
• Elevation:
• Taxa: Betula (birch), Castanea (chestnut), Fagus (beech), Picea (spruce), Pinus (pine), Quercus (oak), Tsuga (hemlock)
• Keywords: climate change, forest dynamics, lake sediments, Little Ice Age, paleoenvironmental records, pollen
• Release date: 2006
• EML version: knb-lter-hfr.78.2
• Revisions:
• Abstract:

  This multi-proxy study uses paleoecological, paleolimnological, and historical approaches to reconstruct climate, vegetation, and cultural dynamics over the past 1500 years at sites arrayed across the climatic and forest gradients of New England and to place these results in a regional framework through analysis of pollen records from the North American Pollen Database. High resolution records were obtained using pollen to interpret vegetation history; chironomids, stable isotopes, geochemistry, and diatoms, supplemented by historical reconstructions, to interpret climate history; charcoal and land-use data to document the human impacts; and Pb-210 and C-14 for chronological control. Results will provide: (1) an objective characterization of the Little Ice Age and climate history in New England, (2) comparison of pre- and post-European forest dynamics in relationship to independent environmental and land-use histories, (3) a reexamination of historical vegetation dynamics in light of prior climate an vegetation change, and (4) widespread availability of data and results through publications, symposium presentation, and the Harvard Forest Archives and web pages.

• Methods:

  Sediment cores were obtained from ponds around New England with a 7-cm diameter surface core and 5-cm diameter modified Livingstone corer. The cores were sampled at 1-cm intervals, and selected samples were analyzed for pollen assemblage, % organic carbon, and microscopic carbon. The cores were dated using 210Pb, AMS 14C dating on organic sediment, and pollen stratigraphic markers (rise in Ambrosia).

• Use:

  This dataset is released to the public and may be freely downloaded. Please keep the designated Contact person informed of any plans to use the dataset. Consultation or collaboration with the original investigators is strongly encouraged. Publications and data products that make use of the dataset must include proper acknowledgement. For more information on LTER Network data access and use policies, please see: http://www.lternet.edu/data/netpolicy.html.

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