uid=HFR,o=lter,dc=ecoinformatics,dc=org all public read doi:10.6073/pasta/0c24b76850f0efec3dd60c3023a3156e Janice Fuller David Foster https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1171-3762 2023 English

Historical and ecological data from north-central Massachusetts suggest that widespread and intensive human disturbance after European settlement led to a shift in forest composition and obscured regional patterns of species abundance. A paleoecological approach was required to place recent forest dynamics in a long-term context. Pollen and charcoal data from 11 small lakes in north-central Massachusetts were used to reconstruct local vegetation dynamics and fire histories across the region over the past 1000 years. The sites are located across an environmental gradient. Paleoecological data indicate that prior to European settlement, there was regional variation in forest composition corresponding to differences in climate, substrate, and fire regime. Oak, chestnut and hickory were abundant at low elevations, whereas hemlock, beech, sugar maple, and yellow birch were common at high elevations. Fire appears to have been more frequent and/or intense at lower elevations, maintaining high abundances of oak, and archaeological data suggest Native American populations were greater in these areas. A change in forest composition at higher elevations, around 550 years before present, may be related to the Little Ice Age (a period of variable climate), fire, and/or activity by Native Americans, and led to regional convergence in forest composition. After European settlement, forest composition changed markedly in response to human disturbance and there was a sharp increase in rates of vegetation change. Regional patterns were obscured further, leading to homogenization of broad-scale forest composition. There is no indication from the pollen data that forests are returning to pre-European settlement forest composition, and rates of vegetation change remain high, reflecting continuing disturbance to the landscape, despite regional reforestation.

human disturbance lakes paleoecology pollen vegetation dynamics LTER controlled vocabulary disturbance human-environment 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=hf027 North Central Massachusetts. Coordinates based on WGS84 datum. -72.5 -71.6 +42.7 +42.4 1000 2000 genus Acer maple genus Ambrosia ragweed genus Betula birch genus Carya hickory genus Castanea chestnut genus Fagus beech genus Quercus oak genus Rumex sorrel genus Tsuga 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

Paleoecological methods were used to reconstruct the vegetation, fire and land-use history.

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. hf027-01-ponds.csv site descriptions hf027-01-ponds.csv 676 936bd05108325fa7d1146ca16689f66b 1 \r\n column , https://harvardforest.fas.harvard.edu/data/p02/hf027/hf027-01-ponds.csv site site name site name lat latitude meter 0.001 real NA missing value long longitude meter 0.001 real NA missing value elev elevation meter 1 whole NA missing value date.info dating information dating information pollen.analyst name of pollen analyst name of pollen analyst 11 hf027-02-dates.csv dating information hf027-02-dates.csv 2713 6feec96656439a2b3aed0119cd8fd8a4 1 \r\n column , https://harvardforest.fas.harvard.edu/data/p02/hf027/hf027-02-dates.csv pond site name site name depth core depth centimeter 0.01 real NA missing value age age in years bp number 0.01 real NA missing value error standard error in years number 0.01 real NA missing value dating.method dating method dating method 114 hf027-03-pollen.csv pollen hf027-03-pollen.csv 2238131 cf3cba8a34cec39931df2155bae21908 1 \r\n column , https://harvardforest.fas.harvard.edu/data/p02/hf027/hf027-03-pollen.csv site site code AP Aino Pond DFP Dead Frog Pond GP Green Pond LKP Lake Pleasant LLP Lily Pond LMP Little Mirror Pond LTP Little Pond OP Otter Pond QP Quag Pond SVP Silver Pond SNP Snake Pond depth core depth centimeter 0.1 real NA missing value taxa taxa name taxa name species.per species percentages based on the sum of terrestrial pollen and spores dimensionless 0.1 real NA missing value trees.shrubs trees and shrubs dimensionless 0.1 real NA missing value herbs herbs dimensionless 0.1 real NA missing value pt.spores pteridophyte spores dimensionless 0.1 real NA missing value aquatics aquatics dimensionless 0.1 real NA missing value indet indeterminables and unknown grains dimensionless 0.1 real NA missing value sum.terr sum of terrestrial pollen and spores dimensionless 0.1 real NA missing value ar aR dimensionless 0.1 real NA missing value sum.taxa sum of all taxa dimensionless 0.1 real NA missing value 44538 hf027-04-map.gif site map hf027-04-map.gif 452305 f59666447b1be0204c4a0d7ea4877fc2 gif https://harvardforest.fas.harvard.edu/data/p02/hf027/hf027-04-map.gif image historical regional paleological