uid=HFR,o=lter,dc=ecoinformatics,dc=org all public read doi:10.6073/pasta/396d959f8125d6285bd3d4406d09b922 David Foster https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1171-3762 David Orwig https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7822-3560 Sylvia Barry Researcher Susan Clayden Researcher Brian Hall Researcher 2023 English

Despite decades of study we have limited insights into the nature of the pre-European landscape of the northeastern USA and the forces and changes that shaped modern forest patterns. Information on such long-term forest dynamics would provide critical insights into the relationships among environmental change, land-use history and biotic responses and is greatly needed for conservation planning. To address these issues we used modern, historical, and paleoecological approaches to reconstruct the 3500-year history of a New England upland region dominated by oak and (formerly) chestnut forests and to interpret the interactions among climate change, natural and human disturbance, and site factors in controlling vegetation patterns and dynamics at different spatial scales. The results indicate that stand, landscape and regional forest dynamics were most strongly driven by climate, notably an apparent cooling and increase in moisture availability c. 1500 yr BP, and European land-use activities commencing 260 yr BP. However, the abundance of oak and chestnut (fire-tolerant, sprouting species) and the distribution of hemlock (fire-intolerant) at a stand to landscape scale were also influenced by fire, which, in turn, varied with climate and human activity. Despite, or perhaps as a consequence of ongoing disturbance by fire and presumably windstorms in this hurricane-prone region, the pre-European period was marked by two 1000+ year periods of remarkably stable forest composition, separated by an abrupt compositional shift. In contrast, over the past 260 years the vegetation has changed rather continuously in response to human activity, producing stand, landscape and regional patterns that are novel as well as recent in origin. Chestnut was a major component of some pre-European landscapes in New England, in part because of occasional fire, and that cultural and physical factors have interacted over millennia to control vegetation patterns and dynamics. Our analyses also suggest that the composition of low diversity forests can be remarkably stable over millennia. The range of ecological, cultural and management insights afforded by this study underscores the fundamental utility of very long-term research in science and policy development.

climate change dendrochronology fires land use paleoecology pollen LTER controlled vocabulary disturbance land use 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=hf073 Quabbin Reservoir. Coordinates based on WGS84 datum. -72.35 -72.35 +42.42 +42.42 -1500 2000 genus Acer species rubrum red maple genus Betula birch genus Castanea chestnut genus Nyssa black gum genus Pinus species strobus white pine genus Quercus species alba white oak species rubra red oak genus Tsuga species canadensis 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 of the local and subregional vegetation from the two basins and to place these in the context of regional information on vegetation and climate change based on other published data. Historical information including maps, archaeological and census data, and vegetation information were gathered for the landscape and areas surrounding the coring sites. Vegetation sampling in transects adjacent to the swamp coring area included tree cores for dendrochronological reconstructions.

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. hf073-01-loi.csv loss on ignition hf073-01-loi.csv 4698 3b41647c4a9adbcd2bc6b04f74b77d4a 1 \r\n column , https://harvardforest.fas.harvard.edu/data/p07/hf073/hf073-01-loi.csv site site name chem Chamberlain - Hemlock coak Chamberlain - Oak lily Lily depth depth of sample in centimeters in the sediment column centimeter 0.1 real NA missing value organic.per percent organic carbon as determined by loss-on-ignition method dimensionless 0.1 real NA missing value 321 hf073-02-pollen-cham.csv pollen - Chamberlain Hemlock/Chamberlain Oak hf073-02-pollen-cham.csv 43123 dcfbd3196e9ebaff56e7557cb927666d 1 \r\n column , https://harvardforest.fas.harvard.edu/data/p07/hf073/hf073-02-pollen-cham.csv site site name chem Chamberlain Hemlock coak Chamberlain Oak depth depth of sample in centimeters in the sediment column centimeter 0.1 real NA missing value taxa taxa name taxa name percent percentage of taxa identified in pollen assemblage based on an upland sum of trees, shrubs, herbs and ferns dimensionless 0.1 real NA missing value 1684 hf073-03-pollen-lily.csv pollen - Lily hf073-03-pollen-lily.csv 207187 49e071e59064a3fc48c72fcf4cbc7df7 1 \r\n column , https://harvardforest.fas.harvard.edu/data/p07/hf073/hf073-03-pollen-lily.csv site site name lily Lily depth depth of sample in centimeters in the sediment column centimeter 1 whole NA missing value taxa taxa name taxa name count number of pollen grains of individual taxa identified number 1 real NA missing value 9215 hf073-04-age.csv age model - Lily hf073-04-age.csv 420 725fd5b1e4943fa9ced8d211134e7a52 1 \r\n column , https://harvardforest.fas.harvard.edu/data/p07/hf073/hf073-04-age.csv site site name lily Lily depth depth of sample in centimeters in the sediment column centimeter 0.1 real NA missing value age age in years before present (years before 1950) number 1 natural NA missing value analysis analysis by which age was determined AMS Accelerated mass. Spectrometry radiocarbon analysis on lacustrine organic matter error error in radiocarbon date reported by lab (± years) number 1 natural NA missing value cal.ybp calibrated radiocarbon date, in years before 1950, determined by Calib 4.0 calibrated radiocarbon date, in years before 1950, determined by Calib 4.0 NA missing value status status rejected indicates radiocarbon date was not used in age-depth model due to possible carbon contamination year.cored year (AD) sediment core was taken YYYY NA missing value 10 historical community paleological