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Harvard Forest Data Archive

HF078

Influence of Little Ice Age on New England Vegetation from 2000 BP to Present

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Data

Overview

  • Lead: David Foster, Donna Francis, Janice Fuller
  • Investigators: Sylvia Barry, Dorte Koster, Reinhard Pienitz
  • Contact: Information Manager
  • Start date: 0001
  • End date: 2000
  • Status: complete
  • Location: Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont
  • Latitude: +41.7 to +44.5 degrees
  • Longitude: -73.3 to -71.3 degrees
  • Elevation:
  • Datum: WGS84
  • Taxa: Betula (birch), Castanea (chestnut), Fagus (beech), Picea (spruce), Pinus (pine), Quercus (oak), Tsuga (hemlock)
  • Release date: 2023
  • Language: English
  • EML file: knb-lter-hfr.78.19
  • DOI: digital object identifier
  • EDI: data package
  • DataONE: data package
  • Related links:
  • Study type: paleological
  • Research topic: historical and retrospective studies; physiological ecology, population dynamics and species interactions; regional studies
  • LTER core area: disturbance patterns, human-environment interactions
  • Keywords: climate change, lakes, paleoecology, pollen, sediments, vegetation dynamics
  • 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).

  • Organization: Harvard Forest. 324 North Main Street, Petersham, MA 01366, USA. Phone (978) 724-3302. Fax (978) 724-3595.

  • Project: 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. (ROR).

  • Funding: National Science Foundation LTER grants: DEB-8811764, DEB-9411975, DEB-0080592, DEB-0620443, DEB-1237491, DEB-1832210.

  • Use: 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.

  • License: Creative Commons Zero v1.0 Universal (CC0-1.0)

  • Citation: Foster D, Francis D, Fuller J. 2023. Influence of Little Ice Age on New England Vegetation from 2000 BP to Present. Harvard Forest Data Archive: HF078 (v.19). Environmental Data Initiative: https://doi.org/10.6073/pasta/c2d6760fccc7c9a2310b742ae9491c7f.

Detailed Metadata

hf078-01: diatoms

  1. site: site name
    • BP: Bates Pond
    • LP: Levi Pond
    • NP: Northround Pond
    • WP: Walden Pond
  2. depth: depth of sample in centimeters in the sediment column
  3. total.diatoms: total number of counted valves (unit: number / missing value: NA)
  4. tp.glr: inferred total phosphorus concentration. Values of limnological variables in summer surface lake water reconstructed by the use of diatom models based on a 82-lake calibration set from New England (U.S.) and using the methods of Gaussian Logit regression (GLR) for total phosphorus (TP). (unit: microgramsPerLiter / missing value: NA)
  5. tp.er.li: lower error value for inferred total phosphorus concentration (unit: microgramsPerLiter / missing value: NA)
  6. tp.er.re: higher error value for inferred total phosphorus concentration. These values are different when models are based on log-transformed environmental data. Reconstructed values are back-transformed using an exponential transformation. Therefore, back-transformed values at the lower end are smaller than back-transformed values at the higher end. (unit: microgramsPerLiter / missing value: NA)
  7. er.li.1: lower error value for inferred dissolved organic carbon concentration (unit: milligramsPerLiter / missing value: NA)
  8. er.re: higher error value inferred dissolved organic carbon concentration. These values are different when models are based on log-transformed environmental data. Reconstructed values are back-transformed using an exponential transformation. Therefore, back-transformed values at the lower end are smaller than back-transformed values at the higher end. (unit: milligramsPerLiter / missing value: NA)
  9. doc.wapls.2: inferred dissolved organic carbon concentration. Values of limnological variables in summer surface lake water reconstructed by the use of of a diatom model based on a 59-lake calibration set from Quebec (Canada) using weighted averaging partial least squares (WA-PLS) for reconstructing dissolved organic carbon (DOC) (unit: milligramsPerLiter / missing value: NA)
  10. ph.wa.inv: pH vulues using weighted averaging with inverse deshrinking (WAinv) (unit: number / missing value: NA)
  11. ph.error: pH error (unit: number / missing value: NA)
  12. taxa: taxa name
    • "Genus" GB: number of valves in girdle band view identified to the Genus level only
    • GB: number of unidentified valves in girdle band view
    • Unidentified: number of unidentified diatom valves
    • Chrysophceae cysts: number of chrysophyte cysts in the same fields of view on the same slide used for diatom analysis
    • Chrysophyceae scales: number of chrysophyte scales in the same fields of view on the same slide used for diatom analysis
  13. count: numbers of individual valves identified for each taxon in diatom assemblage (one complete frustule counting 2 valves) (unit: number / missing value: NA)