Harvard Forest

Data Archive

HF380

Lake Sediment Pollen and Charcoal from Blaney's Pond in the Elizabeth Islands MA from 13582 BP to Present

Related Publications

Data

• hf380-01: age data (preview)
• hf380-02: age based on Bchron model (preview)
• hf380-03: pollen counts (preview)
• hf380-04: pollen percentage (preview)
• hf380-05: charcoal (preview)
• hf380-06: Blaney's Pond pollen figure

Overview

• Lead: Wyatt Oswald, David Foster, Bryan Shuman
• Investigators: Elaine Doughty, Edward Faison, Brian Hall, Barbara Hansen, Matts Lindbladh, Adriana Marroquin, Sarah Truebe
• Contact: Information Manager
• Start date: -13582
• End date: 2021
• Status: complete
• Location: Blaney's Pond (Elizabeth Islands MA)
• Latitude: +41.4717 degrees
• Longitude: -70.7652 degrees
• Elevation: 5 meter
• Datum: WGS84
• Taxa: Poaceae, Ambrosia spp., Betula spp. (birch), Carya spp. (hickory), Castanea spp. (chestnut), Fagus spp. (beech), Picea spp. (spruce), Pinus spp. (pine), Quercus spp. (oak), Rumex spp., Tsuga spp. (hemlock)
• Release date: 2023
• Language: English
• EML file: knb-lter-hfr.380.2
• DOI: digital object identifier
• EDI: data package
• DataONE: data package
• Related links:
• Study type: paleological
• Research topic: historical and retrospective studies
• LTER core area: population studies, disturbance patterns
• Keywords: charcoal, fires, lakes, paleoecology, paleolimnology, pollen, region, sediments, vegetation dynamics
• Abstract:

  Aim

  We analyzed a dataset composed of multiple palaeoclimate and lake-sediment pollen and charcoal records from New England to explore how postglacial changes in forest composition and spatial patterns of vegetation and fire were controlled by regional-scale climate change, a subregional environmental gradient, and landscape-scale variations in soil characteristics.

  Location

  The 120,000-km2 study area includes parts of Vermont and New Hampshire in the north, where sites are 150-200 km from the Atlantic Ocean, and spans the coastline from southeastern New York to Cape Cod and the adjacent islands, including Block Island, the Elizabeth Islands, Nantucket, and Martha’s Vineyard.

  Results

  Boreal forest featuring Picea and Pinus banksiana was present across the region when conditions were cool and dry 14,000-12,000 calibrated 14C yrs before present (ybp). Pinus strobus became regionally dominant as temperatures increased between 12,000 and 10,000 ybp. The composition of forests in inland and coastal areas diverged in response to further warming after 10,000 ybp, when Quercus and Pinus rigida expanded across southern New England, while conditions remained cool enough in inland areas to maintain Pinus strobus. Fire severity was high during 10,000-8000 ybp. Increasing precipitation allowed Tsuga canadensis, Fagus grandifolia, and Betula to replace Pinus strobus in inland areas during 9000-8000 ybp, and also led to the expansion of Carya across the coastal part of the region beginning at 7000-6000 ybp. Abrupt cooling at 5500-5000 ybp caused sharp declines in Tsuga in inland areas and Quercus at some coastal sites, and the populations of those taxa remained low until they recovered around 3000 ybp in response to rising precipitation. Throughout most of the Holocene, sites underlain by sandy glacial deposits were occupied by Pinus rigida and Quercus.

  Main conclusions

  Postglacial changes in the composition and spatial pattern of New England forests were controlled by long-term trends and abrupt shifts in temperature and precipitation, as well as by the environmental gradient between coastal and inland parts of the region. Substrate and soil moisture shaped landscape-scale variations in forest composition. Climate and fuels largely controlled fire severity in New England during the postglacial interval.

• Methods:

  We analyzed pollen and charcoal records from 30+ study sites, using multivariate cluster analysis of pollen data to visualize changes in the composition and spatial patterns of vegetation during the last 14,000 yrs. The pollen and charcoal data were compared with temperature and precipitation reconstructions.

  Publications

  Oswald, W. W., Foster, D. R., Shuman, B. N., Doughty, E. D., Faison, E. K., Hall, B. R., Hansen, B. C. S., Lindbladh, M., Marroquin, A., Truebe, S. A. 2018. Subregional variability in the response of New England vegetation to postglacial climate change. Journal of Biogeography 45: 2375–2388.

  Oswald, W. W., Foster, D. R., Shuman, B. N., Chilton, E. S., Doucette, D. L., Duranleau, D. L. 2020. Conservation implications of limited Native American impacts in pre-contact New England. Nature Sustainability 3: 241-246.

• 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: Oswald W, Foster D, Shuman B. 2023. Lake Sediment Pollen and Charcoal from Blaney's Pond in the Elizabeth Islands MA from 13582 BP to Present. Harvard Forest Data Archive: HF380 (v.2). Environmental Data Initiative: https://doi.org/10.6073/pasta/a81f1121a3d1c174ac171fd5b8526564.

Detailed Metadata

hf380-01: age data

1. study.site: study site
2. depth: depth range of sample in sediment core (cm)
3. type: type of age data/material radiocarbon dated; Euro = depth and age of European settlement
4. lab.no: 14C laboratory
5. 14C.age: radiocarbon date (unit: dimensionless / missing value: NA)
6. 14C.error: analytical error for radiocarbon date (unit: dimensionless / missing value: NA)
7. d13C: d13C value for radiocarbon sample (unit: dimensionless / missing value: NA)
8. Bchron.50: median calibrated age for radiocarbon date; determined with Bchron (unit: dimensionless / missing value: NA)
9. Bchron.2.5: lower uncertainty range for calibrated age (unit: dimensionless / missing value: NA)
10. Bchron.97.5: upper uncertainty range for calibrated age (unit: dimensionless / missing value: NA)

hf380-02: age based on Bchron model

1. depth: depth of sample in sediment core (unit: centimeter / missing value: NA)
2. Bchron.2.5: calibrated age assignment for each sample based on Bchron model (unit: dimensionless / missing value: NA)
3. Bchron.50: calibrated age assignment for each sample based on Bchron model (unit: dimensionless / missing value: NA)
4. Bchron.97.5: calibrated age assignment for each sample based on Bchron model (unit: dimensionless / missing value: NA)

hf380-03: pollen counts

1. depth: depth of sample in sediment core (unit: centimeter / missing value: NA)
2. cal.age: calibrated age assignment for each sample based on Bchron model (unit: dimensionless / missing value: NA)
3. taxon: taxon name; Upland sum = sum of pollen grains and spores of upland plant taxa, used to calculate percentage values; Exotic count = number of exotic Lycopodium spores counted; Exotic spike = number of exotic Lycopodium spores added during sample preparation
4. count: number of pollen grains or spores counted for each taxon (unit: dimensionless / missing value: NA)

hf380-04: pollen percentage

1. cal.age: calibrated age assignment for each sample based on Bchron model (unit: dimensionless / missing value: NA)
2. Picea: pollen percentage values; these data appeared in Oswald et al. (2018) (unit: dimensionless / missing value: NA)
3. Tsuga: pollen percentage values; these data appeared in Oswald et al. (2018) (unit: dimensionless / missing value: NA)
4. Betula: pollen percentage values; these data appeared in Oswald et al. (2018) (unit: dimensionless / missing value: NA)
5. Quercus: pollen percentage values; these data appeared in Oswald et al. (2018) (unit: dimensionless / missing value: NA)
6. Carya: pollen percentage values; these data appeared in Oswald et al. (2018) (unit: dimensionless / missing value: NA)
7. Fagus: pollen percentage values; these data appeared in Oswald et al. (2018) (unit: dimensionless / missing value: NA)
8. Castanea: pollen percentage values; these data appeared in Oswald et al. (2018) (unit: dimensionless / missing value: NA)
9. Pinus.strobus: pollen percentage values; these data appeared in Oswald et al. (2018) (unit: dimensionless / missing value: NA)
10. Pinus.banksiana: pollen percentage values; these data appeared in Oswald et al. (2018) (unit: dimensionless / missing value: NA)
11. Pinus.rigida: pollen percentage values; these data appeared in Oswald et al. (2018) (unit: dimensionless / missing value: NA)
12. Poaceae: pollen percentage values; these data appeared in Oswald et al. (2018) (unit: dimensionless / missing value: NA)
13. Ambrosia: pollen percentage values; these data appeared in Oswald et al. (2018) (unit: dimensionless / missing value: NA)
14. Rumex: pollen percentage values; these data appeared in Oswald et al. (2018) (unit: dimensionless / missing value: NA)

hf380-05: charcoal

1. depth: depth of sample in sediment core (unit: centimeter / missing value: NA)
2. cal.age: calibrated age assignment for each sample based on Bchron model (unit: dimensionless / missing value: NA)
3. charcoal.conc: concentrations of macroscopic charcoal (unit: numberPerCentimeterCubed / missing value: NA)
4. char: charcoal accumulation rates (unit: numberPerCentimeterSquaredPerYear / missing value: NA)

hf380-06: Blaney's Pond pollen figure

• Compression: none
• Format: pdf
• Type: image