Long-Term Forest Dynamics of the Temperate Zone: A Case Study of Late-Quaternary Forests in Eastern North America

450 Pages·1987·17.549 MB·English

by  Paul A. Delcourt, Hazel R. Delcourt (auth.)

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Paul A. Delcourt Hazel R. Delcourt
Long-Term Forest Dynamics
of the Temperate Zone
A Case Study of Late-Quaternary Forests
in Eastern North America
With 90 Illustrations in 131 Parts and 333 Maps
Springer-Verlag
New York Berlin Heidelberg
London Paris Tokyo
PAUL A. DELCOURT HAZEL R. DELCOURT
Program for Quaternary Studies Program for Quaternary Studies
of the Southeastern United States of the Southeastern United States
Graduate Program in Ecology Graduate Program in Ecology
Department of Geological Sciences Department of Botany
University of Tennessee University of Tennessee
Knoxville. TN 37996. USA Knoxville. TN 37996. USA
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Delcourt. Paul A.
Long-term forest dynamics of the Temperate Zone.
(Ecological studies; v. 63)
Bibliography: p.
Includes index.
I. Pollen. Fossil. 2. Paleoecology-North America.
3. Paleobotany-Quaternary. I. Delcourt. Hazel R.
II. Title. III. Series.
QE993.2.D45 1987 561' \3 87-12859
ISBN-13: 978-1-4612-9136-7 e-ISBN-13: 978-1-4612-4740-1
DOl: lO.lO07/978-1-4612-4740-1
© 1987 by Springer-Verlag New York Inc.
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1987
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To our Paleoecological Mentors
Ronald O. Kapp
Herbert E. Wright, Jr.
Preface
The synthesis presented in this volume is a direct outgrowth of our ten-year FORMAP
Project (Forest Mapping Across Eastern North America from 20,000 yr B.P. to the
Present). Many previous research efforts in paleoecology have used plant-fossil evidence
as proxy information for primarily geologic or climatic reconstructions or as a bio
stratigraphic basis for correlation of regional events. In contrast, in this book, we deal
with ecological questions that require a holistic perspective that integrates the interactions
of biota with their dynamically changing environments over time scales up to tens of
thousands of years.
In the FORMAP Project, our major research objective has been to use late-Quaternary
plant-ecological data sets to evaluate long-term patterns and processes in forest de
velopment. In order to accomplish this objective, we have prepared subcontinent-scale
calibrations that quantitatively relate the production and dispersal of arboreal pollen
to dominance in the vegetation for the major tree types of eastern North America.
Quantification of pollen-vegetation relationships provides a basis for developing quan
titative plant-ecological data sets that allow further ecological analysis of both individual
taxa and forest communities through time. Application of these calibrations to fossil
pollen records for interpreting forest history thus represents a fundamental step beyond
traditional summaries based upon pollen percentages.
The scope of this book includes an introduction to the nature of long-term vegetational
change, dealing with different kinds of environmental and biotic changes that result
in dynamic patterns and processes in forest communities. Quantification of modem
pollen-vegetation relationships permits the development of techniques for reconstruction
viii Preface
of past forests, when applied to plant-fossil sequences in, for example, a case study
of eastern North America. We use these pollen-vegetation calibrations to reconstruct
forest history based upon radiocarbon-dated, late-Quaternary fossil-pollen sequences
of 162 sites distributed across the eastem half of North America. The resulting FORMAP
time series of maps depict the changing distribution and dominance patterns for pop
ulations of major temperate and boreal tree taxa. Areographic analysis of the map
patterns provides new insights into migrational strategies of trees during times of en
vironmental change. The role of competition in structuring past forest communities is
examined using multiple-taxa population-growth models in conjunction with empirical
paleoecological data. Ordination of the paleoecological data using Detrended Corre
spondence Analysis gives information concerning changes in position and steepness
of ecotones. This study represents the first use of DCA (DECORANA) in direct gradient
analysis of changing ecoclines through both space and time on a scale relevant to the
dynamic development of temperate forest communities. We also develop perspectives
in Quaternary landscape ecology, integrating climatic and geomorphic processes with
changes in vegetational patterns through time. We compare late-Quaternary pattern
and process in development of eastern North American forests with forest dynamics
of the Temperate Zone of Europe.
The Appendix to this volume includes a listing with supplementary information for
all fossil-pollen sites used in the FORMAP project. The complete data bases for modem
forest composition and pollen spectra, as well as all fossil-pollen data and forest re
constructions, are on file at the Program for Quaternary Studies of the Southeastern
United States, University of Tennessee, Knoxville.
We acknowledge financial support from the Ecology Program of the United States
National Science Foundation for the FORMAP Project (grants DEB-80-04168 and
BSR-83-06915) and for related research (grants BSR-83-00345 and BSR-84-15652).
We are grateful to P. Wright and D. Broach for their assistance in computer program
ming. We express our appreciation to the many palynologists who have graciously
made their late-Quatemary pollen data available to us for this purpose. We collaborated
with T. Webb III in the compilation and exchange of both modern and fossil pollen
data for eastern North America. We thank I.e. Prentice for his advice concerning
appropriate statistical techniques for evaluating paleoecological data. We thank F. B.
Golley, S.A. Hall, and P.S. White for their constructive reviews of earlier drafts of
this manuscript. This volume constitutes Contribution No. 43 of the Program for Qua
ternary Studies of the Southeastern United States, University of Tennessee, Knox ville.
This book also represents a United States Contribution to the International Geological
Correlation Programme O. G. e. P.) Project 158B, dealing with late-Quaternary biotic
and environmental changes in the Temperate Zone.
Knoxville, Tennessee, 1987 Paul A. Delcourt
Hazel R. Delcourt
Contents
Preface vii
1. The Nature of Long-Term Vegetational Change
Long-term patterns and processes in forest communities
Spatial and temporal scale 3
The scale paradigm 3
The mega-scale domain 4
The macro-scale domain 6
The micro-scale domain 8
Quaternary environmental changes as forcing functions 9
Episodes of continental glaciation in Earth history 9
Pacemaker of the late-Cenozoic Ice Ages 10
Leads and lags in response of environment and biota
to climatic change 13
Anthropogenic influences 16
Models of stability and dynamics of forest communities 19
A north-to-south transect through the last 20,000 years 19
The role of changing disturbance regimes 23
Conclusions 28
x Contents
2. Modern Pollen-Vegetation Relationships 29
Production and dispersal of pollen grains 29
Pollen production and mechanisms for dispersal 30
Temporal patterns of pollen dispersal 32
Spatial patterns of pollen dispersal 36
Calibration of the relationship of modern pollen assemblages
to extant forests 42
The representation of temperate and boreal tree taxa in
modern pollen samples and forest vegetation 46
Regional pollen-vegetation relationships in eastern
North America 47
Regional studies elsewhere in the northern
Temperate Zone 49
Subcontinent-scale pollen-vegetation calibrations
in eastern North America 50
Conclusions 60
3. Reconstructing Long-Term Forest Changes From
Fossil-Pollen Data 62
Comparison of quantitative techniques for
reconstruction of past vegetation 62
Taxon calibrations 63
Modern analogue methods 64
Forest simulation models 67
A case study in comparison of taxon calibrations, modern
analogue techniques, and simulation models as
different approaches for quantifying past vegetation 71
The late-Quaternary pollen record from Anderson Pond 71
Results of taxon calibrations applied to Anderson Pond 71
Results of analogue measures applied to Anderson Pond 77
Results of the FORET simulation model at Anderson Pond 81
Advantages and disadvantages of quantitative methods for
forest reconstruction 82
Generating late-Quaternary plant-ecological data sets 83
Conclusions 84
4. Vegetation Map Patterns at the Biome Level 85
Constructing paleogeographic maps 85
Physical geography 85
Site selection and chronologies 86
Paleovegetation maps for eastern North America:
20,000 yr B.P. to the present 88
Characterization of modern vegetation by pollen assemblages 89
Contents xi
Selecting time planes for mapping 94
Interpretation of paleovegetation maps 95
Patterns of paleoclimate inferred from maps of paleovegetation 99
The relationship of modern climatic regions to vegetation 99
Biotic responses to changing atmospheric circulation patterns
during the late Quaternary 100
Conclusions 106
5. Tree Population Dynamics During the Past 20,000 Years 107
Population trajectories through time 108
Documentation of changing number and density of
paleoecological sites through time 108
Minimum, maximum, and mean values of dominance
through time 109
Determination of contour intervals of dominance scaled
to the population characteristics of each taxon 110
Temporal changes in areal extent and dominance structure
of tree populations 110
Contoured paleo-dominance maps for major tree taxa
in eastern North America III
Fir (Abies) II I
Maple (Acer) 122
Birch (Betula) 131
Hickory (Carya) 142
Hackberry (Celtis) 151
Cedars and cypress (Cupressaceae and Taxodiaceae) 158
Beech (Fagus grandifolia) 169
Ash (Fraxinus) 179
Walnut (Juglans) 188
Tamarack (Larix) 195
Tupelo (Nyssa) 205
Spruce (Picea) 213
Pine (Pinus) 224
Aspen or Cottonwood (Populus) 236
Oak (Quercus) 246
Willow (Salix) 256
Basswood (Tilia) 264
Hemlock (Tsuga) 272
Elm (Ulmus) 282
Conclusions 291
6. Late-Quaternary Migrational Strategies of Tree Species 292
Ecological areography 293
Measurements of perimeter/V area 294
Ecological areography of eastern North American tree taxa 295