Late-glacial and Holocene vegetation and climate variability, including major droughts, in the Sky Lakes region of southeastern New York State

Menking, Kirsten M.; Peteet, D. M.; Anderson, Roger Y.

doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2012.06.033

Cited by 26 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 65 publications

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“…The ridge top location, underlying quartz conglomerate, and thin soils of Mohonk and Minnewaska lakes, New York (Menking et al, 2012), for example, make these sites especially vulnerable to drought and thus sensitive recorders of hydroclimatic changes. Both lakes show dramatic shifts in lake level during the late Holocene through increased erosion into the basin during droughts, increased pollen and macrofossils of pitch pine, and shallow water aquatic macrofossils.…”

Section: Lake Level Reconstructionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Climatic history of the northeastern United States during the past 3000 years

et al. 2017

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Abstract. Many ecosystem processes that influence Earth system feedbacks -vegetation growth, water and nutrient cycling, disturbance regimes -are strongly influenced by multidecadal-to millennial-scale climate variations that cannot be directly observed. Paleoclimate records provide information about these variations, forming the basis of our understanding and modeling of them. Fossil pollen records are abundant in the NE US, but cannot simultaneously provide information about paleoclimate and past vegetation in a modeling context because this leads to circular logic. If pollen data are used to constrain past vegetation changes, then the remaining paleoclimate archives in the northeastern US (NE US) are quite limited. Nonetheless, a growing number of diverse reconstructions have been developed but have not yet been examined together. Here we conduct a systematic review, assessment, and comparison of paleotemperature and paleohydrological proxies from the NE US for the last 3000 years. Regional temperature reconstructions (primarily summer) show a long-term cooling trend (1000 BCE-1700 CE) consistent with hemispheric-scale reconstructions, while hydroclimate data show gradually wetter conditions through the present day. Multiple proxies suggest that a prolonged, widespread drought occurred between 550 and 750 CE. Dry conditions are also evident during the Medieval Climate Anomaly, which was warmer and drier than the Little Ice Age and drier than today. There is some evidence for an acceleration of the longer-term wetting trend in the NE US during the past century; coupled with an abrupt shift from decreasing to increasing temperatures in the past century, these changes could have wide-ranging implications for species distributions, ecosystem dynamics, and extreme weather events. More work is needed to gather paleoclimate data in the NE US to make inter-proxy comparisons and to improve estimates of uncertainty in reconstructions.

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Section: Lake Level Reconstructionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Climatic history of the northeastern United States during the past 3000 years

et al. 2017

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“…Alnus percentages are much lower at Covey Hill and Shefford (˂5%). Although Whitehead and Jackson (1990) attributed the Alnus pollen maximum essentially to edaphic factors, it was most probably indicative of a response by vegetation to the Younger Dryas climatic cooling (12,900-11,500 cal BP), as has been suggested for other regions further south in New York state (Maenza-Gmelch 1997; Menking et al 2012) and further east in New England (Mayle et al 1993). Populus, a low pollen producer, was relatively abundant at several locations in eastern North America during the Late Glacial and early Holocene periods (Mott 1978;Richard 1994a;Perros et al 2008), and was the first tree genus to invade deglaciated terrain Note: The quantitative paleoclimatic reconstruction was based on the modern analogue technique using pollen data (Lavoie et al 2013). in several areas of New England (Davis & Jacobson 1985).…”

Section: The Afforestation Stagementioning

confidence: 83%

Late Glacial and Holocene vegetation history in the northern foothills of the Adirondack Mountains

Lavoie¹,

Pellerin²,

Larocque³

et al. 2015

Écoscience

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The postglacial history of vegetation at a regional scale is mainly governed by climate. However, the action of other environmental factors can lead to differentiation of the long-term vegetation dynamics in locations that are in proximity. In this context, the vegetation history of Covey Hill, at the northern tip of the Adirondack Mountains, was reconstructed using pollen analysis of a sediment core collected in a bog near the hilltop. This history was then compared with that of other sites in the Adirondacks, in the St. Lawrence Lowlands and in the Appalachian foothills to determine whether differentiations had occurred between sites across the landscape. Regionally, climate seems to have been the main driver of vegetation development. Differences between sites are most pronounced in regard to relative abundance of aspen and alder, and mostly occurred during the Late Glacial and early Holocene. Unlike other sites, fires occurred frequently on Covey Hill for several millennia, and most probably allowed the long-term maintenance of a rare pine barren. Finally, drier conditions are probably partly responsible for the hemlock decline evident around 5100 cal BP. RÉSUMÉL'histoire postglaciaire de la végétation à l'échelle régionale est principalement régie par le climat. Cependant, l'action d'autres facteurs écologiques peut mener à des différentiations dans la dynamique de la végétation pour des sites relativement proches spatialement. Dans ce contexte, l'histoire de la végétation de la colline de Covey, qui constitue l'extrémité septentrionale de la chaîne des Adirondacks, a été reconstituée grâce à l'analyse pollinique d'une carotte sédimentaire prélevée dans une tourbière près du sommet de la colline. Cette histoire a été comparée avec celle d'autres sites dans les Adirondacks, dans les basses-terres du St-Laurent et dans les contreforts des Appalaches afin de voir si des différenciations étaient survenues entre les sites à l'échelle du paysage. Régionalement, le climat semble avoir été le moteur principal de l'amorce des grandes étapes de végétation. Les principales différences entre les sites sont surtout survenues pendant le Tardiglaciaire et l'Holocène inférieur et concernent surtout l'abondance relative du peuplier et de l'aulne crispé. Des feux sont survenus fréquemment sur la colline. Ils ont probablement permis le maintien à long terme d'une rare lande de pins. Enfin, des conditions climatiques plus sèches seraient probablement en partie responsables du déclin de la pruche vers 5100 ans BP. KEYWORDS Adirondack Mountains; Holocene; Late Glacial; pollen analysis; postglacial vegetation history MOTS CLÉS Adirondacks ; analyse pollinique ; histoire postglaciaire de la végétation ; Holocène ; Tardiglaciaire NOMENCLATURE Brouillet et al. (2010+)

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“…Some authors point out that pine proliferation would result from prevailing wetter conditions (Watts, 1979;Willard et al, 2005), whereas others suggest a dryer climate when pine expansion is associated with an episode of hemlock decline (e.g. Watts, 1979;Menking et al, 2012). Harrison et al (2003), based on a compilation of different types of paleo-data including pollen, lake-levels status and aeolian activity data from North America, state that most of the sites from eastern North America register temperature changes rather than changes in moisture regimes even if their models output show a slight increase in winter precipitation at around 6 ka.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Increase in dryness is one of the causes proposed for explaining the hemlock decay in northeastern North America (e.g. Shuman et al, 2009;Menking et al, 2012;Zhao et al, 2010). Even places further to the south, where hemlock persisted until the end of the midHolocene, show a decline of this species (Dismal Swamp, Hack and Browns Pond, Cranberry Glades and Chesapeake Bay and this study) ( Fig.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%