Late Quaternary environmental change inferred from phytoliths and other soil-related proxies: Case studies from the central and southern Great Plains, USA

Córdova, Carlos E.; Johnson, William C.; Mandel, Rolfe D.; Palmer, Michael W.

doi:10.1016/j.catena.2010.08.015

Cited by 46 publications

(41 citation statements)

References 53 publications

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“…2009) provided a more favorable environment for woody plants (Nordt et al . 2002; Cordova et al . 2011).…”

Section: The Transformation Of Great Plains Grasslands To Juniper Woomentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Grasses have therefore been a dominant vegetation type in the Great Plains for the past 5000 to 8000 years (Bryant 1977; Hall and Valastro 1995; Nordt et al . 2002, 2008; Cordova et al . 2011), with brief resurgences in woody vegetation occurring only periodically (Nordt et al .…”

Section: The Transformation Of Great Plains Grasslands To Juniper Woomentioning

confidence: 99%

“…2011), with brief resurgences in woody vegetation occurring only periodically (Nordt et al . 2002; Cordova et al . 2011).…”

Section: The Transformation Of Great Plains Grasslands To Juniper Woomentioning

confidence: 99%

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The rising Great Plains fire campaign: citizens' response to woody plant encroachment

Twidwell

Rogers

Fuhlendorf

et al. 2013

Frontiers in Ecol & Environ

174

169

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Despite years of accumulating scientific evidence that fire is critical for maintaining the structure and function of grassland ecosystems in the US Great Plains, fire has not been restored as a fundamental grassland process across broad landscapes. The result has been widespread juniper encroachment and the degradation of the multiple valuable ecosystem services provided by grasslands. Here, we review the social–ecological causes and consequences of the transformation of grasslands to juniper woodlands and synthesize the recent emergence of prescribed burn cooperatives, an extensive societal movement by private citizens to restore fire to the Great Plains biome. We discuss how burn cooperatives have helped citizens overcome dominant social constraints that limit the application of prescribed fire to improve management of encroaching woody plants in grasslands. These constraints include the generally held assumptions and political impositions that all fires should be eliminated when wildfire danger increases.

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“…2009) provided a more favorable environment for woody plants (Nordt et al . 2002; Cordova et al . 2011).…”

Section: The Transformation Of Great Plains Grasslands To Juniper Woomentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: The Transformation Of Great Plains Grasslands To Juniper Woomentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

The rising Great Plains fire campaign: citizens' response to woody plant encroachment

Twidwell

Rogers

Fuhlendorf

et al. 2013

Frontiers in Ecol & Environ

174

169

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…Another morphological metric of charcoal particles, such as the elongated ratio (Umbanhowar and Mcgrath 1998) could help researchers distinguish fuel sources. Finally, burned phytoliths (silica pieces produced by vegetation) are also a good indicator of herbaceous fuel sources in grassland fires (Cordova et al 2011).…”

Section: Relevant Charcoal Measurements To Study Grassland Fire Regimesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fire history reconstruction in grassland ecosystems: amount of charcoal reflects local area burned

Leys

Brewer

McConaghy

et al. 2015

Environ. Res. Lett.

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Fire is one of the most prevalent disturbances in the Earth system, and its past characteristics can be reconstructed using charcoal particles preserved in depositional environments. Although researchers know that fires produce charcoal particles, interpretation of the quantity or composition of charcoal particles in terms of fire source remains poorly understood. In this study, we used a unique four-year dataset of charcoal deposited in traps from a native tallgrass prairie in mid-North America to test which environmental factors were linked to charcoal measurements on three spatial scales. We investigated small and large charcoal particles commonly used as a proxy of fire activity at different spatial scales, and charcoal morphotypes representing different types of fuel. We found that small (125-250 μm) and large (250 μm-1 mm) particles of charcoal are well-correlated (Spearman correlation=0.88) and likely reflect the same spatial scale of fire activity in a system with both herbaceous and woody fuels. There was no significant relationship between charcoal pieces and fire parameters <500 m from the traps. Moreover, local area burned (<5 km distance radius from traps) explained the total charcoal amount, and regional burning (200 km radius distance from traps) explained the ratio of non arboreal to total charcoal (NA/T ratio). Charcoal variables, including total charcoal count and NA/T ratio, did not correlate with other fire parameters, vegetation cover, landscape, or climate variables. Thus, in long-term studies that involve fire history reconstructions, total charcoal particles, even of a small size (125-250 μm), could be an indicator of local area burned. Further studies may determine relationships among amount of charcoal recorded, fire intensity, vegetation cover, and climatic parameters.

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“…Cordova et al, 2011;Marin-Spiotta et al, 2014;Mason et al, 2008;Miao et al, 2007). The change to warmer and drier conditions occurs gradually in the early-Holocene based on similar frequencies of Pooideae and Chloridoideae followed by continued increase of Chloridoideae at the beginning of Bignell Loess sedimentation.…”

Section: Vegetation Dynamicsmentioning

confidence: 97%

Vegetation dynamics during the Pleistocene–Holocene transition in the central Great Plains, USA

et al. 2016

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The Holocene-Pleistocene transition in the upland loess-mantled regions of the central Great Plains is punctuated by the Brady Soil, which separates the late-Pleistocene Peoria Loess and the Holocene Bignell Loess. Previous research on the Brady Soil at the Old Wauneta Roadcut site in Southwestern Nebraska has produced paleoenvironmental information based on well-constrained luminescence and radiocarbon ages, stable carbon isotope data, and chemical and physical data. While the research indicated high effective moisture during formation of the Brady Soil and a shift to warm-season C 4 vegetation from the cool-season C 3 -dominated vegetation of the Peoria Loess, those data do not provide any detail as to plant community composition and significant underlying climatic inferences. Assemblages of phytoliths and other biosilicates extracted from the Brady Soil provide specific information on vegetation communities and indicate shifts of plant taxa comprising these assemblages. Short-cell phytolith count data reveal a shift from dominance of Pooideae (C 3 ) grasses, with relatively large numbers of arboreal dicot spheres and a few Cyperaceae (sedge) present in a savannah or open woodland in the Bølling-Allerød, to a mixed, open Chloridoideae (C 4 ) and Pooideae (C 3 ) grassland in the early-Holocene. Stipa-type Pooideae, a cool-season grass preferring drier soil conditions, marks the onset of the Younger Dryas. Large-cell phytoliths such as long cells, bulliforms, and trichomes, provided further definition of the climate history. This comprehensive biosilicate study of the Brady Soil has provided a more detailed paleoclimatic reconstruction than that generated with bulk sediment-derived δ 13 C data, or even with short-cell phytolith data alone.

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Late Quaternary environmental change inferred from phytoliths and other soil-related proxies: Case studies from the central and southern Great Plains, USA

Cited by 46 publications

References 53 publications

The rising Great Plains fire campaign: citizens' response to woody plant encroachment

The rising Great Plains fire campaign: citizens' response to woody plant encroachment

Fire history reconstruction in grassland ecosystems: amount of charcoal reflects local area burned

Vegetation dynamics during the Pleistocene–Holocene transition in the central Great Plains, USA

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