Weak precipitation δ2H response to large Holocene hydroclimate changes in eastern North America

Stefanescu, Ioana; Shuman, Bryan N.; Grigg, Laurie D; Bailey, Adriana; Stefanova, Vania; Oswald, W. Wyatt

doi:10.1016/j.quascirev.2023.107990

Cited by 4 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 56 publications

(87 reference statements)

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“…Late summer precipitation is also an important deterrent for wildfire in the Great Lakes region (Cardille et al., 2001). However, δ 18 O Holocene records in northeastern Indiana, southeastern Wisconsin and eastern North America indicate no change in precipitation seasonality (Puleo et al., 2020; Stefanescu et al., 2023; Stuiver, 1968); therefore, a combination on increased summer and winter precipitation may have resulted in the decreased fire regime seen at Story Lake. Regional cooling at 3.8–3.2 ka BP may have also been a factor (Puleo et al., 2020; Shuman et al., 2023).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Interacting effects of fire and hydroclimate on oak and beech community prevalence in the southern Great Lakes region

Schlenker,

Johnson,

Ray‐Cozzens

et al. 2024

Journal of Ecology

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Rising temperatures, increasing hydroclimate variability and intensifying disturbance regimes increase the risk of rapid ecosystem conversions. We can leverage multi‐proxy records of past ecosystem transformations to understand their causes and ecosystem vulnerability to rapid change. Prior to Euro‐American settlement, northern Indiana was a mosaic of prairie, oak‐dominated forests/woodlands and beech‐dominated hardwood forests. This heterogeneity, combined with well‐documented but poorly understood past beech population declines, make this region ideal for studying the drivers of ecosystem transformations. Here, we present a new record from Story Lake, IN, with proxies for vegetation composition (pollen), fire (charcoal) and beech intrinsic water use efficiency (δ13C of beech pollen; δ13Cbeech). Multiple proxies from the same core enable clear establishment of lead–lag relationships. Additionally, δ13Cbeech enables direct comparisons between beech population abundance and physiological responses to changing environments. We compare Story Lake to a nearby lake‐level reconstruction and to pollen records from nearby Pretty and Appleman Lakes and the distal Spicer Lake, to test hypotheses about synchrony and the spatial scale of governing processes. The 11.7 ka sediment record from Story Lake indicates multiple conversions between beech‐hardwood forest and oak forest/woodland. Beech pollen abundances rapidly increased between 7.5 and 7.1 ka, while oak declined. Oak abundances increased after 4.6 ka and remained high until 2.8 ka, indicating replacement of mesic forests by oak forest/woodland. At 2.8 ka, beech abundances rapidly increased, indicating mesic forest reestablishment. Beech and oak abundances correlate with charcoal accumulation rates but beech abundance is not correlated with δ13Cbeech. Fluctuations in beech abundances are synchronous among Story, Appleman and Pretty Lakes, but asynchronous between Story and Spicer Lakes, suggesting regulation by local‐scale vegetation‐fire‐climate feedbacks and secondarily by regional‐scale drivers. Holocene forest composition and fire dynamics appear to be closely co‐regulated and may be affected by local to regional climate variations. The importance of extrinsic drivers and positive/negative feedbacks changes over time, with higher ecoclimate sensitivity before 2.8 ka and greater resilience afterwards. Synthesis: Overall, oak‐ and beech‐dominated ecosystems were highly dynamic over the Holocene, with multiple ecosystem conversions driven by shifting interactions among vegetation, hydroclimate and fire regime.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Interacting effects of fire and hydroclimate on oak and beech community prevalence in the southern Great Lakes region

Schlenker,

Johnson,

Ray‐Cozzens

et al. 2024

Journal of Ecology

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“…A radiocarbon date (UCIAMS no. 12905) from a previously published core (TP48) from Twin Ponds (Mandl et al, 2016) was included to constrain the early postglacial chronology for both Core TP14 and the recently published Core TP79 chronology (Stefanescu et al, 2023). All three cores show similar trends in water content and bulk density that were used to establish stratigraphic control points to the Core TP48 basal radiocarbon date (Supplementary Fig.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Vegetation and climate reconstructions were based on the modern analog technique (Overpeck et al, 1985; Jackson and Williams, 2004; Chevalier et al, 2020) and follow the same methods outlined in Stefanescu et al (2023). A subset of the North America modern pollen database (Whitmore et al, 2005) that falls within the current range of eastern temperate and boreal taxa was used for the analysis.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A subset of 58 northeast regional taxa (Supplementary Table 1) was selected for analysis based on Williams and Shuman (2008). The R (v. 4.0; R Core Team, 2021) package rioja (v. 1.0-5; Juggins, 2019) was used to perform the modern analog technique and utilized the following steps consistent with other reconstructions (Marsicek et al, 2013; Stefanescu et al, 2023). The first step involved calculation of the dissimilarity as a squared chord distance (SCD) between the modern pollen assemblages from each site in the extracted modern pollen data set.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The specific goals of this study are to: (1) reconstruct Holocene vegetation and climate changes using the pollen record from Twin Ponds, VT; (2) model age uncertainties of specific pollen events at Twin Ponds and nearby Knob Hill Pond to assess the synchroneity between the two records; and (3) compare the VT climate record with reconstructions from New Hampshire to the east and New York to the west. To address these goals, we examine the details of the Twin Ponds pollen record and climate reconstructions, which have been used in several recent regional paleoclimate analyses (Shuman et al, 2023; Stefanescu et al, 2023). This focused analysis informs our understanding of vegetation and climatic dynamics throughout the Holocene in northern New England, with an added focus on the potential relationship between climate change and the range-wide decline in T. canadensis during the Mid-Holocene.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A Holocene pollen-inferred climate reconstruction for Vermont, USA

et al. 2023

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A 13.0 cal ka BP pollen record from Twin Ponds, Vermont, provides new insights into the climate history of the northeastern United States. Modern analogs were used to produce qualitative and quantitative climate reconstructions for Twin Ponds. The Twin Ponds record was compared with nearby Knob Hill Pond to develop a Vermont reconstruction that was compared with reconstructions from two sites at a similar latitude. Postglacial warming at 11.5 cal ka BP followed a cool, wet Younger Dryas and was the largest temperature change of the record. The warmest, driest conditions occurred at ca. 9.0 cal ka BP, followed by an increase in moisture. Latitudinal and elevational shifts in the location of modern analogs from 5.7 to 4.0 cal ka BP were used to infer cooling and increased moisture during the Tsuga canadensis decline. Analysis of the timing of pollen events between the two Vermont sites suggests a more rapid decline in T. canadensis at the more northern Knob Hill Pond and further supports the possibility that colder temperatures contributed to this event. The other northern sites show similar trends until 2.5 cal ka BP, when precipitation in the easternmost site diverges, indicating the establishment of modern climatic gradients.

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From deglaciation to the Early Holocene in the northern Appalachians: A multiproxy palaeoenvironmental record from Scotstown Bog, Québec, Canada

Amon,

St‐Jacques,

Ershova

et al. 2024

J Quaternary Science

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A multiproxy study of a sediment sequence from a Québec peatbog characterises the rapid and significant environmental responses to changing climatic conditions from the deglaciation of the Laurentide Ice Sheet to the early Holocene period. Scotstown Bog (45°30'45.0“N, 71°11'42.0“W) is an ombrotrophic peatland on the edge of the Appalachian Uplands in southern Québec, Canada. We reconstructed its Late‐glacial and early Holocene palaeoenvironments for 14 000–6 000 cal a bp using palaeobotanical (plant macrofossil, macrocharcoal, pollen analyses), faunal (chironomid analysis), sedimentological (grain‐size analysis, sediment organic content), and geochemical (sedimentary n‐alkanes and hydrogen isotope analyses) methods. We targeted our multiproxy reconstruction on the Late‐glacial period, which provides an example of how biota can respond to profound changes in climatic and environmental conditions. A major transition occurred between 13 000 and 12 900 cal a bp, which is recorded in all palaeoecological proxies. Our reconstruction reveals two major environmental changes at this time. First, the Scotstown basin became isolated from a larger proglacial lake, as shown by sedimentological changes, sediment grain size and chironomid assemblage shift. Second, plant macrofossils and pollen influx show contemporaneous major shifts in the vegetation composition from tundra to tree‐line to closed‐canopy forested communities.

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Weak precipitation δ2H response to large Holocene hydroclimate changes in eastern North America

Cited by 4 publications

References 56 publications

Interacting effects of fire and hydroclimate on oak and beech community prevalence in the southern Great Lakes region

Interacting effects of fire and hydroclimate on oak and beech community prevalence in the southern Great Lakes region

A Holocene pollen-inferred climate reconstruction for Vermont, USA

From deglaciation to the Early Holocene in the northern Appalachians: A multiproxy palaeoenvironmental record from Scotstown Bog, Québec, Canada

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