scholarly journals A >130,000-Year-Long Pollen Record from Pittsburg Basin, Illinois

2000 ◽  
Vol 54 (2) ◽  
pp. 264-274 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebecca Teed
Keyword(s):  
Deciduous Forest ◽  
Late Glacial ◽  
Fire Frequency ◽  
Pollen Record ◽  
Temperate Deciduous Forest ◽  
South Central ◽  
Pollen Types ◽  
Temperate Deciduous ◽  
Late Wisconsinan ◽  
Central Illinois

Pittsburg Basin, in south-central Illinois, contains a sediment record extending from the present back to the end of the late Illinoian glaciation, when central Illinois was covered with Picea/Pinus forest. During the last interglaciation, a temperate deciduous forest more diverse than Holocene Quercus/Carya forest replaced the Illinoian late-glacial boreal forest. Prairie pollen types and the charcoal/pollen ratio, indicating fire frequency, temporarily increased. Then forest, with high Juniperus percentages, became dominant once more, as the charcoal/pollen ratio dropped. After the last interglaciation, the charcoal/pollen ratio increased again and prairie and wetland surrounded Pittsburg Basin through the entire Wisconsinan glacial age. The area was still prairie in late Wisconsinan time, but with some Picea and Pinus. During the Holocene, the region has been a mixture of prairie and Quercus/Carya forest. During the last interglaciation, Pittsburg Basin was surrounded by vegetation different from that surrounding it during the present interglaciation. Rather than indicating substantial differences in climate between analogous phases of different glacial/interglacial cycles, this variation may be due to changes in fire frequency, which could be caused by small changes in climate, human activity, or differences in soil.

The Middle Pleistocene of north Birmingham

1964 ◽  
Vol 247 (741) ◽  
pp. 533-592 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Plant Communities ◽  
Deciduous Forest ◽  
Coniferous Forest ◽  
Late Glacial ◽  
Glacial Lake ◽  
Middle Pleistocene ◽  
Temperate Deciduous Forest ◽  
Late Glacial Period ◽  
Long Period ◽  
Temperate Deciduous

The Older Drift of north Birmingham infills a system of pre-glacial valleys. Its stratigraphy has been worked out, chiefly from borehole records, showing it to comprise the deposits of two separate glaciations—the Lower and Upper Glacial Series, and an intervening Interglacial Series. It records the deposition during the Lower Glacial Series of fluvioglacial sediments followed by those of a glacial lake during the late-glacial period. A small remnant of the latter persisted into the Interglacial as a lake at Nechells and was gradually infilled with lake muds. After a temporary period of low water the level subsequently fell again, largely draining the lake which became covered with fen-wood and marsh receiving some fluviatile sediment. Other thin interglacial beds exist at Cardigan Street and possibly Washwood Heath. Elsewhere the period is represented by an unconformity. The Upper Glacial Series records the triple advance into the area of valley glaciers, accompanied by the formation of glacial lakes. In the intervening periods of retreat the valleys were receiving fluvioglacial sediment, and in one period were occupied by a second large glacial lake. A fourth advance of an ice sheet covered the area and completed the infilling of the valleys. A detailed study of the pollen and macrofossils from the Interglacial Series has enabled the reconstruction of the plant communities in the vegetation, and their succession throughout the Interglacial. This records a combination of changes due to the serai, edaphic and climatic development. Following an amelioration of climate temperate deciduous forest developed from open ‘sub-arctic’ scrub and grass/herb communities, with Alnus and Taxus later becoming locally important when the climate perhaps became wetter. Deterioration of soils during the long period of mild humid conditions led to the subsequent spread of heath and coniferous forest, which perhaps, as Abies forest, occupied the area during the period of optimum temperatures (summer). Later deterioration of the climate resulted in Pinus forests and heaths, the vegetation becoming increasingly open as the next glaciation approached. The Interglacial Series are correlated with Holsteinian interglacial sites elsewhere in Britain and on the Continent. This dates the Lower and Upper Glacial Series to the Elster and Saale Glaciations respectively, confirming their correlation with neighbouring areas.

Palynology of the interglacial deposits at Little Oakley, Essex, and their correlation

1990 ◽  
Vol 328 (1248) ◽  
pp. 341-357 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Temperate Forest ◽  
Deciduous Forest ◽  
Late Glacial ◽  
Sensu Stricto ◽  
Temperate Deciduous Forest ◽  
Sediment Samples ◽  
River Floodplains ◽  
Temperate Trees ◽  
Northwest Europe ◽  
Temperate Deciduous

Pollen analyses of sediment samples from five boreholes in the Little Oakley Silts and Sands provide evidence of contemporary vegetational development. Although the sequence is fragmentary, the succession can be reassembled based on the well established subdivisions of vegetational development during temperate stages in northwest Europe. The earliest vegetation represented is of late-glacial herb-dominated character. This is followed by an expansion of Betula , and subsequently Pinus , which together with Picea , Alnus , and later, Ulmus form the pre-temperate forest. After the decline in Pinus , Ulmus becomes dominant in the early temperate substage. The later expansion of Quercus and accompanied decrease in Ulmus marks the development of fully temperate deciduous forest. Other temperate trees such as Tilia and Fraxinus are rare. Throughout, the neighbouring river floodplains supported widespread herb-dominated grassland. The latter may have been maintained by alluvial aggradation and large vertebrate activity. Pollen analysis from a Megaloceros cf. dawkinsi antler base collected by S. H. Warren shows that the find dates from the early temperate substage of the interglacial. Comparison of the Little Oakley pollen sequence with others obtained from Britain, The Netherlands and neighbouring countries suggests probable correlation with the Cromerian sensu stricto of West Runton, England and ‘Interglacials III or IV ’ of the Dutch ‘Cromerian Complex’. The preceding possible late-glacial spectrum should therefore equate with the late Beestonian.

Aulacomnium heterostichoides sp.nov., an Eocene moss from south central British Columbia

1979 ◽  
Vol 57 (20) ◽  
pp. 2150-2161 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan A. P. Janssens ◽  
Diana G. Horton ◽  
James F. Basinger
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Deciduous Forest ◽  
Deciduous Forests ◽  
Eastern North America ◽  
Eastern Asia ◽  
Temperate Deciduous Forest ◽  
Fossil Specimen ◽  
South Central ◽  
Close Relationship ◽  
Temperate Deciduous

Aulacomnium heterostichoides Janssens, Horton, and Basinger is described as new from Eocene sediments located near Horsefly, B.C. It is characterized by spirally arranged, oblong leaves, which are slightly asymmetric by the unequal laminae in the lower one-third; irregularly, coarsely toothed upper margins with the teeth both multicellular and multiseriate; a strong costa, which ends near the apex; upper and basal laminal cells which are more or less isodiametric. These character states indicate a very close relationship to Aulacomnium heterostichum.Palynological studies indicate that Aulacomnium heterostichoides grew in a temperate, deciduous forest with species of Alnus, Carya, Pinns, Quercus, Taxodium, and Tilia, as well as other deciduous and coniferous trees. Extant populations of A. heterostichum commonly occur in a similar habitat along streams in the mesic, deciduous forests of eastern Asia and eastern United States.There is considerable fossil evidence which shows that vascular plants currently restricted to eastern Asia and eastern North America, occurred in the intervening areas across continental North America in Tertiary times. Our report of A. heterostichoides is the first indication, based on a fossil specimen, that bryophytes presently associated with the disjunct deciduous forests of eastern Asia and eastern North America were earlier associated with some elements of these forests in localities beyond the present range of such taxa.

scholarly journals Can vegetation index track the interannual variation in gross primary production of temperate deciduous forests?

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Fan Liu ◽  
Chuankuan Wang ◽  
Xingchang Wang
Keyword(s):  
Primary Production ◽  
Vegetation Index ◽  
Near Infrared ◽  
Deciduous Forest ◽  
Gross Primary Production ◽  
Growing Season ◽  
Temperate Deciduous Forest ◽  
Near Infrared Reflectance ◽  
Modis Ndvi ◽  
Temperate Deciduous

Abstract Background Vegetation indices (VIs) by remote sensing are widely used as simple proxies of the gross primary production (GPP) of vegetation, but their performances in capturing the inter-annual variation (IAV) in GPP remain uncertain. Methods We evaluated the performances of various VIs in tracking the IAV in GPP estimated by eddy covariance in a temperate deciduous forest of Northeast China. The VIs assessed included the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), the enhanced vegetation index (EVI), and the near-infrared reflectance of vegetation (NIRv) obtained from tower-radiometers (broadband) and the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), respectively. Results We found that 25%–35% amplitude of the broadband EVI tracked the start of growing season derived by GPP (R2: 0.56–0.60, bias < 4 d), while 45% (or 50%) amplitudes of broadband (or MODIS) NDVI represented the end of growing season estimated by GPP (R2: 0.58–0.67, bias < 3 d). However, all the VIs failed to characterize the summer peaks of GPP. The growing-season integrals but not averaged values of the broadband NDVI, MODIS NIRv and EVI were robust surrogates of the IAV in GPP (R2: 0.40–0.67). Conclusion These findings illustrate that specific VIs are effective only to capture the GPP phenology but not the GPP peak, while the integral VIs have the potential to mirror the IAV in GPP.

Storm damage and long-term mortality in a semi-natural, temperate deciduous forest

2004 ◽  
Vol 188 (1-3) ◽  
pp. 197-210 ◽  
Author(s):  
Annett Wolf ◽  
Peter Friis Møller ◽  
Richard H.W. Bradshaw ◽  
Jaris Bigler
Keyword(s):  
Deciduous Forest ◽  
Storm Damage ◽  
Temperate Deciduous Forest ◽  
Temperate Deciduous ◽  
Long Term Mortality
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