scholarly journals Historia de la vegetación del sitio Huapilacuy II durante el Holoceno Medio a partir del análisis polínico y de macrofósiles vegetales, Isla Grande de Chiloé, Chile

2021 ◽  
Vol 49 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Liliana Londoño Ortiz ◽  
Carolina Villagrán ◽  
Ismael Rincón ◽  
Luis Felipe Hinojosa ◽  
Giselle Andrea Astorga
Keyword(s):  
Pollen Analysis ◽  
Local Development ◽  
Plant Macrofossils ◽  
Plant Colonization ◽  
Sedimentary Sequence ◽  
Lake District ◽  
Closed Canopy ◽  
Northwestern Coast ◽  
Temperate Rainforests ◽  
Tree Composition

This study examines the new fossiliferous site Huapilacuy II of Mid-Holocene age (7,344±51-6,865±58 cal years BP.) located in the northwestern coast of the Isla Grande de Chiloé. This area was not affected by the successive Pleistocene glaciations, and therefore it presents a biogeographic relevance as a potential area of refugia and stability for the vegetation. The presence of plant macrofossils contained in a sedimentary sequence of ca. 300 cm thick, confers a special interest to the site, due to the scarce information available on this type of indicator in paleoenvironmental studies of southern Chile. Additionally, several pollen-based reconstructions from the southern Lake District of Chile (40-44˚ S), document the Holocene sequence of recolonization by the different temperate rainforests types that today occupy this region, although there are non-Holocene records for the Pacific coast of the region. The aim of this study is to reconstruct the local environmental conditions and paleoecology based on the stratigraphic context and the analysis of plant macrofossils at the site Huapilacuy II. In addition, based on the pollen analysis of the deposit, we provide new information to reconstruct the regional characteristics of the vegetation during the Middle-Holocene. In particular, the plant macrofossil record of marsh species contained in the sediments of the lower section of the studied sedimentary sequence, together with the pollen analysis of the same sequence, document a first phase of plant colonization at 7,344±51 cal yrs. BP, with predominance of Poaceae, ferns, and trees with regeneration capacity in open areas, such as Embothrium coccineum and Drimys winteri. The analysis of leaf macrofossils and palynomorphs recovered from several intercalated layers, from the middle section of the sedimentary sequence, show the local and regional development of dense and very humid forests dominated by Aextoxicon punctatum, associated with several species of Myrtaceae. The presence of soil moisture indicator species, such as Luma chequen, Myrceugenia sp. and Myrtaceae Blepharocalyx-type is consistent with the sedimentary environment and the local development of swamp or riverine forests. This hygrophile forest environment is also consistent with the assemblage of fossil mosses, dominated by species that grow today in dense closed-canopy forests, such as Weymouthia, Ptychomnium, Rigodium, Porothamnium and Eucamptodon. The regional correlation of the pollen spectra from Huapilacuy II and other records from the Lake District allows us to establish latitudinal and longitudinal differences of tree composition in the temperate-rainforests that expanded during the Early to Mid-Holocene. In particular, this study established for the northwestern coast of the Isla Grande de Chiloé the presence of the coastal association of the valdivian forest (As. Lapagerio-Aextoxiconetum), currently distributed along the Chilean coastline between 30˚- 43˚S. In contrast, the Valdivian associations recorded in other areas of the region exhibit the dominance of Eucryphia cordifolia, Caldcluvia paniculata, Weinmannia trichosperma and different species of Nothofagus. Despite the differences in tree composition, the fossil bryophyte species recorded in several of the sites compared are common with those reported for Huapilacuy II, thus showing the wide ecological range of Chilean bryophytes associated with closed-canopy temperate-rainforests.

Food and drink in European prehistory

2000 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 89-111 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacqui Wood
Keyword(s):  
Pollen Analysis ◽  
Stomach Contents ◽  
Plant Macrofossils ◽  
Archaeological Evidence ◽  
Daily Diet ◽  
Food And Drink ◽  
Wetland Archaeology ◽  
Food Consumed

There is a wealth of archaeological evidence, from bones excavated in prehistoric middens, piles of fruit stones and sea shells, that give us concrete indications of food consumed at various prehistoric sites around Europe. In addition to this information, we have pollen analysis from settlement sites and charred plant macrofossils. Wetland archaeology informs us in much more detail about not only the types of foods that were being eaten in prehistory but also, in some cases, their cooking techniques. This paper will explore whether or not a popular misconception about the daily diet in prehistory has its roots in the analysis of stomach contents of various bog bodies found in Europe.

Future uses of pollen analysis must include plant macrofossils

2000 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 31-35 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hilary H. Birks ◽  
H. J. B. Birks
Keyword(s):  
Pollen Analysis ◽  
Plant Macrofossils

The Hoxnian Interglacial deposits at Woodston, Peterborough

1992 ◽  
Vol 338 (1284) ◽  
pp. 131-164 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Sedimentary Environment ◽  
Plant Macrofossils ◽  
Estuarine Environment ◽  
Middle Pleistocene ◽  
Marine Transgression ◽  
South Side ◽  
Broad Agreement ◽  
Plant Remains ◽  
Closed Canopy ◽  
The Individual

Interglacial deposits on the south side of Peterborough have yielded a diverse flora and fauna which lived in an estuarine environment that was affected by marine transgression and regression. Fossils described from six sequences indicate that the deposits accumulated under fully temperate conditions. The Woodston Beds have a diversity of fossils (pollen, plant macrofossils, molluscs, ostracods, insects and mammals) which allows their palaeoecological relationships to be examined, and compared with those of other sites of similar age. The environmental reconstructions based on the individual taxa, although emphasising differing facets of the habitat, are in broad agreement. Some slight discrepancies arise from the assumption that the organisms are characteristic of the sedimentary environment in which they are found. In fact many of the fossils have been transported to the site of deposition from nearby habitats. Evidence of a closed canopy forest with associated land environments, is provided by the plant remains and the land molluscs, and to a lesser extent by the insects and the mammals. A large, slow- flowing river, with adjacent marsh and meadow areas is also suggested by the taxa of molluscs, ostracods and insects present. Molluscs and ostracods show clearly the presence of marine influences between 11 and 14 m Ordnance Datum . The climate under which the Woodston Beds were deposited was slightly warmer than the present. An age in the Hoxnian Interglacial of the Middle Pleistocene is proposed.

Prehistoric Vegetation and Environment at Chaco Canyon

1988 ◽  
Vol 53 (3) ◽  
pp. 582-592 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen A. Hall
Keyword(s):  
New Mexico ◽  
Pollen Analysis ◽  
Pollen Grains ◽  
Plant Macrofossils ◽  
Chaco Canyon ◽  
San Juan ◽  
The Holocene ◽  
San Juan Basin ◽  
Pine Trees ◽  
Pinyon Pine

Pollen analysis of woodrat (Neotoma) middens indicates that the local vegetation at Chaco Canyon and the regional vegetation of the San Juan Basin, northwestern New Mexico, have been shrub grassland since at least 10,600 years ago. Plant macrofossils in the same woodrat middens indicate that pinyon pine trees were present in the canyon during much of the Holocene, but low percentages of their pollen grains in both the middens and in adjacent alluvium suggest the trees were few, occurring as small stands or isolated individuals along canyon escarpments. The vegetation at Chaco Canyon during Anasazi times was an arid shrub grassland with a sparse escarpment population of pinyon and juniper. A climate-caused regional increase in pinyon at higher elevation sites occurred approximately at the time of Puebloan abandonment.

Interpreting basal sediments and plant fossils in kettle lakes: insights from Silver Lake, Michigan, USA

2020 ◽  
Vol 57 (2) ◽  
pp. 292-305
Author(s):  
Catherine H. Yansa ◽  
Albert E. Fulton ◽  
Randall J. Schaetzl ◽  
Jennifer M. Kettle ◽  
Alan F. Arbogast
Keyword(s):  
Lake Michigan ◽  
Sediment Cores ◽  
Mixed Forest ◽  
Plant Macrofossils ◽  
Plant Colonization ◽  
Plant Fossils ◽  
The Core ◽  
Chord Distance ◽  
Lake Formation ◽  
Silver Lake

We report on pollen, plant macrofossils, and associated lithostratigraphy of a sediment core extracted from the base of Silver Lake, a kettle lake in northern Lower Michigan, USA, which reveal a complex deglacial scenario for ice block melting and lake formation, and subsequent plant colonization. Complementary multivariate statistical and squared chord distance analyses of the pollen data support these interpretations. The basal radiocarbon age from the core (17 540 cal years BP) is rejected as being anomalously old, based on biostratigraphic anomalies in the core and the date’s incongruity with respect to the accepted regional deglaciation chronology. We reason that this erroneous age estimate resulted from the redeposition of middle-Wisconsin-age fossils by the ice sheet, mixed with the remains of plants that existed as the kettle lake formed at ca. 10 940 cal years BP by ice block ablation. Thereafter, the kettle lake became a reliable repository of Holocene-age fossils, documenting a mature boreal forest that existed until 10 640 cal years BP, followed by a pine-dominated mixed forest, an early variant of the mixed conifer–hardwood forest that persists to the present day. Our study demonstrates that researchers investigating kettle lakes, a common depositional archive for plant fossils in deglaciated landscapes, should exercise caution in interpreting the basal (Late Pleistocene/early Holocene-age) part of lake sediment cores.

Pollen Analysis of Fossil Packrat Middens from the Sonoran Desert

1977 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 191-204 ◽  
Author(s):  
James E. King ◽  
Thomas R. Van Devender
Keyword(s):  
Pollen Analysis ◽  
Sonoran Desert ◽  
Radiocarbon Dating ◽  
Plant Macrofossils ◽  
Sharp Contrast ◽  
Pollen Data ◽  
Regional Component

Pollen contained in 22 fossil packrat middens from the Sonoran Desert provides a complementary, but differing, view of the paleoenvironment from that derived by analysis of the associated plant macrofossils. The regional component of the pollen data is in sharp contrast to the locally oriented macrofossils. A total of 84 macrofossil taxa and 47 pollen taxa were identified; only 18 taxa were common to both. The low Index of Similarity, 0.4, indicates that the two sources of fossil information are providing different sets of paleobotanical data. When combined with plant macrofossils and good radiocarbon dating control, the pollen spectra derived from fossil middens are compatable with other paleoenvironmental sequences.

Pollen analyses from the deposits of six upland tarns in the Lake District

1964 ◽  
Vol 248 (746) ◽  
pp. 205-244 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Pollen Analysis ◽  
Primary Forest ◽  
Limited Area ◽  
Primary Concern ◽  
Neolithic Period ◽  
Lake District ◽  
Drainage Basins ◽  
Forest Clearance ◽  
History Of ◽  
Lake Deposits

The first part of an investigation designed to cover most of the tarns of the English Lake District is described. This investigation was planned as an application of the techniques of Quaternary research to a detailed analysis of the late-Quaternary history of a single limited area which forms a clearly defined geographical region. The primary concern of the investigation is the relationship between stratigraphy and pollen content of the lake deposits, in an attempt to reconstruct the history of deposition in each tarn in relation to late- and post-Glacial changes in climate, and consequent changes in soil and vegetation in the drainage basins. In the account of pollen analysis of the sediments of six tarns at various altitudes in the south-western quadrant of the Lake District, comparisons between these various pollen diagrams from a fairly small area serve to emphasize the contrast between those widespread regional changes due to climatic change on which the pollen zonation is based, which are common to all the diagrams, and local changes due to local topography and human history, which differ in a consistent way from one tarn to another. The differences between the late-Glacial deposits of the six tarns are related to topography, and the probable limits of the last corrie glaciation of the Lake District. Evidence from pollen analysis suggests very strongly that in the early post-Glacial period forest extended over the Lake District hillsides up to the altitude of the highest tarn investigated (1800 ft.). The first indication of disturbance of the primary forest occurs at the zone boundary VII a / b the elm decline (which, as Godwin showed in his Croonian lecture of 1960, has been established to be broadly synchronous in north-west Europe at ca . 3000 B.C.). Evidence is put forward suggesting that destruction of the elm in the Lake District during the early Neolithic period was particularly pronounced round tarns near to the sites of the stone-axe factories. The next phases of forest clearance are shown to be most clearly demonstrated in those tarns around which are abundant remains of upland settlement of Bronze Age type. The relation between the successive phases of forest clearance, post-Glacial soil degradation, peat formation and soil erosion is discussed, in relation to chemical investigations by F. J. H. Mackereth (at the Windermere laboratory of the Freshwater Biological Association) which suggest that the lake deposits are derived mainly from soils in the drainage basins.

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