Land-Use History as Long-Term Broad-Scale Disturbance: Regional Forest Dynamics in Central New England

Human land-use activities differ from natural disturbance processes and may elicit novel biotic responses and disrupt existing biotic-environmental relationships. The widespread prevalence of land use requires that human activity be addressed as a fundamental ecological process and that lessons from investigations of land-use history be applied to landscape conservation and management. Changes in the intensity of land use and extent of forest cover in New England over the past 3 centuries provide the opportunity to evaluate the nature of forest response and reorganization to such broad-scale disturbance. Using a range of archival data and modern studies, we assessed historical changes in forest vegetation and land use from the Colonial period (early 17th century) to the present across a 5000 km² area in central Massachusetts in order to evaluate the effects of this novel disturbance regime on the structure, composition, and pattern of vegetation and its relationship to regional climatic gradients. At the time of European settlement, the distribution of tree taxa and forest assemblages showed pronounced regional variation and corresponded strongly to climate gradients, especially variation in growing degree days. The dominance of hemlock and northern hardwoods (maple, beech, and birch) in the cooler Central Uplands and oak and hickory at lower elevations in the Connecticut Valley and Eastern Lowlands is consistent with the regional distribution of these taxa and suggests a strong climatic control over broad-scale vegetation patterns. We infer from historical and paleoecological data that intensive natural or aboriginal disturbance was minimal in the Uplands, whereas infrequent surface fires in the Lowlands may have helped to maintain the abundance of central hardwoods and to restrict the abundance of hemlock, beech, and sugar maple in these areas. The modern vegetation is compositionally distinct from Colonial vegetation, exhibits less regional variation in the distribution of tree taxa or forest assemblages defined by tree taxa, and shows little relationship to broad climatic gradients. The homogenization of the vegetation, disruption of vegetation-environment relationships, and formation of new assemblages appear to be the result of (a) a massive, novel disturbance regime; (b) ongoing low-intensity human and natural disturbance throughout the reforestation period to the present; (c) permanent changes in some aspects of the biotic and abiotic environment; and (d) a relatively short period for forest recovery (100–150 years). These factors have maintained the regional abundance of shade intolerant and moderately tolerant taxa (for example, birch, red maple, oak, and pine) and restricted the spread and increase of shade-tolerant, long-lived taxa such as hemlock and beech. These results raise the possibility that historical land use has similarly altered vegetation-environment relationships across broader geographic regions and should be considered in all contemporary studies of global change. Received 5 May 1997; accepted 5 August 1997.     

BIOME 6000: reconstructing global mid-Holocene vegetation patterns from palaeoecological records

Global change research needs data sets describing past states of the Earth system. Vegetation distributions for specified 'time slices' (with known forcings, such as changes in insolation patterns due to the Earth's orbital variations, changes in the extent of ice-sheets, and changes in atmospheric trace-gas composition) should provide a benchmark for coupled climate-biosphere models. Pollen and macrofossil records from dated sediments give spatially extensive coverage of data on vegetation distribution changes. Applications of such data have been delayed by the lack of a global synthesis. The BIOME 6000 project of IGBP aims at a synthesis for 6000 years bp. Success depends on community-wide participation for data compilation and quality assurance, and on a robust methodology for assigning palaeorecords to biomes. In the method summarized here, taxa are assigned to one or more plant functional types (PFTs) and biomes reconstructed using PFT-based definitions. By involving regional experts in PFT assignments, one can combine data from different floras without compromising global consistency in biome assignments. This article introduces a series of articles that substantially extend the BIOME 6000 data set. The list of PFTs and the reconstruction procedure itself are evolving. Some compromises (for example, restricted taxon lists in some regions) limit the precision of biome assignments and will become obsolete as primary data are put into community data bases. This trend will facilitate biome mapping for other time slices. Co-evolution of climate-biosphere modelling and palaeodata synthesis and analysis will continue.     

地表植被景观对PM2.5浓度空间分布的影响研究

我国当前城市日益频发的雾霾问题引发公众广泛关注,PM_2.5被认为是雾霾的主要成因。研究认为,在某一区域短时间尺度上（如日）,PM_2.5浓度主要受气象条件影响。但在较长时间尺度上（如季,年）,由于气象条件基本相似,则PM_2.5浓度主要受土地利用特别是地表植被景观的影响。如何耦合地表植被景观格局与PM_2.5浓度信息,定量分析其影响是当前相关科学研究的一个难点,需要引入新思路。首先基于季节气象条件基本相似的科学假设,采用土地利用回归模型分四季高精度模拟PM_2.5浓度空间分布。其次,采用像元二分模型分四季估算研究区植被覆盖度。在此基础上采用随机抽样法通过统计回归模型耦合植被覆盖度与PM_2.5空间分布,定量研究植被覆盖度对PM_2.5分布影响及其尺度效应。研究结果表明：1）植被覆盖度与PM_2.5浓度在本研究选择的空间尺度上,都显著负相关,说明植被覆盖度对PM_2.5具有显著影响;同一个季节不同尺度上,以及不同季节同一尺度上的植被覆盖度对PM_2.5浓度的影响存在一定差异。2）植被覆盖度对PM_2.5浓度的影响方式比较复杂,不同的季节的表现方式不同,总体来说PM_2.5浓度与植被覆盖度曲线回归模型的拟合度高于线性回归模型,说明植被覆盖度对PM_2.5的影响具有非线性特征。3）不同的PM_2.5浓度水平下,植被覆盖度对PM_2.5浓度的影响程度存在差异。PM_2.5浓度越高,植被覆盖度对其浓度的影响越明显。本研究提出的区域尺度耦合地表植被覆盖与PM_2.5浓度的思路与方法,有效的揭示了植被覆盖度对PM_2.5浓度分布的影响方式与尺度效应,为通过优化城市植被缓解大气污染提供一定参考。     

The mid‐Holocene vegetation of the Mediterranean region and southern Europe,and comparison with the present day

Aim To contribute to the intense debate surrounding the relative influence of climate and humans on Mediterranean‐region land cover over the past 6000 years, we assess the Holocene biogeography and vegetation history of southern Europe by means of an extensive pollen record dataset. Location The Mediterranean biogeographical zone and neighbouring parts of Iberia, the Alps and Anatolia, between 30° N, 48° N, 10° W and 45° E. Methods We compiled a southern European pollen record dataset using available pollen databases (124 sites) and other sources (74 sites), with improved spatial coverage and dating control compared with earlier studies. We used only those sites that had pollen data for both 0 ka and 6 ka. We reconstructed mid‐Holocene and present‐day biomes, arboreal pollen percentages and distribution and relative abundance of 11 key woody taxa, with anomaly maps. Results Northern temperate forest biomes extended further south at the mid‐Holocene than at present, but not as far as earlier studies suggested. Sclerophyllous vegetation occurred along the Mediterranean coast throughout the region at 6 ka. Arboreal pollen percentages were up to 50% higher than at present. At 6 ka, Olea, Fagus and Juniperus had smaller distributions and/or abundances; Abies, Cedrus and both deciduous and evergreen Quercus had larger distributions and/or abundances; Phillyrea, Pistacia and Cistus showed minimal difference; and Pinus showed a cosmopolitan distribution with variable abundance. Main conclusions Temporal difference analysis is more meaningful when only sites containing samples for all time slices are analysed. During the mid‐Holocene, southern Europe was more heavily forested with temperate vegetation than it is at present, but drought‐tolerant xeric vegetation was still widespread along the southern margins of the region. Although human land use may have caused the degradation of land between the mid‐Holocene and the present, the mere presence of xeric vegetation in the Mediterranean region does not require human impact. This challenges the commonly held belief that modern Mediterranean vegetation represents a ‘degraded’ state.     

Post-glacial migration of silver fir (Abies alba Mill.) in the south-western Alps

Aim  Previous studies have failed to reconstruct the regional post-glacial migration pattern of Abies alba in southern France. Based on the first exhaustive compilation of palaeoecological data in this region, we present the state-of-the-art and attempt to synthesize the available information concerning glacial refugia and post-glacial migration, and analyse the information with regard to climate and orography.
Location  South-western Alps and adjacent areas, southern France.
Methods  The work compiles the available palaeoecological data in the south-western Alps (52 sites, 290 radiocarbon dates). The post-glacial migration pattern of Abies alba is reconstructed based on 22 selected palynological analyses (11 well-dated reference sites and 11 supplementary ones).
Results  The geographical patterns of approaching area limit, immigration and expansion are reconstructed at the scale of the southern French Alps.
Main conclusions  Despite previous assertions, the evidence of refugia in southern France is non-existent. The late-glacial records of fir pollen, previously interpreted in French Mediterranean regions and on adjacent foot-hills as possibly reflecting regional refugia, most probably correspond to reworking phenomena or long-distance pollen transport. Fir migration, originating in the Apennine refugia and through the south-western extremity of the Alps, was extremely rapid in the southern French Alps, only spanning a few centuries between 10,100 and 9800 cal. yr bp . The subsequent spread of fir populations was controlled by local parameters, such as the aridity of the inner valleys, which resulted in a delayed expansion in comparison to other regions. Abies almost disappeared from the south-western Alps during the Roman era, around 2000 cal. yr bp .     

Substrate dependency of Lateglacial forests in north-east Germany: untangling vegetation patterns, ecological amplitudes and pollen dispersal in the past by downscaling regional pollen

Aim Palynology has revealed that during the Lateglacial Allerød period, Pinus and Betula dominated the forests of north‐east Germany. Because of implicit restrictions, however, palynology fails to reconstruct in detail the distributional patterns and whether monospecific or mixed forests prevailed. Here we test the hypothesis that the distributional patterns of Pinus and Betula were largely determined by substrate. Location Fifteen sites in north‐east Germany. Methods As pollen data reflect the abundance of taxa around a sample site, our hypothesis implies that the abundance of e.g. Pinus pollen should reflect the abundance of substrate types that are favoured by Pinus. (In order to differentiate clearly between taxa and pollen types, the latter are displayed in small capitals. ) We analysed the percentage of Pinus and Betula pollen from an interval in the Allerød, and their relationship to the present‐day proportion of the two dominant substrate types (sand and boulder clay). The substrate proportion was determined in rings from 1 to 50 km around all sites, using four distance‐weighting functions. Results Pollen percentages of Pinus are linearly related to the proportion of sand, and Betula percentages to the proportion of boulder clay. The highest coefficients of determination (r² = 0.89 and 0.91, respectively) were observed for radii of c. 30 km, with distance weighting by 1 and 1/d. Main conclusions The present‐day distributional pattern of substrate types strongly indicates the distributional pattern of Pinus and Betula in north‐east Germany in the Allerød. Assuming that the pattern of substrates remained broadly constant, Pinus dominated on sand and Betula on boulder clay. Our new method thus enables us to refine significantly the reconstruction of habitat characteristics and distributional patterns of taxa in the Lateglacial and Holocene, independent of their present‐day ecological amplitudes. The good performance of the distance‐weighting functions 1 and 1/d indicates that the pollen source area of a site has rather discrete boundaries determined by convective air movements during daytime. Within these boundaries, pollen is evenly distributed over various distances. This implies that light pollen types are transported further than predicted by Sutton’s equation on particle dispersal.     

Vegetation change and pollen recruitment in a lowland lake catchment: Groby Pool,Leics (England)

This investigation adopts an historical approach to pollen recruitment in a lowland English lake. The history of woodland and land-use has been reconstructed for the past 200 years from documentary sources and from the lake sediment pollen record. Comparison of these data sets are used to establish the effective pollen catchment of the lake and to investigate how well these support predictive models of pollen input to lakes.     

Early Pleistocene vegetation change in upland south‐eastern Australia

Aim This study aims to improve our understanding of the late Cenozoic history of Australian rain forest and sclerophyll biomes by presenting a detailed pollen record demonstrating the floristic composition and orbital‐scale patterns of change in forest communities of upland south‐eastern Australia, during the Early Pleistocene. The record is examined in order to shed light on the nature of the transition from rain forest‐dominated ‘Tertiary’ Australian vegetation to open‐canopied ‘Quaternary’ vegetation. Location Stony Creek Basin (144.13° E, 37.35° S, 550 m a.s.l), a small, infilled palaeolake in the western uplands of Victoria, Australia. Methods A c. 40‐m‐long sediment core was recovered from the infilled palaeolake. Palynology was used to produce a record of changing vegetation through time. Multivariate analyses provided a basis for interpreting the composition of rain forest and sclerophyll forest communities and for identifying changes in these communities over successive insolation cycles. Results Early Pleistocene upland south‐eastern Australian vegetation was characterized by orbital‐scale, cyclic alternation between rain forest and sclerophyll forests. Individual intervals of forest development underwent patterns of sequential taxon expansion that recurred in successive vegetation cycles. Diverse rain forests included a number of angiosperm and gymnosperm taxa now extinct regionally to globally. Sclerophyll forests were also diverse, and occurred under warm and wet climate conditions. Main conclusions The Stony Creek Basin record demonstrates that as recently as c. 1.5 Ma diverse rain forests persisted in southern Australia beyond the modern continental range of rain forest. The importance of conifers in these rain forests emphasizes that they have no modern Australian analogue. Alternation in dominance between these forests and diverse, sclerophyllous open canopied forests was apparently driven by changes in seasonality, and may have been promoted by fire.     

中国潜在植被空间分布格局

潜在植被作为一种与所处立地达到平衡的演替终态,反映的是无人类干扰情况下,立地所能发育形成的最稳定成熟的一种顶极植被类型,是一个地区现状植被的发展趋势。潜在植被的研究能够真实反映气候条件对植被形态变化的影响,是植被-环境分类与关系研究的起点,也是全球变化与陆地生态系统研究的关键。以综合顺序分类法为基本理论基础,在GIS研究方法支持下,利用我国2348个气象台站1961～1990年30a的气候资料,对我国潜在植被类型进行了划分,得出以下结论：（1）分布在我国的潜在植被类型有41类,表现出了我国潜在植被的多样性特征;从面积相对比例来看,我国潜在植被在分布面积上很不均匀,面积最大的寒冷潮湿多雨冻原、高山草甸类分布面积达到1526188km^2,面积最小的炎热微干稀树草原类分布面积仅为13km^2。（2）海拔0～6800m之间,是我国潜在植被主要分布的海拔界限,并且此海拔段植被多样性随海拔变化呈现出一定的规律性,即随海拔增加植被多样性显著下降。（3）我国潜在植被的空间分布很好的体现了三向地带性规律,而决定这种分布的主要原因是太阳辐射的纬度性变化、距离海洋的远近引起水分条件变化以及由海拔高度引起的从基带向上热量和干湿变化。（4）我国潜在植被空间格局在重心分布上,主要表现为空间聚集（P1、P2、P3、P4、P5、P6）和空间线型邻接（L1、L2、L3）两个主要特征。     

The southern limit of the Mediterranean vegetation in the Sahara during the Holocene

Holocene records from the southern Sahara in Niger allow a reconstruction of the vegetation history and inform us about the former extension of the Mediterranean. Both pollen and charcoal analyses evidenced the direct contact of Sudanian and Saharan savannas during the middle Holocene at about 19°N, whereas at 20°N the transition from the Saharan savanna to the desert was found. In southwestern Libya (26°N) a combination of a Saharan desert vegetation and a semi‐desert Artemisia shrub on the plateaus demonstrated the contact with Mediterranean influenced formations. Regular ash and charcoal layers in middle‐Holocene sediments of the northern Niger prove an early interference of man with the vegetation development. One has to imagine that, in combination with the cattle‐keeping and the later metal production, man could have changed the former northern Sudanian vegetation into the present Sahelian savanna system from the middle Holocene on.