Impact of Human Activity on Regional Forest Composition and Dynamics in Central New England |
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Authors: | Janice L Fuller David R Foster Jason S McLachlan Natalie Drake |
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Institution: | (1) Harvard Forest, Harvard University, Petersham, Massachusetts 01366, USA , US |
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Abstract: | Historical and ecological data from north-central Massachusetts suggest that widespread and intensive human disturbance after
European settlement led to a shift in forest composition and obscured regional patterns of species abundance. A paleoecological
approach was required to place recent forest dynamics in a long-term context. Pollen and charcoal data from 11 small lakes
in north-central Massachusetts were used to reconstruct local vegetation dynamics and fire histories across the region over
the past 1000 years. The sites are located across an environmental gradient. Paleoecological data indicate that prior to European
settlement, there was regional variation in forest composition corresponding to differences in climate, substrate, and fire
regime. Oak, chestnut, and hickory were abundant at low elevations, whereas hemlock, beech, sugar maple, and yellow birch
were common at high elevations. Fire appears to have been more frequent and/or intense at lower elevations, maintaining high
abundances of oak, and archaeological data suggest Native American populations were greater in these areas. A change in forest
composition at higher elevations, around 550 years before present, may be related to the Little Ice Age (a period of variable
climate), fire, and/or activity by Native Americans, and led to regional convergence in forest composition. After European
settlement, forest composition changed markedly in response to human disturbance and there was a sharp increase in rates of
vegetation change. Regional patterns were obscured further, leading to homogenization of broad-scale forest composition. There
is no indication from the pollen data that forests are returning to pre-European settlement forest composition, and rates
of vegetation change remain high, reflecting continuing disturbance on the landscape, despite regional reforestation.
Received 14 May 1997; accepted 5 August 1997. |
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Keywords: | : paleoecology human disturbance forest dynamics New England rates of change |
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