Abstract

Given the difficulty of separating the three Picea species-P. glauca, P. mariana, and P. rubens (white, black, and red spruce)-in the pollen record, little is known about their unique histories in eastern North America following deglaciation. Here we report the first use of a classification tree analysis (CART) to distinguish pollen grains of these species. It was successfully applied to fossil pollen from eight sites in Maine and one in Massachusetts. We focused on the late glacial/early Holocene (14,000 to 8000 cal yr B.P.) and the late Holocene (1400 cal yr B.P. to present)the two key periods since deglaciation when Picea has been abundant in the region. The result shows a shift from a Picea forest of P. glauca and P. mariana in the late glacial to a forest of P. rubens and P. mariana in the late Holocene. The small number of P. rubens grains identified from the late glacial/early Holocene samples (<5%) suggests that that species was either absent or rare at most of the sites. The occurrence and distribution of the three species do not reveal any geographic or temporal trend during late glacial time, but the data suggest that they were distributed in local patches on the landscape. The results of this study indicate that the recent population expansion of Picea (1000 to 500 cal yr B.P.) was likely the first time since deglaciation that P. rubens was abundant in the region. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science (USA). All rights reserved

Published in

Quaternary Research
2003, Volume: 59, number: 1, pages: 61-69
Publisher: ACADEMIC PRESS INC ELSEVIER SCIENCE

SLU Authors

• Lindbladh, Matts

  • Southern Swedish Forest Research Centre, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

UKÄ Subject classification

Environmental Sciences related to Agriculture and Land-use


Publication identifier

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S0033-5894(02)00023-6

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/614