Pollen in Polar Ice Implies Eastern Canadian Forest Dynamics Diverged From Climate After European Settlement

Autor(en)
Sandra O. Brugger, Nathan J. Chellman, Andreas Plach, Paul D. Henne, Andreas Stohl, Joseph R. McConnell
Abstrakt

Rapid warming and human exploitation threaten boreal forests. Understanding links among vegetation, climate, and people in this vast biome requires highly resolved long-term records that integrate regional inputs. We developed an 850-year pollen-based record of supraregional vegetation change using a southern Greenland ice core and atmospheric modeling that identified the boreal and mixed-conifer forests of eastern Canada as the dominant pollen source regions. Conifer pollen increased ∼1400 CE at the onset of the cooler and drier Little Ice Age. A subsequent decline began ∼1650 CE and a statistically significant pollen change after 1760 CE suggests ecological consequences of the Little Ice Age cooling and initial human exploitation that persisted until recent decades. These supraregional changes are broadly consistent with local records and demonstrate intensification of human impacts on northern forests, suggesting a shift from a climate-modulated to an increasingly human-controlled system during recent centuries.

Organisation(en)
Institut für Meteorologie und Geophysik
Externe Organisation(en)
United States Geological Survey, Desert Research Institute
Journal
Geophysical Research Letters
Band
51
ISSN
0094-8276
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1029/2023GL105581
Publikationsdatum
01-2024
Peer-reviewed
Ja
ÖFOS 2012
105206 Meteorologie
Schlagwörter
ASJC Scopus Sachgebiete
Geophysics, Allgemeine Erdkunde und Planetologie
Sustainable Development Goals
SDG 13 – Maßnahmen zum Klimaschutz
Link zum Portal
https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/de/publications/9e2e0dcf-1d67-4eb1-a1a6-9c662f819e5c