Long-Term Forest Dynamics of the Temperate Zone: A Case Study of Late-Quaternary Forests in Eastern North America (Ecological Studies, 63)

The synthesis presented in this volume is a direct outgrowth of our ten-year FORMAP Project (Forest Mapping Across Eastern North America from 20,000 yr B.P. to the Present). Many previous research efforts in paleoecology have used plant-fossil evidence as proxy information for primarily geologic or climatic reconstructions or as a bio­ stratigraphic basis for correlation of regional events. In contrast, in this book, we deal with ecological questions that require a holistic perspective that integrates the interactions of biota with their dynamically changing environments over time scales up to tens of thousands of years. In the FORMAP Project, our major research objective has been to use late-Quaternary plant-ecological data sets to evaluate long-term patterns and processes in forest de­ velopment. In order to accomplish this objective, we have prepared subcontinent-scale calibrations that quantitatively relate the production and dispersal of arboreal pollen to dominance in the vegetation for the major tree types of eastern North America. Quantification of pollen-vegetation relationships provides a basis for developing quan­ titative plant-ecological data sets that allow further ecological analysis of both individual taxa and forest communities through time. Application of these calibrations to fossil­ pollen records for interpreting forest history thus represents a fundamental step beyond traditional summaries based upon pollen percentages. This study represents a comprehensive and quantitative examination of the paleoecological evidence for forest community development in the Temperate Zone of Eastern North America since the last glacial maximum 20,000 years ago. A computerized fossil-pollen data set, compiled from 162 radiocarbon-dated paleoecological sites were used. Their fossil pollen spectra were transformed into an estimate of past dominance for 19 major tree taxa. Ecological ordination of the data allowed evaluation of the degree of persistence. Measurement of the rates of spread along major migration routes give new insights into the biogeography of temperate and boreal trees. These extensive studies are of interest to graduate students and researchers in all fields of ecology, as well as biogeography Front Matter....Pages i-xiii The Nature of Long-Term Vegetational Change....Pages 1-28 Modern Pollen—Vegetation Relationships....Pages 29-61 Reconstructing Long-Term Forest Changes from Fossil-Pollen Data....Pages 62-84 Vegetation Map Patterns at the Biome Level....Pages 85-106 Tree Population Dynamics During the Past 20,000 Years....Pages 107-291 Late-Quaternary Migrational Strategies of Tree Species....Pages 292-330 The Role of Competition in Long-Term Forest Dynamics....Pages 331-343 Gradient Analysis, Ecotones, and Forest Communities....Pages 344-362 Quaternary Landscape Ecology....Pages 363-373 Long-Term Forest Dynamics of the Temperate Zone....Pages 374-398 Back Matter....Pages 399-439