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Late Quaternary History of Tundra Vegetation in Northwestern Alaska

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Patricia M. Anderson ,
Patrick J. Bartlein  and
Linda B. Brubaker
Patricia M. Anderson
Affiliation:
Quaternary Research Center, AK-60, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195
Patrick J. Bartlein
Affiliation:
Department of Geography, University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon 97403
Linda B. Brubaker
Affiliation:
College of Forest Resources, AR-10, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195
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Abstract

Pollen analysis of a new core from Joe Lake indicates that the late Quaternary vegetation of northwestern Alaska was characterized by four tundra and two forest-tundra types. These vegetation types were differentiated by combining quantitative comparisons of fossil and modern pollen assemblages with traditional, qualitative approaches for inferring past vegetation, such as the use of indicator species. Although imprecisely dated, the core probably spans at least the past 40,000 yr. A graminoid-Salix tundra dominated during the later and early portions of the glacial record. The middle glacial interval and the transition from glacial to interglacial conditions are characterized by a graminoid-Betula-Salix tundra. A Populus forest-Betula shrub tundra existed during the middle potion of this transition, being replaced in the early Holocene by a Betula-Alnus shrub tundra. The modern Picea forest-shrub tundra was established by the middle Holocene. These results suggest that the composition of modem tundra communities in northwestern Alaska developed relatively recently and that throughout much of the late Quaternary, tundra communities were unlike the predominant types found today in northern North America. Although descriptions of vegetation variations within the tundra will always be restricted by the innate taxonomic limitations of their herb-dominated pollen spectra, the application of multiple interpretive approaches improves the ability to reconstruct the historical development of this vegetation type.

Type
Articles
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 41 , Issue 3 , May 1994 , pp. 306 - 315
Copyright
University of Washington

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