Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-ttngx Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-05-24T20:57:35.229Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Postglacial vegetation dynamics at high elevation from Fairy Lake in the northern Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, Montana, USA

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 April 2019

James V. Benes ,
Virginia Iglesias  and
Cathy Whitlock
James V. Benes*
Affiliation:
Department of Earth Sciences, Montana State University, Bozeman, Montana 59717, USA Montana Institute on Ecosystems, Montana State University, Bozeman, Montana 59717, USA
Virginia Iglesias
Affiliation:
Earth Lab, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado 80303, USA Montana Institute on Ecosystems, Montana State University, Bozeman, Montana 59717, USA
Cathy Whitlock
Affiliation:
Department of Earth Sciences, Montana State University, Bozeman, Montana 59717, USA Montana Institute on Ecosystems, Montana State University, Bozeman, Montana 59717, USA
*
*Corresponding author e-mail address: jbenes@unl.edu (J.V. Benes).
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The postglacial vegetation and fire history of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem is known from low and middle elevations, but little is known about high elevations. Paleoecologic data from Fairy Lake in the Bridger Range, southwestern Montana, provide a new high-elevation record that spans the last 15,000 yr. The records suggest a period of tundra-steppe vegetation prior to ca. 13,700 cal yr BP was followed by open Picea forest at ca. 11,200 cal yr BP. Pinus-Pseudotsuga parkland was present after ca. 9200 cal yr BP, when conditions were warmer/drier than present. It was replaced by mixed-conifer parkland at ca. 5000 cal yr BP. Present-day subalpine forest established at ca. 2800 cal yr BP. Increased avalanche or mass-wasting activity during the early late-glacial period, the Younger Dryas chronozone, and Neoglaciation suggest cool, wet periods. Sites at different elevations in the region show (1) synchronous vegetation responses to late-glacial warming; (2) widespread xerothermic forests and frequent fires in the early-to-middle Holocene; and (3) a trend to forest closure during late-Holocene cooling. Conditions in the Bridger Range were, however, wetter than other areas during the early Holocene. Across the Northern Rockies, postglacial warming progressed from west to east, reflecting range-specific responses to insolation-driven changes in climate.

Keywords

Vegetation historyFire historyMontana, Greater YellowstoneAvalanche historyHolocenePollenCharcoalClimate history
Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 92 , Issue 2 , September 2019 , pp. 365 - 380
Copyright
Copyright © University of Washington, Published by Cambridge University Press, 2019 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Alley, R.B., 2000. The Younger Dryas cold interval as viewed from central Greenland. Quaternary Science Reviews 19, 213–226.Google Scholar
Axford, Y., Briner, J.R., Miller, G.H., Francis, D.R., 2009. Paleoecological evidence for abrupt cold reversals during peak Holocene warmth on Baffin Island, Arctic Canada. Quaternary Research 71, 142–149.Google Scholar
Baker, W.L., 2009. Fire Ecology in Rocky Mountain Landscapes. Island Press, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Bartlein, P.J., Anderson, K.H., Anderson, P.M., Edwards, M.E., Mock, C.J., Thompson, R.S., Webb, R.S., Webb III, T. and Whitlock, C., 1998. Paleoclimate simulations for North America over the past 21,000 years: features of the simulated climate and comparisons with paleoenvironmental data. Quaternary Science Reviews 17(6–7), pp. 549–585.Google Scholar
Bennett, K.D., Willis, K.J., 2001. Pollen. In: Smol, J.P., Birks, H.J.B., Last, W.M. (Eds.), Tracking Environmental Change Using Lake Sediments. Terrestrial, Algal, and Siliceous Indicators, Vol. 3. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, pp. 5–32.Google Scholar
Berger, A., Loutre, M., 1991. Insolation values for the climate of the last 10 million years. Quaternary Science Reviews 10, 297–317.Google Scholar
Blaauw, M., 2010. Methods and code for ‘classical’ age-modelling of radiocarbon sequences. Quaternary Geochronology 5, 512–518.Google Scholar
Brunelle, A., Whitlock, C., Bartlein, P., Kipfmueller, K., 2005. Holocene fire and vegetation along environmental gradients in the northern Rocky Mountains. Quaternary Science Reviews 24, 2281–2300.Google Scholar
Burkart, M.R., 1976. Pollen biostratigraphy and late Quaternary vegetation history of the Bighorn Mountains, Wyoming. PhD dissertation. University of Iowa, Iowa City.Google Scholar
Byers, D.A., Allen, W., Fisher, J.W. Jr., 2003. Investigations in the Bridger Mountain Range, Montana: a backyard archaeology project. In: Kornfeld, M., Osborn, A.J. (Eds.), Islands on the Plains: Ecological, Social, and Ritual Use of Landscapes. University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City, pp. 142–166.Google Scholar
Dean, W.E., 1974. Determination of carbonate and organic matter in calcareous sediments and sedimentary rocks by loss on ignition; comparison with other methods. Journal of Sedimentary Research 44(1), pp. 242–248.Google Scholar
Egan, J., Staff, R., Blackford, J., 2015. A revised age estimate of the Holocene Plinian eruption of Mount Mazama, Oregon using Bayesian statistical modeling. The Holocene 25, 1–14.Google Scholar
Fall, P.L., 1992. Pollen accumulation in a montane region of Colorado, USA: a comparison of moss pollsters, atmospheric traps, and natural basins. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology 72, 169–197.Google Scholar
Fall, P.L., 1994. Modern pollen spectra and vegetation in the Wind River Range, Wyoming, USA. Arctic and Alpine Research 26(4), pp. 383–392.Google Scholar
Fall, P.L., Davis, P.T., Zielinski, G.A., 1995. Late Quaternary vegetation and climate of the Wind River Range, Wyoming. Quaternary Research 43, 393–404.Google Scholar
Fisher, J.W. Jr., Dudley, M.J., Donahoe, R., 2016. Geochemical Analysis of thirty-four projectile points from the Bridger Mountains, Montana. Unpublished report submitted to Custer Gallatin National Forest, United States Forest Service, Bozeman, MT.Google Scholar
Fleitmann, D., Mudelsee, M., Burns, S.J., Bradley, R.S., Kramers, J., Matter, A., 2008. Evidence for a widespread climatic anomaly at around 9.2 ka before present. Paleoceanography 23, PA1102.Google Scholar
Gavin, D.G., Henderson, A.C.G., Westover, K.S., Fritz, S.C., Walker, I.R., Leng, M.J., Hu, F.S., 2011. Abrupt Holocene climate change and potential response to solar forcing in western Canada. Quaternary Science Reviews 30, 1243–1255.Google Scholar
Gedye, S.J., Jones, R.Y., Tinner, W., Ammann, B., Oldfield, F., 2000. The use of mineral magnetism in the reconstruction of fire history: a case study from Lago di Origlio, Swiss Alps. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 164, 101–110.Google Scholar
Grimm, E.C., 1988. Data analysis and display. In: Huntley, B. and Webb, T. III (Eds.), Vegetation History. Springer, Netherlands, pp. 43–76.Google Scholar
Grimm, E.C., Donovan, J.J., Brown, K.J., 2011. A high-resolution record of climate variability and landscape response from Kettle Lake, northern Great Plains, North America. Quaternary Science Reviews 30, 2626–2650.Google Scholar
Gugger, P.F., Sugita, S., 2010. Glacial populations and postglacial migration of Douglas-fir based on pollen and macrofossil evidence. Quaternary Science Reviews 29, 2052–2070.Google Scholar
Higuera, P., Brubaker, L.B., Anderson, P.M., Hu, F.S., Brown, T.A., 2009. Vegetation mediated the impacts of postglacial climate change on fire regimes in the south-central Brooks Range, Alaska. Ecological Monographs 79, 201–219.Google Scholar
Higuera, P.E., Briles, C.E., Whitlock, C., 2014. Fire-regime complacency and sensitivity to centennial- through millennial-scale climate change in Rocky Mountain subalpine forests, Colorado, U.S.A. Journal of Ecology 102, 1429–1441.Google Scholar
Higuera, P.E., Whitlock, C., Gage, J.A., 2010. Linking tree-ring and sediment-charcoal records to reconstruct fire occurrence and area burned in subalpine forests of Yellowstone National Park, USA. The Holocene 2, 327–341.Google Scholar
Iglesias, V., Whitlock, C., Krause, T.R., Baker, R.G., 2018. Past vegetation dynamics in the Yellowstone region highlight the vulnerability of mountain systems to climate change. Journal of Biogeography 45, 1768–1780.Google Scholar
Kapp, R.O., Davis, O.K., King, J.E., 2000. Pollen and Spores. 2nd ed. The American Association of Stratigraphic Palynologists, College Station.Google Scholar
Krause, T.R., Lu, Y., Whitlock, C., Fritz, S.C., Pierce, K.L., 2015. Patterns of terrestrial and limnologic development in the northern Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (USA) during the late-glacial/early-Holocene transition. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 422, 46–56.Google Scholar
Krause, T.R., Whitlock, C., 2013. Climate and vegetation change during the late glacial/early-Holocene transition inferred from multiple proxy records from Blacktail Pond, Yellowstone National Park, USA. Quaternary Research 79, 391–402.Google Scholar
Krause, T.R., Whitlock, C., 2017. Climatic and non-climatic controls shaping early postglacial conifer history in the northern Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, USA. Journal of Quaternary Science 32, 1022–1036.Google Scholar
Kuehn, S.C., Froese, D.G., Carrara, P.E., Franklin, F.F. Jr., Pearce, N.J.G., Rotheisler, P., 2009. Major-and trace-element characterization, expanded distribution, and a new chronology for the latest Pleistocene Glacier Peak tephras in western North America. Quaternary Research 71, 201–216.Google Scholar
Lepage, Y., 1971. A combination of the Wilcoxon's and Ansari-Bradley's statistics. Biometrika 58, 213–217.Google Scholar
Licciardi, J.M. and Pierce, K.L., 2018. History and dynamics of the Greater Yellowstone Glacial System during the last two glaciations. Quaternary Science Reviews 200, pp. 1–33.Google Scholar
Lyford, M.E., Jackson, S.T., Betancourt, J.L., Gray, S.T., 2003. Influence of landscape structure and climate variability on a late Holocene plant migration. Ecological Monographs 73, 567–583.Google Scholar
MacDonald, D.H., 2012. Montana Before History. Mountain Press Publishing Company, Missoula.Google Scholar
Marshall, J.D., Lang, B., Crowley, S.F., Graham, P.W., van Calsteren, P.Fisher, , , E.H., Holme, R., et al. , 2007. Terrestrial impact of abrupt changes in the North Atlantic thermohaline circulation: early Holocene, UK. Geology 35, 639–642.Google Scholar
McAndrews, J.H., Berti, A.A., Norris, G., 1973. Key to the Quaternary Pollen and Spores of the Great Lakes Region. Life Sciences Miscellaneous Publication, Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto.Google Scholar
McMannis, W.J., 1955. Geology of the Bridger Range, Montana. Bulletin of the Geological Society of America 66, 1385–1430.Google Scholar
Menounos, B., Osborn, G., Clague, J.J., Luckman, B.H., 2009. Latest Pleistocene and Holocene glacier fluctuations in western Canada. Quaternary Science Reviews 28, 2049–2074.Google Scholar
Meyer, G.A., Wells, , Stephen, G., Timothy Jull, A.J., 1995. Fire and alluvial chronology in Yellowstone National Park: climatic and intrinsic controls on Holocene geomorphic processes. Geological Society of America Bulletin 107, 10, 1211–1230.Google Scholar
Meyers, P.A., Ishiwatari, R., 1993. Lacustrine organic geochemistry: an overview of indicators of organic matter sources and diagenesis in lake sediments. Organic Geochemistry 20, 867–900.Google Scholar
Millspaugh, S.H., Whitlock, C., Bartlein, P.J., 2000. Variations in fire frequency and climate over the past 17,000 yr in central Yellowstone National Park. Geology 28, 211–214.Google Scholar
Millspaugh, S.H., Whitlock, C., Bartlein, P.J., 2004. Postglacial fire, vegetation, and climate history of the Yellowstone-Lamar and Central Plateau Provinces, Yellowstone National Park. In: Wallace, L.L. (Ed), After the Fires: The Ecology of Change in Yellowstone National Park. Yale University Press, New Haven and London, pp. 10–28.Google Scholar
Moore, P.O., Webb, J.A., 1978. An Illustrated Guide to Pollen Analysis. John Wiley and Sons, New York.Google Scholar
Mumma, S.A., Whitlock, C., Pierce, K., 2012. A 28,000 year history of vegetation and climate from Lower Red Rock Lake, Centennial Valley, southwestern Montana, USA. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 326–328, 30–41.Google Scholar
Pfister, R.D., Kovalchik, B.L., Arno, S.F. and Presby, R.C., 1977. Forest habitat types of Montana. Gen. Tech. Rep. INT-GTR-34. Ogden, UT: US Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Intermountain Forest & Range Experiment Station. 174 p., 34.Google Scholar
PRISM Climate Group, 2015. PRISM, Oregon State University (accessed July, 2015). http://prism.oregonstate.edu.Google Scholar
R Core team, 2017. R: A language and environment for statistical computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna.Google Scholar
Rasmussen, M., Anzick, S.L., Waters, M.R., Skoglund, P., DeGiorgio, M., Stafford, T.W. Jr, Rasmussen, S., Moltke, I., Albrechtsen, A., Doyle, S.M. and Poznik, G.D., 2014. The genome of a Late Pleistocene human from a Clovis burial site in western Montana. Nature 506(7487), p. 225.Google Scholar
Reardon, B.A., Pederson, G.T., Caruso, C.J., Fagre, D.B., 2008. Spatial reconstructions and comparisons of historic snow avalanche frequency and extent using tree rings in Glacier National Park, Montana, U.S.A. Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine Research 40, 148–160.Google Scholar
Reimer, P.J., Bard, E., Bayliss, A., Beck, J.W., Blackwell, P.G., Bronk Ramsey, C., Buck, C.E., et al. , 2013. IntCal13 and Marine13 radiocarbon age calibration curves, 0–50,000 years cal BP. Radiocarbon 55, 1869–1887.Google Scholar
Riley, K., Pierce, J., Meyer, G.A., 2015. Vegetative and climate controls on Holocene wildfire and erosion recorded in alluvial fans of the Middle Fork Salmon River, Idaho. The Holocene 25, 857–871.Google Scholar
Ross, G.J., 2015. Parametric and nonparametric sequential change detection in R: the cpm package. Journal of Statistical Software 66, 1–20.Google Scholar
Shinker, J.J., Bartlein, P.J., Shuman, B., 2006. Synoptic and dynamic climate controls of North American mid-continental aridity. Quaternary Science Reviews 25, 1401–1417.Google Scholar
Shuman, B., Pribyl, P., Minckley, T.A., Shinker, J.J., 2010. Rapid hydrologic shifts and prolonged droughts in Rocky Mountain headwaters during the Holocene. Geophysical Research Letters 37, 1861–1879.Google Scholar
Thomas, E.R., Wolff, E.W., Mulvaney, R., Steffensen, J.P., Johnsen, S.J., Arrowsmith, C., White, J.W.C., Vaughn, B., Popp, T., 2007. The 8.2ka event from Greenland ice cores, Quaternary Science Reviews 26, 70–81.Google Scholar
Waddington, J.C.B., Wright, H.E. Jr., 1974. Late Quaternary vegetational changes on the east side of Yellowstone Park, Wyoming. Quaternary Research 4, 175–184.Google Scholar
Whitlock, C., 1993. Postglacial vegetation and climate of Grand Teton and southern Yellowstone national parks. Ecological Monographs 63, 173–198.Google Scholar
Whitlock, C., Bartlein, P.J., 1993. Spatial variations of Holocene climatic change in the Yellowstone region. Quaternary Research 39, 231–238.Google Scholar
Whitlock, C., Dean, W., Rosenbaum, J., Stevens, L., Fritz, S., Bracht, B., Power, M., 2007. A 2650-year long record of environmental change from northern Yellowstone National Park based on comparison of multiple proxy data. Quaternary International 188, 126–138.Google Scholar
Whitlock, C., Dean, W.E., Fritz, S.C., Stevens, L.R., Stone, J.R., Power, M.J., Rosenbaum, J.R., Pierce, K.L., Bracht-Flyr, B.B., 2012. Holocene seasonal variability inferred from multiple proxy records from Crevice Lake, Yellowstone National Park, USA. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 331–332, 90–103.Google Scholar
Whitlock, C., Larsen, C.P.S., 2001. Charcoal as a Fire Proxy. In: Smol, J.P., Birks, H.J.B. and Last, W.M. (Eds.), Tracking Environmental Change Using Lake Sediments. Terrestrial, Algal, and Siliceous Indicators, Vol. 3. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, pp. 75–97.Google Scholar
Wickham, H., 2017. Tidyverse: Easily Install and Load the ‘Tidyverse’. R package version 1.2.1. Springer-Verlag, New York.Google Scholar
Wood, S.N., Pya, N., Saefken, B., 2016. Smoothing parameter and model selection for general smooth models (with discussion). Journal of the American Statistical Association 111, 1548–1575.Google Scholar
Wright, H.E. Jr., Mann, D.H., Glaser, P.H., 1983. Piston corers for peat and lake sediments. Ecology 65, 657–659.Google Scholar
Yu, S.Y., Colman, S.M., Lowell, T.V., Milne, G.A., Fisher, T.G., Breckenridge, A., Boyd, M., Teller, J.T., 2010. Freshwater outburst from Lake Superior as a trigger for the cold event 9300 years ago. Science 328, 1262–1266.Google Scholar