scholarly journals Quantitative Late Quaternary Climate Reconstruction from Plant Macrofossil Communities in Western North America

10.5334/oq.46 ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert S. Harbert ◽  
Kevin C. Nixon
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Late Quaternary ◽  
Climate Reconstruction ◽  
Western North America ◽  
Plant Macrofossil ◽  
Quaternary Climate

scholarly journals Quantitative Late Quaternary climate reconstruction from plant macrofossil proxy in Western North America

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert S. Harbert ◽  
Kevin C. Nixon
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Community Composition ◽  
Plant Community ◽  
Late Quaternary ◽  
Plant Community Composition ◽  
Western North America ◽  
Plant Macrofossil ◽  
The Past ◽  
Quaternary Climate ◽  
Quantitative Estimates

ABSTRACTThe Late Quaternary packrat (Neotomaspp.) midden plant macrofossil record in western North America is an exceptional record of biotic change that provides strong evidence of past climate. In this study we generate quantitative estimates of climate from plant community composition of more than 600 individual paleomiddens over the past 50,000 years. This is the first large-scale application of CRACLE, a quantitative climate inference method that uses plant community composition as a climatic proxy under and individualistic concept of plant community assembly. The results are spatiotemporally specific estimates of temperature, precipitation, available moisture, and seasonal patterns that are consistent with well understood global climate patterns, but provide previously unavailable detail and precision of the regional paleoclimate in western North America. Rapid warming is estimated at the Pleistocene-Holocene transition, at a conservative estimate of ca. 1°C per millennium. Previously projected future temperature increases suggest a rate of increase of more than 2°C over the next century, an astonishing 10X the rate experienced at any point during the past 50,000 years in Western North America. These analyses form a baseline demonstration of how the growing paleoecological record of packrat midden plant macrofossils is able to provide quantitative estimates of paleoclimate that aid in understanding the complexities of, and biotic responses to the regional climate system.

Did climatic seasonality control late Quaternary artiodactyl densities in western North America?

2008 ◽  
Vol 27 (19-20) ◽  
pp. 1916-1937 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jack M. Broughton ◽  
David A. Byers ◽  
Reid A. Bryson ◽  
William Eckerle ◽  
David B. Madsen
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Late Quaternary ◽  
Western North America

Late quaternary climate change in eastern North America

1998 ◽  
Vol 17 (6-7) ◽  
pp. 587-606 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thompson Webb III ◽  
Katherine H Anderson ◽  
Patrick J Bartlein ◽  
Robert S Webb
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
North America ◽  
Late Quaternary ◽  
Eastern North America ◽  
Quaternary Climate

Investigating (a)symmetry in a small mammal's response to warming and cooling events across western North America over the late Quaternary

2019 ◽  
Vol 92 (2) ◽  
pp. 408-415 ◽  
Author(s):  
Meghan A. Balk ◽  
Julio L. Betancourt ◽  
Felisa A. Smith
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Late Quaternary ◽  
Greenland Ice Sheet ◽  
Bergmann’S Rule ◽  
Future Climate Change ◽  
Temperature Record ◽  
Peripheral Populations ◽  
Western North America ◽  
Bergmann's Rule ◽  
Neotoma Cinerea

AbstractMany mammalian populations conform spatially and temporally to Bergmann's rule. This ecogeographic pattern is driven by selection for larger body masses by cooler temperatures and smaller ones by warming temperatures. However, it is unclear whether the response to warming or cooling temperatures is (a)symmetrical. Studies of the evolutionary record suggest that mammals evolve smaller body sizes more rapidly than larger ones, suggesting that it may be “easier” to adapt to warming climates than cooling ones. Here, we examine the potential asymmetrical response of mammals to past temperature fluctuations. We use the fossil midden record of the bushy-tailed woodrat, Neotoma cinerea, a well-studied animal that generally conforms to Bergmann's rule, to test the ability of populations to respond to warming versus cooling climate throughout its modern range in western North America over the late Quaternary. We quantified the response to temperature change, as characterized by the Greenland Ice Sheet Project 2 temperature record, using N. cinerea presence/absence and “darwins.” Our results show that populations within the modern range of N. cinerea show little difference between warming and cooling events. However, northern, peripheral populations are absent during older, cooler periods, possibly due to climate or taphonomy. Our study suggests adaptation in situ may be an underestimated response to future climate change.

Mapped plant-macrofossil and pollen records of late quaternary vegetation change in Eastern North America

1997 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-70 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen T. Jackson ◽  
Jonathan T. Overpeck ◽  
Thompson Webb- ◽  
Sharen E. Keattch ◽  
Katherine H. Anderson
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Vegetation Change ◽  
Late Quaternary ◽  
Eastern North America ◽  
Plant Macrofossil ◽  
Pollen Records

Radiocarbon Dates of Late Quaternary Megafauna and Botanical Remains from Central Alberta, Canada

Radiocarbon ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 56 (3) ◽  
pp. 1215-1222 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher N Jass ◽  
Alwynne B Beaudoin
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Environmental Conditions ◽  
Landscape Change ◽  
Late Quaternary ◽  
Ice Sheets ◽  
Landscape Changes ◽  
Western North America ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Human Dispersal ◽  
Botanical Remains

The chronologic record of late Quaternary biota from central Alberta has broad implications for understanding the archaeological, geological, paleontological, and paleoenvironmental record of western North America. Radiocarbon dates on remains of Pleistocene megafauna were previously used as proxies for the advance and retreat of ice sheets across Alberta (e.g. Young et al. 1994; Dyke 2005), and are important for understanding landscape changes that likely influenced the timing of human dispersal into North America (Burns 1996). 14C records of Holocene age continue to refine our understanding of landscape change leading up to modern environmental conditions (Beaudoin 2003). Here, we report 15 14C dates from new and previously recorded sites in central Alberta, and one from just across the border within Saskatchewan (Figure 1).

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