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Palynological reconstruction of environmental changes in coastal wetlands of the Florida Everglades since the mid-Holocene

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Qiang Yao ,
Kam-biu Liu ,
William J. Platt  and
Victor H. Rivera-Monroy
Qiang Yao*
Affiliation:
Department of Oceanography and Coastal Sciences, School of the Coast and Environment, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 70803, USA
Kam-biu Liu
Affiliation:
Department of Oceanography and Coastal Sciences, School of the Coast and Environment, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 70803, USA
William J. Platt
Affiliation:
Department of Biological Sciences, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 70803, USA
Victor H. Rivera-Monroy
Affiliation:
Department of Oceanography and Coastal Sciences, School of the Coast and Environment, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 70803, USA
*
*Corresponding author at: Department of Oceanography and Coastal Sciences, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 70803, USA. Fax: + 1 225 578 6423. E-mail address:[email protected] (Q. Yao).
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Abstract

Palynological, loss-on-ignition, and X-ray fluorescence data from a 5.25 m sediment core from a mangrove forest at the mouth of the Shark River Estuary in the southwestern Everglades National Park, Florida were used to reconstruct changes occurring in coastal wetlands since the mid-Holocene. This multi-proxy record contains the longest paleoecological history to date in the southwestern Everglades. The Shark River Estuary basin was formed ~ 5700 cal yr BP in response to increasing precipitation. Initial wetlands were frequently-burned short-hydroperiod prairies, which transitioned into long-hydroperiod prairies with sloughs in which peat deposits began to accumulate continuously about 5250 cal yr BP. Our data suggest that mangrove communities started to appear after ~ 3800 cal yr BP; declines in the abundance of charcoal suggested gradual replacement of fire-dominated wetlands by mangrove forest over the following 2650 yr. By ~ 1150 cal yr BP, a dense Rhizophora mangle dominated mangrove forest had formed at the mouth of the Shark River. The mangrove-dominated coastal ecosystem here was established at least 2000 yr later than has been previously estimated.

Keywords

Shark River EstuaryEvergladesFloridaMangrovesPollenShort- and long-hydroperiod prairieWetlands
Type
Original Articles
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 83 , Issue 3 , May 2015 , pp. 449 - 458
Copyright
University of Washington

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