Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-hc48f Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T21:38:41.150Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Constructing Seasonal Climograph Overlap Envelopes from Holocene Packrat Midden Contents, Dinosaur National Monument, Colorado

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Saxon E. Sharpe
Saxon E. Sharpe*
Affiliation:
Earth and Ecosystem Sciences, Desert Research Institute, 2215 Raggio Parkway, Reno, Nevada, 89512, E-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Five Neotoma spp. (packrat) middens are analyzed from Sand Canyon Alcove, Dinosaur National Monument, Colorado. Plant remains in middens dated at approximately 9870, 9050, 8460, 3000, and 0 14C yr B.P. are used to estimate Holocene seasonal temperature and precipitation values based on modern plant tolerances published by Thompson et al. (1999a, 1999b). Early Holocene vegetation at the alcove shows a transition from a cool/mesic to a warmer, more xeric community between 9050 and 8460 14C yr B.P. Picea pungens, Pinus flexilis, and Juniperus communis exhibit an average minimum elevational displacement of 215 m. Picea pungens and Pinus flexilis are no longer found in the monument.

Estimates based on modern plant parameters (Thompson et al., 1999a) suggest that average temperatures at 9870 14C yr B.P. may have been at least 1° to 3°C colder in January and no greater than 3° to 10°C colder in July than modern at this site. Precipitation during this time may have been at least 2 times modern in January and 2 to 3 times modern in July. Discrepancies in estimated temperature and precipitation tolerances between last occurrence and first occurrence taxa in the midden record suggest that midden assemblages may include persisting relict vegetation.

Keywords

packratmiddenHolocenevegetation changeclimate changeclimate envelope
Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 57 , Issue 3 , May 2012 , pp. 306 - 313
Copyright
University of Washington

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

Atkinson, T.C, Briffa, K.R, Coope, G.R, Joachim, M, and Perry, D Climatic calibration of coleopteran data. Berglund, B.E Handbook of Holocene Palaeoecology and Palaeohydrology. (1986). Wiley, New York. 851–858.Google Scholar
Atkinson, T.C, Briffa, K.R, and Coope, G.R Seasonal temperatures in Britain during the past 22,000 years, reconstructed using beetle remains. Nature 325, (1987). 587–592.Google Scholar
Baars, D.L The Colorado Plateau. (2000). Univ. of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque.Google Scholar
Betancourt, J.L, Van Devender, T.R, and Martin, P.S Packrat Middens: The Last 40,000 Years of Biotic Change. (1990). Univ. of Arizona Press, Tucson.Google Scholar
Bright, R.C Pollen and seed stratigraphy of Swan Lake, southeastern Idaho: Its relation to regional vegetational history and to Lake Bonneville history. Tebiwa 9, (1966). 1–47.Google Scholar
Cole, K.L Past rates of change, species richness, and a model of vegetational inertia in the Grand Canyon, Arizona. The American Naturalist 125, (1985). 289–303.Google Scholar
Dansereau, P Biogeography—An Ecological Perspective. (1957). Ronald Press, New York.Google Scholar
Davis, M.B, Woods, K.D, Webb, S.L, and Futyma, R.P Dispersal versus climate: Expansion of Fagus and Tsuga into the upper Great Lakes region. Vegetatio 67, (1986). 93–103.Google Scholar
Elias, S.A The mutual climatic range method of palaeoclimate reconstruction based on insect fossils: New applications and interhemispheric comparisons. Quaternary Science Reviews 16, (1997). 1217–1225.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hevly, R.H Prehistoric vegetation and peleoclimates on the Colorado Pleaeau. Gumerman, G.J The Anasazi in a Changing Environment. (1988). Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge. 93–118.Google Scholar
Kuntz, D, Galatowitsch, S, Naumann, T, O'Kane, S Jr., and Neely, B 1987 Inventory of Plant Species of Special Concern and the General Flora of Dinosaur National Monument. (1988). Colorado Natural Areas Program, Denver.Google Scholar
Madsen, D.B, and Currey, D.R Late Quaternary glacial and vegetational changes, Little Cottonwood Canyon Area, Wasatch Mountains, Utah. Quaternary Research 12, (1979). 254–270.Google Scholar
Sharpe, S.E Late Pleistocene and Holocene Vegetation Change in Arches National Park, UT and Dinosaur National Monument, CO. (1991). Northern Arizona Univ, Flagstaff.Google Scholar
Thompson, R. S. (1988). Vegetation dynamics in the western United States: Modes of response to climatic fluctuations.. In Vegetation History Huntley, B. and Webb, T. III, Eds., pp. 415–458. Kluwer Academic, Dordrecht, The Netherlands.Google Scholar
Thompson, R.S, Anderson, K.H, and Bartlein, P.J Atlas of Relations Between Climatic Parameters and Distributions of Important Trees and Shrubs in North America-Introduction and Conifers. (1999). United States Geological Survey, Denver.Google Scholar
Thompson, R.S, Anderson, K.H, and Bartlein, P.J Atlas of Relations Between Climatic Parameters and Distributions of Important Trees and Shrubs in North America-Hardwoods. (1999). United States Geological Survey, Denver.Google Scholar
Thompson, R.S, Anderson, K.H, Bartlein, P.J, and Smith, S.A Atlas of Relations Between Climatic Parameters and Distributions of Important Trees and Shrubs in North America. Additional Conifers, Hardwoods, and Monocots. (2000). United States Geological Survey, Denver.Google Scholar
Thompson, R. S, Anderson, K. H, Shafer, S. L, Bartlein, P. J, and Chapman, C. A. (in press), Atlas of Relations Between Climatic Parameters and Distributions of Important Trees and Shrubs in North America. Alaskan Species, Ecoregions, and Hardiness Zones. USGS Professional Paper 1650-D, United States Geological Survey, Denver.Google Scholar
Van Devender, T.R Late Pleistocene Plants and Animals of the Sonoran Desert: A Survey of Ancient Packrats in Southwestern Arizona. (1973). University of Arizona, Tucson.Google Scholar
U.S. Department of Interior and National Park Service, (1986). General Management Plan, Dinosaur National Monument, Moffat County, Colorado. Uinta County, Utah.Google Scholar
Western Regional Climate Center Database, http://www.wrcc.dri.edu/index.html.Google Scholar