Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-dzt6s Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-24T19:57:15.918Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Historic and Holocene Environmental Change in the San Antonio Creek Basin, Mid-coastal California

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

R. Scott Anderson ,
Ana Ejarque ,
Johnathan Rice ,
Susan J. Smith  and
Clayton G. Lebow
R. Scott Anderson*
Affiliation:
School of Earth Sciences & Environmental Sustainability, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ 86011, USA Laboratory of Paleoecology, Bilby Research Center, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ, USA
Ana Ejarque
Affiliation:
School of Earth Sciences & Environmental Sustainability, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ 86011, USA Laboratory of Paleoecology, Bilby Research Center, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ, USA
Johnathan Rice
Affiliation:
School of Earth Sciences & Environmental Sustainability, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ 86011, USA Laboratory of Paleoecology, Bilby Research Center, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ, USA
Susan J. Smith
Affiliation:
Laboratory of Paleoecology, Bilby Research Center, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ, USA
Clayton G. Lebow
Affiliation:
Applied EarthWorks, Inc., 515 E. Ocean Ave., Suite G, Lompoc, CA 93436, USA
*
*Corresponding author at: School of Earth Sciences & Environmental Sustainability, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ 86011, USA. E-mail addresses:[email protected] (R. Scott Anderson), [email protected] (A. Ejarque), [email protected] (J. Rice), [email protected] (S.J. Smith), [email protected] (C.G. Lebow).
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Using a combination of pollen, non-pollen palynomorphs (NPPs) and charcoal particle stratigraphies from sediment cores from two sites, along with historical records, we reconstructed paleoenvironmental change in mid-coastal California. The San Antonio Creek section contains a discontinuous, Holocene-length record, while Mod Pond includes a continuous late Holocene record. Together the records allow for interpretation of most of the present interglacial. The longer record documents coastal sage scrub and chaparral dominated by woodland elements early in the Holocene to about 9000 yr ago, a potential decline in woodland communities with drying conditions during the middle Holocene to about 4800 yr ago, and an expansion of coastal sage scrub with grassland during the late Holocene. Evidence for climatic fluctuations during the last 1000 yr at Mod Pond is equivocal, suggesting that the Medieval Climate Anomaly–Little Ice Age had modest impact on the Mod Pond environment. However, evidence of significant environmental change associated with cultural transitions in the 18th–19th centuries is stark. Introduction of non-native plants, establishment of cattle and sheep grazing, missionization of the native population, changes in burning practices during the Spanish period and enhanced cropping activities during North American settlement worked together to substantially modify the mid-California coastal landscape in about a century's time.

Keywords

PollenNon-pollen palynomorphsHolocene vegetation changeHuman impactFire historyCalifornia
Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 83 , Issue 2 , March 2015 , pp. 273 - 286
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.)

Footnotes

1 Present address: Seminar of Prehistoric Study and Research, Department of Prehistory, Ancient History and Archaeology, University of Barcelona, Montalegre 6, 08001 Barcelona, Spain.
2 Present address: Department of Earth Science, 1006 Webb Hall, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, USA.

References

Ahmed, S.E., Cain, R.F., (1972). Revision of the genera Sporormia and Sporormiella . Canadian Journal of Botany 50, 419–477.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Air Force, U.S., (2008). Appendix C: Biological Resources. Final Draft Environmental Assessment, San Antonio Creek Restoration, Vandenberg Air Force Base, California. Prepared for 30th Space Wing Civil Engineering Squadron Environmental Flight, Vandenberg Air Force Base, California .Google Scholar
Anderson, R.S., Byrd, B.F., (1998). Late-Holocene vegetation changes from the Las Flores Creek coastal lowlands, San Diego County, California. Madrono 45, 171–182.Google Scholar
Anderson, R.S., Stillick, R.D., (2013). 800 years of vegetation change, fire and human settlement in the Sierra Nevada, California. The Holocene 23, 6, 838–847.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Anderson, R.S., Starratt, S., Jass, R.B., Pinter, N., (2010). Fire and vegetation history on Santa Rosa Island, Channel Islands, and long-term environmental change in Southern California. Journal of Quaternary Science 25, 782–797.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Anderson, R.S., Ejarque, A., Brown, P.M., Hallett, D., (2013). Holocene and historic vegetation change and fire history in the mid-coastal region of California. The Holocene 23, 12, 1795–1808.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barron, J.A., Anderson, L., (2011). Enhanced Late Holocene ENSO/PDO expression along the margins of the eastern North Pacific. Quaternary International 235, 3–12.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barron, J.A., Heusser, L., Herbert, T., Lyle, M., (2003). High-resolution climatic evolution of coastal northern California during the past 16,000 years. Paleoceanography 18, 1, 1020 10.1029/2002PA000768.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bird, B.W., Kirby, M.E., (2006). An alpine lacustrine record of early Holocene North American Monsoon dynamics from Dry Lake, Southern California (USA). Journal of Paleolimnology 35, 179–192.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bird, B.W., Kirby, M.E., Howat, I.M., Tulaczyk, S., (2009). Geophysical evidence for Holocene lake-level change in southern California (Dry Lake). Boreas 39, 131–144.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blaauw, M., (2010). Methods and code for �classical� age-modelling of radiocarbon sequences. Quaternary Geochronology 5, 512–518.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blaauw, M., Christen, J.A., (2011). Flexible paleoclimate age-depth models using an autoregressive gamma process. Bayesian Analysis 6, 3, 457–474.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bulman, T.L., (1988). The eucalyptus in California. Fremontia 16, 9–12.Google Scholar
California Polytechnic State University, , (1995). Riparian Assessment and Woodland Management Plan for the San Antonio and Santa Ynez Riparian Areas, Vandenberg Air Force Base, California. California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, California.(Prepared for The Nature Conservancy, San Luis Obispo, California).Google Scholar
Clar, C.R., (1959). California Government and Forestry from Spanish Days until the Creation of the Department of Natural Resources in 1927. Division of Forestry, Department of Natural Resources, State of California, Sacramento, CA.Google Scholar
Clement, A.C., Seager, R., Cane, M.A., (2000). Suppression of El Ni�o during the mid-Holocene by changes in the Earth's orbit. Paleoceanography 15, 731–737.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cole, K.L., Liu, G., (1994). Holocene paleoecology of an estuary on Santa Rosa Island, California. Quaternary Research 41, 326–335.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cole, K.L., Wahl, E., (2000). A Late Holocene paleoecological record from Torrey Pines State Reserve, California. Quaternary Research 53, 341–351.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Conroy, J.L., Overpeck, J.T., Cole, J.E., Shanahan, T.M., Steinitz-Kannan, M., (2008). Holocene changes in eastern tropical Pacific climate inferred from a Gal�pagos lake sediment record. Quaternary Science Reviews 27, 1166–1180.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Coulombe, H.N., Cooper, C.F., (1976). Biological Inventory 1974/75. Ecological Assessment of Vandenberg Air Force Base, California II, San Diego State University, Center for Regional Environmental Studies, (Submitted to U.S. Air Force, HQ SAMSO, AFCEC-TR-76-15).Google Scholar
Dark, S., Stein, E.D., Bram, D., Osuna, J., Monteferante, J., Longcore, T., Grossinger, R., Beller, E., (2011). Historical Ecology of the Ballona Creek Watershed. Southern California Coastal Water Research Project, Technical Report.671.Google Scholar
Davis, O.K., (1992). Rapid climatic change in coastal southern California inferred from pollen analysis of San Joaquin Marsh. Quaternary Research 37, 89–100.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dean, W.E., Albrandt, T.S., Anderson, R.Y., Bradbury, J.P., (1996). Regional aridity in North America during the middle Holocene. The Holocene 6, 2, 145–155.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dibblee, T.W., (1950). Geology of Southwestern Santa Barbara County, California: Point Arguello, Lompoc, Point Conception, Los Olivos, and Gaviota Quadrangles. California Division of Mines Bulletin 150, California Department of Natural Resources, San Francisco.Google Scholar
Dibblee, T.W. Jr, (1988). Geologic map of the Lompoc and Surf Quadrangles, Santa Barbara County, California. Dibblee Geological Foundation Map DF-20 Dibblee Geological Foundation, Santa Barbara, California.Google Scholar
Ejarque, A., Miras, Y., Riera, S., (2011). Pollen and non-pollen palynomorphs indicators of vegetation and highland grazing activities obtained from modern surface and dung datasets in the eastern Pyrenees. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology 167, 123–139.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ejsmont-Karabin, J., (2012). The usefulness of zooplankton as lake ecosystem indicators: Rotifer trophic state index. Polish Journal of Ecology 60, 339–350.Google Scholar
Esau, E., (2006). Images of the Pacific Rim: Australia and California, 1850�1935. Power Publications, Sydney, Australia.Google Scholar
F�gri, K., Iversen, J., (1989). Textbook of Pollen Analysis. 4th edn. John Wiley and Sons, Chichester.Google Scholar
Frenkel, R.E., (1970). Ruderal vegetation along some California roadsides. University of California Publications in Geography 20, University of California Press, Berkeley, CA., 1–163.Google Scholar
Gannon, J.E., Stemberger, R.S., (1978). Zooplankton (especially crustaceans and rotifers) as indicators of water quality. Transactions of the American Microscopical Society 97, 16–35.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gavin, D.G., Hu, F.S., Lertzman, K.P., Corbett, P., (2006). Weak climatic control of forest fire history during the late Holocene. Ecology 87, 1722–1732.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Glassow, M.A., (2002). Late Holocene Prehistory of the Vandenberg Region. Erlandson, Jon M., Jones, Terry L., Catalysts to Complexity: Late Holocene Societies of the California Coast Cotsen Institute of Archaeology, University of California, Los Angeles., 183–204.Google Scholar
Grimm, E.C., (1987). CONISS: a FORTRAN 77 program for stratigraphically constrained cluster analysis by the method of incremental sum of squares. Computers & Geosciences 13, 13–35.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grossinger, R.M., Striplen, C.J., Askevold, R.A., Brewster, E., Beller, E.E., (2007). Historical landscape ecology of an urbanized California valley: wetlands and woodlands in the Santa Clara Valley. Landscape Ecology 22, 103–120.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haas, J.N., (1996). Neorhabdocoela oocytes � Palaeoecological indicators found in pollen preparations from Holocene freshwater lake sediments. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology 91, 371–382.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Herbert, T.D., Schuffert, J.D., Andreasen, D., Heusser, L., Lyle, M., Mix, A., Ravelo, A.C., Stott, L.D., Herguera, J.C., (2001). Collapse of the California Current during glacial maxima linked to climate change on land. Science 293, 71–76.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Heusser, L., (1978). Pollen in Santa Barbara Basin, California: a 12,000-yr record. Geological Society of America Bulletin 89, 673–678.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Heusser, L.E., (1995). Pollen Stratigraphy and Paleoecologic Interpretation of the 160-k.y. Record from Santa Barbara Basin, Hole 893A. Kennett, J.P., Baldauf, J.G., Lyle, M., Proceedings of the Ocean Drilling Program, Scientific Results vol. 146, 265–279.Google Scholar
Heusser, L.E., (1998). Direct correlation of millennial-scale changes in western North American vegetation and climate with changes in the California Current system over the past ~ 60 kyr. Paleoceanography 13, 252–262.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hickman, J.C., (1993). The Jepson Manual: Higher Plants of California. University of California Press, Berkeley.Google Scholar
Higuera, P.E., Peters, M.E., Brubaker, L.B., Gavin, D.G., (2007). Understanding the origin and analysis of sediment-charcoal records with a simulation model. Quaternary Science Reviews 26, 1790–1809.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Higuera, P.E., Brubaker, L.B., Anderson, P.M., Hu, F.S., Brown, T.A., (2009). Vegetation mediated the impacts of postglacial climatic change on fire regimes in the south-central Brooks Range, Alaska. Ecological Monographs 79, 201–219.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Johnson, P., (1974). The Golden Era of the Missions 1769�1834. Chronicle Books, San Francisco, CA.Google Scholar
Juggins, S., (2007). Software for Ecological and Palaeoecological Data Analysis and Visualisation: User Guide. University of Newcastle, Newcastle.Google Scholar
Kelsey, H., (1986). Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo. Huntington Library, San Marino, CA.Google Scholar
Kirby, M.E., Poulsen, C.J., Lund, S.P., Patterson, W.P., Reidy, L., Hammond, D.E., (2004). Late Holocene lake-level dynamics inferred from magnetic susceptibility and stable oxygen isotope data: Lake Elsinore, Southern California (USA). Journal of Paleolimnology 31, 275–293.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kirby, M.E., Lund, S.P., Poulsen, C.J., (2005). Hydrologic variability and the onset of modern El Ni�o-Southern Oscillation: a 19250-year record for Lake Elsinore, southern California. Journal of Quaternary Science 20, 239–254.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kirby, M.E., Lund, S.P., Anderson, M.A., Bird, B.W., (2007). Insolation forcing of Holocene climate change in southern California: a sediment study from Lake Elsinore. Journal of Paleolimnology 28, 395–417.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kirby, M.E., Zimmerman, S.R.H., Patterson, W.P., Rivera, J.J., (2012). A 9170-year record of decadal-to-multi-centennial scale pluvial episodes from the coastal Southwest United States: a role for atmospheric rivers?. Quaternary Science Reviews 46, 57–65.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Krug, J.C., Benny, G.L., Keller, H.W., (2004). Coprophilous fungi. Mueller, G.M., Bill, G.F., Foster, M.S., Biodiversity of Fungi: Inventory and Monitoring Methods Elsevier Academic Press, San Diego, CA., 467–499.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lebow, C.G., (2002). Archaeological Studies Supporting an Evaluation of the Anza Trail, Vandenberg Air Force Base, Santa Barbara County, California. Applied EarthWorks, Inc., Lompoc, California.(Submitted to Vandenberg Air Force Base, California).Google Scholar
Lebow, C.G., Hodges, C.M., Ryan, C., Haslouer, L., (2008). Archaeological Inventory for the San Antonio Creek Stream Restoration Project, Vandenberg Air Force Base, Santa Barbara County, California. Applied EarthWorks, Inc., Lompoc, California.(Submitted to Vandenberg Air Force Base, California).Google Scholar
Lebow, C.G., McKin, R.L., Harro, D.R., Hodges, C.M., Anderson, R.S., Haslouer, L.G., Munns, A.M., Smith, S.J., Popper, V.S., (2013). Draft. Prehistory of the San Antonio Creek Valley on Vandenberg Air Force Base, Santa Barbara County, California Applied EarthWorks, Inc., Lompoc, California.(Submitted to Vandenberg Air Force Base, California).Google Scholar
MacDonald, G.M., (2007). Severe and sustained drought in southern California and the West: present conditions and insights from the past on causes and impacts. Quaternary International 173�174, 87–100.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Makou, M.C., Eglinton, T.E., Oppo, D.W., Hughen, K.A., (2010). Postglacial changes in El Ni�o and La Ni�a behavior. Geology 38, 43–46.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mattoni, R., Longcore, T.R., (1997). The Los Angeles coastal prairie, a vanished community. Crossosoma 23, 2, 71–102.Google Scholar
Mensing, S.A., (1998). 560 years of vegetation change in the region of Santa Barbara, California. Madrono 45, 1–11.Google Scholar
Mensing, S.A., Byrne, R., (1998). Pre-mission invasion of Erodium cicutarium in the California grassland. Journal of Biogeography 25, 757–762.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moody, A., (2000). Analysis of plant species diversity with respect to island characteristics on the Channel Islands, California. Journal of Biogeography 27, 711–723.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mooney, H.A., (1988). South Coastal Scrub. Barbour, M.G., Major, J., Terrestrial Vegetation of California Special Publication. 9, California Native Plant Society, 471–490.Google Scholar
Moy, C.M., Seltzer, G.O., Rodbell, D.T., Anderson, D.M., (2002). Variability of El Ni�o/Southern Oscillation activity at millennial timescales during the Holocene epoch. Nature 420, 162–165.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nederbragt, A.J., Thurow, J.W., (2001). A 6000 yr varve record of Holocene climate in Saanich Inlet, British Columbia, from digital sediment colour analysis of ODP Leg 169S cores. Marine Geology 174, 95–110.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Payeras, M., (1995). Writings of Mariano Payeras. Translated and edited by Donald Cutter. Bellerophon Books, Santa Barbara.Google Scholar
Reimer, P.J., Baillie, M.G.L., Bard, E., Bayliss, A., Beck, J.W., Blackwell, P.G., Bronk Ramsey, C., Buck, Ramsey C., Burr, G.S., Edwards, R.L., Friedrich, M., Grootes, P.M., Guilderson, T.P., Hajdas, I., Heaton, T.J., Hogg, A.G., Hughen, K.A., Kaiser, K.F., Kromer, B., McCormac, F.G., Manning, S.W., Reimer, R.W., Richards, D.A., Southon, J.R., Talamo, S., Turney, C.S.M., van der Plicht, J., Weyhenmeyer, C.E., (2009). IntCal09 and Marine09 radiocarbon age calibration curves, 0�50,000 years cal BP. Radiocarbon 51, 4, 1111–1150.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rein, B., Luckge, A., Reinhardt, L., Sirocko, F., Wolf, A., Dullo, W.-C., (2005). El Ni�o variability of Peru during the last 22,000 years. Paleoceanography 20, A4003.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rodbell, D.T., Selzer, G.O., Anderson, D.M., Abbott, M.B., Enfield, D.B., Newman, J.H., (1999). An ~ 15,000 year record of El Ni�o-driven alluviation in southwestern Ecuador. Science 283, 516–520.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ruhge, J.M., (2009). Royal Ranchos of the Spanish Missions in Santa Barbara County. Quantum Imaging Associates, Lompoc.Google Scholar
Sandweiss, D.H., Maasch, K.A., Burger, R.L., Richardson III, J.B., Rollins, H.B., Clement, A., (2001). Variation in Holocene El Ni�o frequencies: climate records and cultural consequences in ancient Peru. Geology 29, 603–606.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Santos, R.L., (1997). The Eucalyptus of California: Seeds of Good or Seeds of Evil?. Alley Cass Publications, Denair, CA.Google Scholar
Snowball, I., Sandgren, P., (2001). Application of mineral magnetic techniques to paleolimnology. Tracking Environmental Change Using Lake Sediments 2, Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordretch., 217–237.Google Scholar
Stine, S., (1994). Extreme and persistent drought in California and Patagonia during mediaeval time. Nature 369, 546–549.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stuiver, M., Reimer, P.J., Bard, E., Beck, J.W., Bur, G.S., Hughen, K.A., Kromer, B., McCormac, F.G., van der Plicht, J., Spurk, M., (1998). INTCAL98 radiocarbon age calibration 24,000-0 cal BP. Radiocarbon 40, 1041–1083.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Van Geel, B., (2001). Non-pollen palynomorphs. Smol, J.P., Birks, H.J.B., Last, W.M., Tracking Environmental Change Using Lake Sediments: Terrestrial, Algal and Silicaceous Indicators vol. 3, Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht., 99–119.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Van Geel, B., Aptroot, A., (2006). Fossil ascomycetes in Quaternary deposits. Nova Hedwigia 82, 313–329.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Whitlock, C., Anderson, R.S., (2003). Fire history reconstructions based on sediment records from lakes and wetlands. Veblen, T.T., Baker, W.L., Montenegro, G., Swetnam, T.W., Fire and Climatic Change in Temperate Ecosystems of the Americas Ecological Studies . 160, Springer-Verlag, New York., 3–31.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Woolley, W., (1996). Santa Rosa Island: An Introduction.Allen, K.B., Island of the Cowboys, Santa Rosa Island Chapter Occasional Paper 7, Santa Cruz Island Foundation: Santa Barbara, CA/Kimberly Press, Goleta, CA., 5–7.Google Scholar
WRCC, http://www.wrcc.dri.edu/Climsum.html.Google Scholar