Late Quaternary Vegetational and Climatic History of South- western Alaska

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Recent palynological research has produced detailed regional vegetation histories for northeastern Beringia (northern Alaska and northwestern Canada). Comparisons of these histories with paleoclimate models raise questions concerning regional spatial and temporal patterns of late Quaternary climate and vegetation change. This award will support an investigation to collect and analyze the pollen content of 8 lake sediment cores from southwestern Alaska, interpret the late Quaternary vegetation and climate history of this region, and compare these histories to those from other regions of Beringia. The vegetation history will be described based on species ecologies and statistical comparison of modern and fossil pollen spectra. Response surface analyses and autecological requirements of indicator taxa will be used to infer past climate from the pollen records, and these interpretations will be compared to computer simulations.