Vegetation dynamics, paleoecology, and climate change during the Quaternary and Paleogene of Western Canada

我的研究计划的长期目标是重建过去的环境变化及其对生态系统的影响，包括不列颠哥伦比亚省的人口。我们发表的研究提供的信息已经被森林管理员、公园管理者、教育工作者、自然灾害规划者、研究人员和其他人用来了解我们环境的现状，并为未来可能的变化做出计划。遥远的过去可以可靠地预测可能再次发生的事情，并且是规划未来的重要组成部分。在下一个筹资周期，我们将致力实现以下四个短期目标。在目标1中，我们将研究过去11000年最剧烈的全球气候变化之一，即4200年前的“全新世翻转”。这种气候变化导致了特大干旱，并导致了地中海地区和其他地方古代文明的崩溃。我们计划对海达瓜伊的泥炭沉积物进行高分辨率采样、测年和分析，以验证这一事件也影响了加拿大西部的假设，正如初步证据所表明的那样。在目标2中，我们将继续对海达瓜的环境历史和植物生物地理进行研究，重点研究最后一次冰川期和更早的冰川期，约57000年前。冰河时期植物和动物的冰川避难所之谜是一个活跃的研究领域。我们在波尔角海边悬崖上找到的化石证据表明，一些植物物种在最后两次冰期中幸存下来，直到今天。第二个可能证实这种模式的地点是在玛丽角的海崖上发现的，我们建议在那里进行平行调查。在目标3中，我们将扩展我们的始新世古环境研究，使用来自不列颠哥伦比亚省奥肯那根高地的化石植物和昆虫，这是世界上最丰富的化石地区之一，时间为5000万至5300万年前。这一“始新世早期气候最佳”发生在5600万年前古新世末期的快速变暖事件之后，随后是始新世炎热的“温室世界”，这是一个生物多样性非常高的时期，许多植物和昆虫多样化。在与昆虫化石专家S.B.阿奇博尔德博士的持续合作中，我们计划在卑诗省Quilchena地区进行一次详细而公正的化石挖掘，以确定气候变暖对古代生物群落的影响，并与其他地区的类似研究进行比较。在目标4中，我们将在卡纳卡溪（Kanaka Creek）研究第一个中古新世植物巨型化石位置BC。它记录了5600万年前由于快速变暖而急剧改变的古新世晚期森林之前的森林组成和气候，这在随后温暖的始新世早期也可以看到。我在SFU实验室的化石需要与渥太华加拿大地质调查局的大量收集相结合，以进一步完善气候解释和植物多样性。

The long-term goal of my research program is to reconstruct past environmental changes and their impacts on ecosystems, including human populations in British Columbia. Information provided by our published research has been used by foresters, park managers, educators, natural hazards planners, researchers and others to understand the present state of our environment, and to plan for possible future changes. The distant past can be a reliable predictor of what might happen again, and is an important component of planning for the future. Over the next funding cycle we will address the following four short-term objectives. In Objective 1 we will investigate one of the most dramatic global climatic changes of the last 11,000 years, called "The Holocene Turnover" 4,200 years ago. This climate change caused megadroughts and contributed to the collapse of ancient civilizations in the Mediterranean region and elsewhere. We plan to sample, date and analyze peat deposits at high resolution on Haida Gwaii to test the hypothesis that this event also affected Western Canada, as suggested by preliminary evidence. In Objective 2 we will continue our research on the environmental history and plant biogeography of Haida Gwaii, with a focus on the last glaciation and an earlier glaciation about 57,000 years ago. The mystery of glacial refugia for plants and animals during ice age events is an area of active research. Our fossil evidence from sea-cliffs at Cape Ball indicates that some plant species survived the last two glaciations up to the present day. A second site that might confirm this pattern has been identified at sea-cliffs at Mary Point, and we propose to conduct a parallel investigation there. In Objective 3, we will extend our Eocene paleoenvironmental research using fossil plants and insects from the Okanagan Highlands of BC, one of the richest fossil areas in the world for the period of 50-53 million years ago. This "Early Eocene Climatic Optimum" followed a rapid warming event at the end of the Paleocene 56 million years ago that was followed by the hot Eocene "Greenhouse World", a period of very high biodiversity where many plants and insects diversified. In continued collaboration with Dr. S.B. Archibald, an expert on fossil insects, we plan to conduct a detailed and unbiased fossil excavation at the Quilchena, BC locality, to determine the effects of a warming climate on an ancient biotic community, for comparison with similar studies at other localities. In Objective 4, we will investigate the first mid-Paleocene plant megafossil locality BC at Kanaka Creek. It documents forest composition and climate prior to the drastically altered forest of the late Paleocene 56 million year ago due to rapid warming, that is also seen in the warm Early Eocene that follows. The fossils in my lab at SFU need to be combined with a large collection at the Geological Survey of Canada in Ottawa to further refine the climatic interpretation and plant diversity.