Holocene Vegetation Succession in the
Canadian Arctic Archipelago and Greenland
K Gajewski
Laboratory for Paleoclimatology and Climatology
Department of Geography, University of Ottawa
Ottawa, Ontario, K1N 6N5 CANADA
[email protected] / www.lpc.uottawa.ca
ABSTRACT
CONCLUSIONS
A series of pollen diagrams from across the Canadian Arctic and Greenland summarize the development of the tundra vegetation following
deglaciation. Pollen data were obtained from the literature or public databases. Vegetation colonized immediately after local deglaciation,
and diversity of the pollen assemblages changed little over the course of the Holocene. When compared to modern pollen from across the
area, fossil assemblages can typically find an analogue in the modern dataset. Exceptions are the initial few pollen assemblages following
deglaciation, which in some cases found no good modern analogue. The major changes in the pollen records occurred in the pollen
concentration and pollen influx, which suggests that the vegetation in the early Holocene was more productive and denser at many sites,
during a time when many independent data show warmer conditions.
The study of modern analogues of the fossil samples shows that most Arctic postglacial assemblages find
analogues in the present, although sometimes at some distance from the present-day site (Figure 4). Exceptions
are only a few samples immediately after deglaciation, in the immediate succession on the newly created land.
However, after that the biodiversity seems not to have greatly changed .
However, the productivity and relative abundance of the taxa has changed continuously through the postglacial
(Figure 3). The vegetation during the early to mid Holocene was greatly more productive than seen today. This
was during a time when the Canadian Arctic was warmer than at present, as indicated by independent
paleoclimate records such as ice core ice-melt results and also reconstructed using pollen assemblages.
INTRODUCTION
These results suggest that future climate changes will act more on productivity than biodiversity of the Arctic.
Stratigraphic pollen series from lake or bog
sediments provide records of past vegetation.
Although many pollen records have been available
from around Greenland, due in large part to
pioneering studies by B Fredskild (Figure 1; Table
1), only in the past few years have pollen diagrams
been prepared from across the Canadian Arctic.
We are now in a position to document, for the first
time, the time-space evolution of the terrestrial
Arctic ecosystems through the postglacial.
400
Figure 4
350
Comparing fossil assemblages in the pollen
diagrams with all modern pollen samples from the
Canadian Arctic, illustrates modern analogues for
the fossil assemblages. An analogue suggests that
the vegetation in the past was similar to that
present today on the landscape. SQDs less than
20 suggest a good analogue was found. Therefore,
except for the first few assemblages immediately
following deglaciation, analogues are found for
most fossil pollen assemblages.
No samples
300
250
200
150
100
50
0
Figure 1 Location of sites used in this study.
5
10
15
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25
30
35
40
45
50
55
60
SQD
n
tio
x
C
In
flu
In
on
flu
x
ce
nt
ra
tio
nt
ce
on
C
C
In
on
flu
x
ce
nt
ra
Pollen concentrations &
influx through time; note the
higher values in the earlier
Holocene. As the scatterplot
shows(Blue - Arctic NAP; Red Arctic or Boreal), in modern
samples, there is a clear
relation between pollen
concentration (influx cannot
be measured in modern
samples) and summer
temperature, suggesting that
in the early Holocene
increase in concentrations is
a function of higher
productivity on the
landscape.
500
2000
200
8000
0
2000
4000
Cal yr BP
Principal components ordination of
modern pollen samples from across
the Canadian Arctic (Gajewski, 2002).
The labelled arrows are the
component loadings, and the colourcoded numbers are the sample
scores. Samples from a particular
region ordinate together, suggesting
that there are regional differences in
pollen assemblages. This diagram
summarizes the major trends in the
pollen deposition today, and aid in the
interpretation of fossil samples. and
clearly indicates that environmental
changes can be interpreted from
Arctic pollen data.
BC01
ra
tio
n
Figure 3b
Figure 2
JR01
n
KR02
6000
8000
10000
12000
20000
200
Grains/cc Grains/cc/yr
20
2000
4000
4000
6000
8000
ry
a
G s
ra
m
O ine
xy a
e
r
Pa iaty
pa pe
S. ve
op r
Sa po
xif sitif
r
Po ag olia
ly ac
po ea
dia e
Sp
ce
ha
ae
gn
um
C
Er
Mean July Temperature (oC)
2000
16
D
lix
Sa
0
Cal yr BP
0
18
ar
y
C oph
he y
n ll
C op ace
ru od a
c
ia e
C ifer ce
yp ae a
e
er
ac
ea
e
ic
a
Ar cea
te e
m
is
ia
ae
dia
po
ly
Po
Po
ty
ria
xy
O
ra
G
Kr02
ce
ly
g
Ly on
co ac
po ea
diu e
m
pe
e
e
ea
er
in
ac
ea
e
ea
yp
C
us
lix
ic
ac
Sa
Er
la
tu
Aln
Be
cal yr BP
Pollen data were obtained from the
Canadian Pollen Database
( w w w. l p c . u o t t a w a . c a ) , N E O TO M A
(www.neotoma.org), Global Pollen Database
Pangaea
( www.ncdc.noaa.gov/paleo ),
(www.pangaea.de) or from the authors.
Modern pollen are from the North American
modern Pollen Database (Whitmore et al.,
2005; www.lpc.uottawa.ca).
m
METHODS
Kloft So
6000
8000
10000
40
20
20
40
60
20
40
20
40
20
40
60
80
20
40
20
Pollen percentages
20
40
20
40
60
20
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
100
10000
20
14
20
1000
10000
100000
1000000
Pollen percentages
xy
r
Sa iaty
xif pe
R rag
os a
a c
Po ce eae
te ae
Eq ntilla
uis
Sp etu
ha m
gn
um
D
O
ry
a
G s
ra
m
in
ea
e
te
m
is
ar ia
y
C oph
he y
n ll
C op ace
ru od a
c
ia e
C ifer ce
yp ae a
e
er
ac
ea
e
Ar
Sa
Aln
lix
us
la
tu
Be
C
MS7412
ry
a
G s
ra
m
in
ea
O
e
xy
r
Pa iaty
pa pe
So ve
pp r
Po os
ly itifo
g
R on lia
an a
u c
Po nc eae
te ula
L. ntilla cea
e
se
Po lag
ly o
po
dia
ce
ae
te
m
C
Ar
Er
ic
Sa
lix
ac
is
ea
e
Qeqertat
D
High-Arctic polar desert,
Melville Island
ar ia
y
C oph
yp y
er lla
ac ce
ea ae
e
Log (Pollen Concentration (grains/cc))
Figure 3a
0
0
Pollen diagrams from the Arctic. The changes in
bio-diversity are shown by the pollen
percentages; note that pollen can rarely be
identified to species. Although there have been
changes in the relative abundance of the various
taxa during the Holocene, all species arrived
immediately after deglaciation, and have
remained in the Arctic during the entire Holocene.
2000
Cal yr BP
Cal yr BP
2000
4000
4000
6000
6000
8000
Mid-Arctic tundra, Simpson
Lake, Boothia Peninsula
20
40
20
40
20
40
60
20
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This study is funded by grants from NSERC and CFCAS. Field work is funded
by PCSP. I acknowledge the authors who contributed data to this study.
40
20
20
20
20
40
20
40
60
20
Pollen percentages
Pollen percentages
IPY 2012
Montréal
20
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