Paleoecological Assessment of Watershed History in PRIMENet Watersheds at Acadia National Park, USA |
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Authors: | M Schauffler S J Nelson J S Kahl G L Jacobson Jr T A Haines W A Patterson III K B Johnson |
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Institution: | (1) College of Natural Resources, University of Maine, Orono, ME 04469, USA;(2) Department of Natural Resources Conservation, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA 01003, USA;(3) Present address: Center for the Environment, Plymouth State University, Plymouth, NH, USA;(4) Present address: Department of Biological Sciences, University of Maine, Orono, ME, USA;(5) Department of Earth Sciences, Bryand Global Sciences Center, University of Maine, Orono, ME 04469, USA |
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Abstract: | Paleoecological reconstructions of forest stand histories for two upland watersheds at Acadia National Park in Maine were
completed to support related watershed chemistry studies. The project hypothesis was that forest type and fire history influence
long-term cycling and storage of atmospheric mercury and nitrogen within watersheds. The reconstructions document differences
in major vegetation composition and disturbance between the burned and unburned watersheds during the past several centuries.
Pollen and charcoal stratigraphies from organic sediment accumulations in forested wet depressions indicate that the present
experimental design of contrasting disturbance and forest histories has persisted during recent centuries. The unburned watershed
has been dominated by spruce (Picea rubens) and fir (Abies balsamea) for 500 years or more and has not recently burned or been substantially cleared. The burned watershed is dominated by a
heterogeneous forest of patchy hardwood, mixed wood, and softwood stands. A large portion of this watershed burned severely
in 1947 and probably more than once in the 1800s, and has supported heterogeneous successional forests for 200 years or longer.
Overall, these results support the underlying premise that the experimental design of this watershed research can be used
to infer landscape controls on biogeochemical processes. |
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Keywords: | Acadia National Park Disturbance history Fire history Fossil pollen Maine Paleoecology Pollen stratigraphy Small hollow Soil charcoal Spruce-fir forest |
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