Open AccessLate Holocene deforestation of a tree line site: estimation of pre‐fire vegetation composition and black spruce cover using soil charcoal
Author(s) -
Asselin Hugo,
Payette Serge
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
ecography
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.973
H-Index - 128
eISSN - 1600-0587
pISSN - 0906-7590
DOI - 10.1111/j.2005.0906-7590.04216.x
Subject(s) - black spruce , understory , charcoal , tree line , tundra , environmental science , vaccinium , vegetation (pathology) , forestry , ecology , geography , taiga , biology , ecosystem , climate change , canopy , chemistry , medicine , organic chemistry , pathology
Anatomical identification of soil charcoal fragments was used to reconstruct the pre‐fire vegetation composition of a tree line site that burned ca 930 cal. AD in northern Québec, Canada. Soil charcoal was also used as a proxy to estimate black spruce Picea mariana palaeo‐cover. The site (a low‐elevated hilltop) is presently devoid of spruce trees and dominated by dwarf birch Betula glandulosa , lichens, ericaceous shrubs ( Ledum decumbens , Vaccinium vitis‐idaea ) and sedges. In contrast, black spruce dominated before the fire with an understory of Empetrum nigrum and Vaccinium vitis‐idaea . Pre‐fire black spruce cover was estimated at 32%, giving an indication of the potential for warming‐induced natural reforestation of the forest‐tundra.