Tree line identification from pollen data: beyond the limit?

• Published in: Journal of Biogeography
• Main Authors: Binney, H, Gething, P, Nield, J, Sugita, S, Edwards, M
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: 2016
• Subjects: Canada; Tundra; Alaska
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2699.2011.02507.x; https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:ed2995ae-7b80-4b14-a1a8-68665c450d2a

Aim The boreal tree line is a prominent biogeographic feature, the position of which reflects climatic conditions. Pollen is the key sensor used to reconstruct past tree line patterns. Our aims in this study were to investigate pollen-vegetation relationships at the boreal tree line and to assess the success of a modified version of the biomization method that incorporates pollen productivity and dispersal in distinguishing the tree line. Location Northern Canada (307 sites) and Alaska (316 sites). Methods The REVEALS method for estimating regional vegetation composition from pollen data was simplified to provide correction factors to account for differential production and dispersal of pollen among taxa. The REVEALS-based correction factors were used to adapt the biomization method and applied as a set of experiments to pollen data from lake sediments and moss polsters from the boreal tree line. Proportions of forest and tundra predicted from modern pollen samples along two longitudinal transects were compared with those derived from a vegetation map by: (1) a tally of 'correct' versus 'incorrect' assignments using vegetation in the relevant map pixels, and (2) a comparison of the shape and position of north-south forest-cover curves generated from all transect pixels and from pollen data. Possible causes of bias in the misclassifications were assessed. Results Correcting for pollen productivity alone gave fewest misclassifications and the closest estimate of the modern mapped tree line position (Canada, +300km; Alaska, +10km). In Canada success rates were c.40-70% and all experiments over-predicted forest cover. Most corrections improved results over uncorrected biomization; using only lakes improved success rates to c.80%. In Alaska success rates were 70-80% and classification errors were more evenly distributed; there was little improvement over uncorrected biomization. Main conclusions Corrected biomization should improve broad-scale reconstructions of spatial patterns in forest/non-forest vegetation ...