Late Quaternary Vegetational and Climatic History of South- western Alaska

Linda B. Brubaker    lbru@u.washington.edu (Principal Investigator current)
            
Abstract    

     Recent palynological research has produced detailed regional vegetation
     histories for northeastern Beringia (northern Alaska and northwestern Canada). 
     Comparisons of these histories with paleoclimate models raise questions
     concerning regional spatial and temporal patterns of late Quaternary climate
     and vegetation change.

     This award will support an investigation to
     collect and analyze the pollen content of 8 lake sediment cores from
     southwestern Alaska, interpret the late Quaternary vegetation and climate
     history of this region, and compare these histories to those from other regions
     of Beringia. The vegetation history will be described based on species
     ecologies and statistical comparison of modern and fossil pollen spectra. 
     Response surface analyses and autecological requirements of indicator taxa will
     be used to infer past climate from the pollen records, and these
     interpretations will be compared to computer simulations.