Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Fire-Vegetation-Climate Interactions Across The Holocene On The U.S. Southeastern Coastal Plain, Mathew S. Boehm

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation research examined multiple proxy indicators in sediment cores from one lake and one wetland to reconstruct long-term relationships between fire, vegetation, and climate in the southeastern U.S.

At Lake Balboa (30.6992 N, 83.2031 W; 48 m elevation), a sinkhole pond located in southern Georgia, Bølling-Allerød conditions were sufficiently wet to maintain a shallow wetland at the site. Evidence for fire was minimal. Between 12,600 and 9200 cal yr BP, water availability declined, leading to a potential hiatus in sedimentation. During the early Holocene moisture availability increased, leading to greater primary productivity within and outside the lake, triggering an …

Holocene Climate And Environmental History Of Laguna Saladilla, Dominican Republic, Maria Anne Caffrey

Doctoral Dissertations

Stratigraphic analyses of lacustrine sediments provide powerful tools for reconstructing past environments. The records that result from these analyses are key to understanding present-day climate mechanisms and how the natural environment may respond to anthropogenic climate change in the future. This doctoral dissertation research investigates climate and environmental history at Laguna Saladilla (19° [degrees] 39' N, 71° [degrees] 42' W; ca. 2 masl), a large (220 ha) lake along the north coast of Hispaniola. I reconstructed changes in vegetation and environmental conditions over the mid to late Holocene based on pollen, microscopic charcoal, and diatoms in an 8.51 m sediment …