Climate Change and Vegetation Dynamics at the Subarctic Alpine Treeline in Northwestern Canada

It is expected that anthropogenic increases in atmospheric levels of CO andother greenhouse gases will have a substantial impact on climate in the next 100years. Knowledge of the response of high latitude vegetation to past climatevariation is useful for understanding the possible response of such vegetation topotential future anthropogenic climate changes. The objectives of this thesis wereto investigate climate change, treeline dynamics and vegetation-climate relationshipsat the subarctic alpine treeline in northwestern Canada on a variety of spatial andtemporal scales. In order to address these objectives, three hypotheses were tested:1) Postglacial treeline change in the Mackenzie Mountains, N.W.T. was drivenby changes in the seasonal and latitudinal distribution of solar radiation; 2)Establishment and mortality patterns of trees at treeline are episodic, controlled byclimate variations; and 3) The position of the treeline in the Mackenzie Mountainsis in equilibrium with current climatic conditions. The first hypothesis was tested using the palynological analyses of coresfrom three lakes in the tundra, forest-tundra and open forest of the centralMackenzie Mountains. Although there was no evidence for higher treeline in thisregion at any time during the Holocene, the data suggest that Picca populations inthe forest-tundra were greater than present between about 8000 and 5000 yr BP,and have since declined steadily. These results are consistent with predictedchanges in summer insolation based on the Milankovitch theory. The second two hypotheses were addressed using tree-ring analyses of whitespruce at a number of sites in the alpine treeline zone of northwestern Canada.Dendroecological analyses of climate-growth relationships indicated that theresponse of trees to climate at these sites varied with tree age, which violates abasic assumption of standard dendroclimatic research. Age dependent modellingwas therefore used to produce a 350 year record of summer temperatures innorthwestern Canada from five sites in the N.W.T. and Yukon. Comparison ofthis record with white spruce recruitment/survival and mortality patterns indicatedthat the patterns are episodic, and controlled primarily by climatic variations. Awarming trend during the last 150 years has resulted in increases in forest-tundradensity, although there is evidence for only minor increases in treeline. Theestablishment of white spruce seedlings at sites within the upper forest-tundra,including several treeline sites, indicates that the treeline is in equilibrium withcurrent climatic conditions. These results indicate that 1) climate-growth relationships are complex, andthe simplifying assumptions made in order to reconstruct climatic records fromradial growth records may in some cases be invalid; 2) in this region the responseof white spruce populations to climate change on a variety of timescales has beenmanifested primarily as an increase in forest-tundra density, with little change intreeline altitude; and 3) seedlings are currently being produced within forest-tundrawhite spruce populations, and thus a rapid response to further climatic amelioration may be possible.Doctor of Philosophy (PhD

Postglacial Vegetation History of the Oak Plains in Southern Ontario

An open Quercus-dominated vegetation association, known locally as the oak plains, was found at a number of locations in southern Ontario until disturbance by European settlers in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Two contrasting theories have been suggested in the literature regarding the origin of the oak plains. One suggests they developed as the result of burning by pre-European natives, while the other considers them to be relics of a warmer, drier mid-Holocene climate. In this paper, the factors which led to the development of the oak plains are examined. The hypothesis that the oak plains resulted from native burning of the natural vegetation was tested by pollen analysis of a 5 m sediment core from Decoy Lake, a small kettle basin near Paris, Ontario located in an area mapped by early surveyors as oak plains. The Decoy Lake record was then compared to those of two nearby lakes supporting mesic forests. This palaeoecological analysis was supported by an investigation of physical factors controlling the historical distribution of the oak plains in a study area between Cambridge and Long Point on Lake Erie. The distribution of the oak plains and other vegetation associations in pre-settlement times, reconstructed from early survey records, correlated fairly well with the texture of soils and underlying Quaternary parent materials. Within the defined study area, the oak plains were restricted almost exclusively to well-drained soils overlying coarse-textured till and sandy outwash and deltaic deposits. Climatic factors and topography varied within the study area, but showed little correlation with the distribution of vegetation associations. The fossil pollen record at Decoy Lake indicates that a QuercusPinus- herb pollen assemblage, unique to southern Ontario, was found from 4000 yr BP until pre-settlement times. This suggests that the oak plains have existed in the area for at least 4000 years. The oak plains replaced an assemblage dominated by Pinus strobus. The warm, dry Hypsithermal appears to have allowed Pinus strobus to remain dominant on the well drained soils around Decoy Lake until after 5000 yr BP, 2000 to 3000 years longer than at other southern Ontario sites. The Picea zone (11,800 yr BP to 10,100 yr B P), Pin us banksiana/resinosa zone ( 10,100 yr BP to c. 9000 yr BP), and the replacement of Pinus banksiana/resinosa by Pinus strobus (c. 9000 yr BP) occurred contemporaneously with other records from southern Ontario. The hypothesis that anthropogenic factors resulted in the development of the oak plains was rejected since this association developed 2500 years before the onset of agricultural activity by natives in southern Ontario. Instead, it appears post-Hypsithermal increases in moisture, perhaps coupled with an amelioration of winter temperatures, led to the replacement of Pinus strobus by the oak plains in some areas of well-drained soils between 6300 yr BP and 4000 yr BP. The pollen record from Decoy Lake provides the first evidence from southern Ontario for substantial vegetation response to mid to late Holocene climatic change. ThesisMaster of Science (MSc

Canopy Resistance as Affected by Soil and Meteorological Factors in Potato

Precision irrigation requires a method of quantifying the crop water status or root zone depletion of water to determine when and how much water to apply to the soil. Changes in canopy resistance (rc) and canopy temperatures have the potential of being used as a crop water status indicator for irrigation management. A study was conducted on potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) grown in northern Egypt at Shibin El-Kom on an alluvial loamy soil for winter (20 Sept. 2001 through 20 Jan. 2002) and spring (1 Feb. 2002 through 20 May 2002) seasons to determine if rc derived from energy balance and plant parameters could be used to determine the onset of water stress and the amount of water required to refill the soil profile. Diurnal rc was determined for well-watered conditions and achieved minimum values of 20 and 10 s m-1 at noontime during winter and spring periods, environmenrespectively. A power relationship of -0.86 for well-watered conditions was developed between rc and net radiation (Rn) at various plant growth stages. In deficit soil water conditions, rc increased linearly with decreasing available soil water (ASW), with a change in potato rc of 0.75 and 0.39 s m-1 per percentage ASW for 1 and 2 MJ m-2 h-1 of Rn at midgrowth, respectively. A ratio of actual/potential canopy resistance (rc/rcp) was derived to normalize the meteorological differences between growing seasons. This ratio was 2.5 when 50% of ASW was removed and can be used as a parameter to determine the need for irrigations using weather factors and canopy temperature. Canopy resistance increased linearly with increasing soil solution salinity, electrical conductivity, when the soil solution was above the threshold soil salinity value. A ratio of rc/rcp was found to normalize the effects of different environments across saline and water deficit conditions

Prediction of crop coefficients from fraction of ground cover and height: Practical application to vegetable, field and fruit crops with focus on parameterization

Research PaperThe A&P approach, developed by Allen and Pereira (2009), estimates single and basal crop coefficients (Kc and Kcb) from the observed fraction of ground cover (fc) and crop height (h). The practical application of the A&P for several crops was reviewed and tested in a companion paper (Pereira et al., 2020). The current study further addresses the derivation of optimal values for A&P parameter values representing canopy transparency (ML) and stomatal adjustment (Fr), and tests the resulting model performance. Values reported in literature of ML and Fr were analysed. Optimal ML and Fr values were derived by a numerical search that minimized the differences between Kcb A&P with standard Kcb for vegetable, field, and fruit crops as tabulated by Pereira et al. (2021a, 2021b) and Rallo et al. (2021). Sources for fc were literature reviews supplemented by a remote sensing survey. Computed Kcb and Kc for mid- and end-season together with associated parameters values were tabulated. To improve the usability of the ML and Fr parameters a cross validation was performed, which consisted of the linear regression between Kcb computed by A&P and observed Kcb relative to independent data sets obtained from field observations. Results show that both series of Kcb match well, with regression coefficients very close to 1.0, coefficients of determination near 1.0, and root mean square errors (RMSE) of 0.06 for the annual crops and RMSE = 0.07 for the trees and vines. These errors represent less than 10% of most of the computed tabulated Kcb. The tabulated Fr and ML of this paper can be regarded as defaults to support A&P field practice when observations of fc and h are performed. Therefore, the A&P approach shows to be appropriate for use in irrigation scheduling and planning when fc and h are observed using ground and/or remote sensing, hence supporting irrigation water savingsinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Periglacial landscape dynamics in the western Canadian Arctic: Results from a thermokarst lake record on a push moraine (Herschel Island, Yukon Territory)

Ice-rich permafrost landscapes are sensitive to climate and environmental change due to the melt-out of ground ice during thermokarst development. Thermokarst processes in the northern Yukon Territory are currently not well-documented. Lake sediments from Herschel Island (69°36′N; 139°04′W) in the western Canadian Arctic provide a record of thermokarst lake development since the early Holocene. A 727 cm long lake sediment core was analyzed for radiographic images, magnetic susceptibility, granulometry, and biogeochemical parameters (organic carbon, nitrogen, and stable carbon isotopes). Based on eight calibrated AMS radiocarbon dates, the sediment record covers the last ~11,500 years and was divided into four lithostratigraphic units (A to D) reflecting different thermokarst stages. Thermokarst initiation at the study area began ~11.5 cal ka BP. From ~11.5 to 10.0 cal ka BP, lake sediments of unit A started to accumulate in an initial lake basin created by melt-out of massive ground ice and thaw subsidence. Between 10.0 and 7.0 cal ka BP (unit B) the lake basin expanded in size and depth, attributed to talik formation during the Holocene thermal maximum. Higher-than-modern summer air temperatures led to increased lake productivity and widespread terrain disturbances in the lake's catchment. Thermokarst lake development between 7.0 and 1.8 cal ka BP (unit C) was characterized by a dynamic equilibrium, where lake basin and talik steadily expanded into ambient ice-rich terrain through shoreline erosion. Once lakes become deeper than the maximum winter lake ice thickness, thermokarst lake sediments show a great preservation potential. However, site-specific geomorphic factors such as episodic bank-shore erosion or sudden drainage through thermo-erosional valleys or coastal erosion breaching lake basins can disrupt continuous deposition. A hiatus in the record from 1.8 to 0.9 cal ka BP in Lake Herschel likely resulted from lake drainage or allochthonous slumping due to collapsing shore lines before continuous sedimentation of unit D recommenced during the last 900 years