Climatic and ecohydrologic variability of the Northern Range during the Holocene based on multiple proxy evidence
We are developing a high-resolution record of drought variability for the Northern Range that covers the last 2000 years in detail, and extends back through the Holocene and beyond. Drought history will be based on a reconstruction of the fire activity, lake-level and lake chemistry, erosion inputs, and vegetation at decadal intervals, as well as an understanding of how these proxies relate to changes in moisture regime at present. The information will come from an analysis of climatically sensitive fossils and inorganic components preserved in sedimentary cores from Crevice Lake. Cores spanning the last 11,000 years were collected from Crevice Lake in 2001 as part of collaborative research underway by Montana State University, University of Nebraska, and the U.S. Geological Survey (Yellowstone Science, 2002). Our collective goal is to better understand the Holocene environmental history of northern Yellowstone National Park. In the proposed research, we will concentrate our efforts on the last 2000 years in order to address questions of immediate management interest, raised by the National Research Council Committee on Ungulate Management in Yellowstone National Park in their recent report "Ecological Dynamics on Yellowstone's Northern Range" (National Research Council, 2002).
The fossils, lithological, and chemical components of the sediment provide information on past environmental conditions. For example, fossil pollen discloses the nature of past vegetation and can help identify changes in forest/grassland abundance, willow, and other moisture-limited plants. Fossil diatoms are sensitive to changes in water chemistry and limnological productivity, and thus serve as a proxy of evaporation, salinity, and lake level. Plant remains (seeds, leaves, etc.) in the cores record changes in the riparian and aquatic plant communities related to climate and lake-level fluctuations. Variations in the abundance of charcoal particles in the core portray changes in fire frequency. Core lithology and geochemistry reveal fluctuations in erosional inputs and changes in water chemistry. For example, oxygen and carbon isotopes register variations in evaporation and lake-level, as well changes in algal productivity. Changes in magnetic susceptibility indicate inputs of clastic sediment, sometimes associated with intense fires, and geochemical data describe changes in watershed inputs and water chemistry. In other words, research that seeks to reconstruct past environments from lake-sediment records is interdisciplinary and no single proxy provides the full picture.
Yellowstone Ecological Research Center (YERC) NASA Grant
The Yellowstone Ecological Research Center (YERC) has been funded by NASA to conduct a non-traditional internship program titled Beyond Hayden: Exploration, Inspiration, and Education in Yellowstone. The program-whose central science topic is water management-is designed to (a) inspire and educate future scientists and science educators, to (b) increase the use of NASA ESE resources in STEM education, and to (c) set the foundation for a long-term national program for servicing Native American and rural American communities. The Scope of Work for MSU is conducted by student interns under the direction of Dr. Cathy Whitlock in the Earth Sciences Department.
Student interns working under this program employ NASA data in planning for, implementing, and analyzing field work for Earth, biological, and ecological science research projects. This work is carried out in conjunction with multi-disciplinary, multi-mentorship teams from YERC, the Earth Sciences Department at Montana State University, the interpretive arm of Yellowstone National Park, the Biodiversity Conservation Divisions of Turner Enterprises, Inc. This unique collaborative team provides student researcher the opportunity to employ NASA data products in a variety of Earth science research areas, working with private, federal, or academic remote sensing scientists, ecologists, geologists, hydrologists, biostatisticians, engineers, and biologists.
We are developing a high-resolution record of drought variability for the Northern Range that covers the last 2000 years in detail, and extends back through the Holocene and beyond. Drought history will be based on a reconstruction of the fire activity, lake-level and lake chemistry, erosion inputs, and vegetation at decadal intervals, as well as an understanding of how these proxies relate to changes in moisture regime at present. The information will come from an analysis of climatically sensitive fossils and inorganic components preserved in sedimentary cores from Crevice Lake. Cores spanning the last 11,000 years were collected from Crevice Lake in 2001 as part of collaborative research underway by Montana State University, University of Nebraska, and the U.S. Geological Survey (Yellowstone Science, 2002). Our collective goal is to better understand the Holocene environmental history of northern Yellowstone National Park. In the proposed research, we will concentrate our efforts on the last 2000 years in order to address questions of immediate management interest, raised by the National Research Council Committee on Ungulate Management in Yellowstone National Park in their recent report "Ecological Dynamics on Yellowstone's Northern Range" (National Research Council, 2002).
The fossils, lithological, and chemical components of the sediment provide information on past environmental conditions. For example, fossil pollen discloses the nature of past vegetation and can help identify changes in forest/grassland abundance, willow, and other moisture-limited plants. Fossil diatoms are sensitive to changes in water chemistry and limnological productivity, and thus serve as a proxy of evaporation, salinity, and lake level. Plant remains (seeds, leaves, etc.) in the cores record changes in the riparian and aquatic plant communities related to climate and lake-level fluctuations. Variations in the abundance of charcoal particles in the core portray changes in fire frequency. Core lithology and geochemistry reveal fluctuations in erosional inputs and changes in water chemistry. For example, oxygen and carbon isotopes register variations in evaporation and lake-level, as well changes in algal productivity. Changes in magnetic susceptibility indicate inputs of clastic sediment, sometimes associated with intense fires, and geochemical data describe changes in watershed inputs and water chemistry. In other words, research that seeks to reconstruct past environments from lake-sediment records is interdisciplinary and no single proxy provides the full picture.
Yellowstone Ecological Research Center (YERC) NASA Grant
The Yellowstone Ecological Research Center (YERC) has been funded by NASA to conduct a non-traditional internship program titled Beyond Hayden: Exploration, Inspiration, and Education in Yellowstone. The program-whose central science topic is water management-is designed to (a) inspire and educate future scientists and science educators, to (b) increase the use of NASA ESE resources in STEM education, and to (c) set the foundation for a long-term national program for servicing Native American and rural American communities. The Scope of Work for MSU is conducted by student interns under the direction of Dr. Cathy Whitlock in the Earth Sciences Department.
Student interns working under this program employ NASA data in planning for, implementing, and analyzing field work for Earth, biological, and ecological science research projects. This work is carried out in conjunction with multi-disciplinary, multi-mentorship teams from YERC, the Earth Sciences Department at Montana State University, the interpretive arm of Yellowstone National Park, the Biodiversity Conservation Divisions of Turner Enterprises, Inc. This unique collaborative team provides student researcher the opportunity to employ NASA data products in a variety of Earth science research areas, working with private, federal, or academic remote sensing scientists, ecologists, geologists, hydrologists, biostatisticians, engineers, and biologists.
