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Late-Quaternary Vegetational Dynamics and Community Stability Reconsidered

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Paul A. Delcourt  and
Hazel R. Delcourt
Paul A. Delcourt
Affiliation:
Program for Quaternary Studies of the Southeastern United States, Department of Geological Sciences, and Graduate Program in Ecology, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee 37996 USA
Hazel R. Delcourt
Affiliation:
Program for Quaternary Studies of the Southeastern United States, Department of Botany, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee 37996 USA
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Abstract

Defining the spatial and temporal limits of vegetational processes such as migration and invasion of established communities is a prerequisite to evaluating the degree of stability in plant communities through the late Quaternary. The interpretation of changes in boundaries of major vegetation types over the past 20,000 yr offers a complementary view to that provided by migration maps for particular plant taxa. North of approximately 43°N in eastern North America, continual vegetational disequilibrium has resulted from climatic change, soil development, and species migrations during postglacial times. Between 33° and 39°N, stable full-glacial vegetation was replaced by a relatively unstable vegetation during late-glacial climatic amelioration; stable interglacial vegetation developed there after about 9000 yr B.P. Late-Quaternary vegetation has been in dynamic equilibrium, with a relatively constant flora, south of 33°N on upland interfluves along the northern Gulf Coastal Plain, peninsular Florida, and west-central Mexico.

Type
Original Articles
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 19 , Issue 2 , March 1983 , pp. 265 - 271
Copyright
University of Washington

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