This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by MacDonald, G. M. Articles by Borisova, O. K. Search for Related Content GeoRef GeoRef Citation Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

Radiocarbon dated Pinus sylvestris L. wood from beyond tree-line on the Kola Peninsula, Russia

Bruce R. Gervais

Departments of Geography and Biology, UCLA, 405 Hilgard Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90095–1524, USA

Jeff A. Snyder

Department of Geology, Bowling Green State University, 190 Overman Hall, Bowling Green, Ohio 43403, USA

Gennady A. Tarasov

Murmansk Marine Biological Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, Murmansk 183010, Russia

Olga K. Borisova

Laboratory of Evolutionary Geography, Institute of Geography, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow 190917, Russia

Radiocarbon dates were obtained from 24 samples of Pinus sylvestris L. (Scots pine) wood recovered from sites beyond the modern conifer tree-line on the Kola Peninsula of Russia. Twenty-one of the samples came from the shallow waters and eroding peats at the edges of two small lakes at 68°439N, 35°109E, located north of the modern conifer tree-line. Three samples came from a small pond located above the modern elevational limits of Pinus sylvestris at 68°259N, 35°199E. The radiocarbon dates indicate that pine trees grew approximately 20 km north of the mapped modern limits of the species from 6680 BP to 3830 BP. Pine trees were also growing some 40 m above their modern elevational limits between 5890 BP and 3450 BP. Nineteen of the samples date from 6680 BP to 5070 BP, suggesting that the density of trees north of the modern tree-line was greatest between 7000 and 5000 BP. The timing of tree-line advance and greatest density on the Kola Peninsula are in agreement with the results of similar studies from northern Fennoscandia which indicate that maximum northern and elevational extension of tree-line occurred between 7000 BP and 4000 BP. The general agreement between tree-line reconstructions suggests that the climatic changes that promoted mid-Holocene tree-line extension along the North Atlantic margins in northern Fennoscandia propagated eastward to the Kola Peninsula. The late timing of initial pine expansion on the Kola and in adjacent northern Fennoscandia remains problematic and may relate to lower winter insolation, temperature regimes in the adjacent oceans or slow rates of migration.

Key Words: Pinus sylvestris • tree-line • climate change • subfossil wood • radiocarbon dating • Kola Peninsula • Russia • Holocene

The Holocene, Vol. 10, No. 1, 143-147 (2000)
DOI: 10.1191/095968300667807510


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?

This article has been cited by other articles:

				G.M MacDonald, K.V Kremenetski, and D.W Beilman Climate change and the northern Russian treeline zone Phil Trans R Soc B, July 12, 2008; 363(1501): 2283 - 2299. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				S. Kultti, S. Kultti, K. Mikkola, T. Virtanenj, M. Timonen, and M. Eronen Past changes in the Scots pine forest line and climate in Finnish Lapland: a study based on megafossils, lake sediments, and GIS-based vegetation and climate data The Holocene, April 1, 2006; 16(3): 381 - 391. [Abstract] [PDF]

				E. A. Ilyashuk, B. P. Ilyashuk, D. Hammarlund, and I. Larocque Holocene climatic and environmental changes inferred from midge records (Diptera: Chironomidae, Chaoboridae, Ceratopogonidae) at Lake Berkut, southern Kola Peninsula, Russia The Holocene, September 1, 2005; 15(6): 897 - 914. [Abstract] [PDF]

				T. Boettger, T. Boettger, A. Hiller, and K. Kremenetski Mid-Holocene warming in the northwest Kola Peninsula, Russia: northern pine-limit movement and stable isotope evidence The Holocene, April 1, 2003; 13(3): 403 - 410. [Abstract] [PDF]

				B. B. Wolfe, B. B. Wolfe, T. W. D. Edwards, H. Jiang, G. M. MacDonald, B. R. Gervais, and J. A. Snyder Effect of varying oceanicity on early- to mid-Holocene palaeohydrology, Kola Peninsula, Russia: isotopic evidence from treeline lakes The Holocene, February 1, 2003; 13(2): 153 - 160. [Abstract] [PDF]

				A. Hiller, A. Hiller, T. Boettger, and C. Kremenetski Mediaeval climatic warming recorded by radiocarbon dated alpine tree-line shift on the Kola Peninsula, Russia The Holocene, May 1, 2001; 11(4): 491 - 497. [Abstract] [PDF]

				B. R. Gervais, B. R. Gervais, and G. M. MacDonald Tree-ring and summer-temperature response to volcanic aerosol forcing at the northern tree-line, Kola Peninsula, Russia The Holocene, May 1, 2001; 11(4): 499 - 505. [Abstract] [PDF]