Historic grazing in southern New England, USA, recorded by fungal spores in lake sediments

• Published in: Vegetation history and archaeobotany Vol. 26; no. 2; pp. 159 - 165
• Main Authors: Orbay-Cerrato, Maria E., Oswald, W. Wyatt, Doughty, Elaine D., Foster, David R., Hall, Brian R.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer Science + Business Media 01.03.2017; Springer Berlin Heidelberg; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Anthropology; Archaeology; Biogeosciences; Bovidae; Cattle; Climate Change; Earth and Environmental Science; Earth Sciences; Fungi; Grazing; Historical ecology; Lake sediments; Lakes; Livestock; Mycology; ORIGINAL ARTICLE; Ovis aries; Paleontology; Pollen; Ponds; Sediments; Sheep; Spores; United States > US; New England states; Coprophilous fungal spores; Palaeoecology; Massachusetts; Fire; Land use; Charcoal; Pollen analysis
• ISSN: 0939-6314; 1617-6278
• DOI: 10.1007/s00334-016-0577-8

Decadal-scale analyses of fungal spores in a lake-sediment core from Ware Pond, located in the town of Marblehead in northeastern Massachusetts, test the potential of this approach for reconstructing past sheep and cattle grazing in southern New England, USA. The influx of spores of Sordaria and other coprophilous taxa increases at AD 1650, which corresponds with the beginning of European settlement, and subsequent peaks in these taxa at AD 1840 coincide with maximum abundances of weedy and agricultural taxa in the pollen record. Historical data from Marblehead and neighbouring towns indicate that maximum numbers of cattle and sheep occurred at this time. These findings suggest that fungal spores in New England lake sediments can be used to reconstruct changes in grazing pressure over time at the landscape scale.