Abstract

One component of SCAPE highlights Holocene landscapes and vegetation from the northern plains. Pollen records yield information about past vegetation and, by inference, climate and resources. As of January 8 2001, 149 palaeoenvironmental records have been identified from the SCAPE study area. Of these records, 102 deal with pollen; others focus on diatoms, ostracodes, geochemistry, pigments, or plant macroremains. Comparison of the pollen records has to take into account species-dependent response to environmental changes, variable plant migration rates, and local factors (e.g., substrate type) affecting plant distributions. Variable chronologic control is also an important consideration in extracting time-stratified patterns from these data. However, this database will be useful for generating regional pictures of landscape change, and recontructing vegetation at the five Holocene time-slices that are the principal focus of SCAPE.