A STATISTICAL TEST OF FLORISTIC ZONES AS INFERRED FROM THE POLLEN RECORD: SOUTHERN NEW ENGLAND

Abstract

This study presents the stratigraphic and floristic interpretations of data collected from a 6.49 m core taken within the Rowley River Marsh, Massachusetts. Twenty-five samples were collected at 28 centimeter intervals from the core in this Holocene coastal marsh. Based on stratigraphic control, the age of the core samples includes a time sequence extending back 4,600 years from the present. Analysis of the core stratigraphic units suggests the environment has essentially been a low energy estuarine system for the past 4,600 years. The 25 samples were also processed for pollen taxa present since 4,600 years B.P. A discriminant function analysis was used to test the floristic zonal similarity of the diagnostic taxa (Picea, Pinus, Carya, Tsuga, Quercus) from the core with those same taxa used to establish the floristic zones for the southern New England region. The results of the analysis demonstrated that 84% of the samples were correctly classified by floristic zone. Although the distribution of diagnosti...