Can we detect a west Norwegian tree line from modern samples of plant remains and pollen? Results from the DOORMAT project

Abstract

In the DOORMAT (Direct Observation of Recent Macrofossils Across Treeline) project, the modern representation of local vegetation by pollen and plant remains (plant macrofossils) across a west Norwegian tree line, composed of Betula pubescens and Pinus sylvestris, has been studied over 2 years. The aim was to discover if the modern tree line could be detected and therefore how precisely past tree-line movements could be reconstructed and related to Holocene climate changes by using one proxy or a combination of both. Traps were placed in the vegetation from 663 to 1,120 m a.s.l., spanning the pine altitudinal species limit, the birch tree-line ecotone, and the vegetation zones up to the mid-alpine zone. Three traps were also set in the small lake Trettetjorn close to the modern tree line at 800 m a.s.l. Traps were emptied twice a year to sample both summer and winter seasons. Macrofossils represent their local vegetation well. However, tree Betula remains were trapped above the tree line and Pinus and Picea remains were recorded 1.0–1.5 km away from their sources, demonstrating considerable dispersal capacity. This shows that rare macrofossil remains do not necessarily represent the local presence of these trees. Aerial tree pollen deposition in traps at the upper limit of pine woodland and in the subalpine birch woodland was unexpectedly low, whereas pollen accumulation rates (PAR) were orders of magnitude higher in the lake traps. We hypothesise that the lake receives regional pollen rain washed in from its catchment by snow meltwater and that high values in traps are due to continuous suspension of pollen in the lake water during summer. The interpretation of tree-line changes from existing Holocene pollen and plant macrofossil data from Trettetjorn was supported and refined by the DOORMAT macrofossil data, but the modern pollen data were anomalous.