Thesis abstract: In search of the forest primeval: data-driven approaches to mapping historic vegetation

Abstract

news and update just six soundbites of ‘review’, which appear to have be selected purely for publicity. Personally, I would prefer to see some attempt at balance here; the book is good enough to stand construc- tive criticism on its website. Overall, despite its faults, this book contains many fascinating, informative and sometimes in- sightful articles, which together make both a use- ful reference and a fine addition to a coffee table. Most readers should, like me, happily spend hours flicking from one article to another, learning something while celebrating the wonderful diver- sity that is the world’s islands. If you are thinking of treating yourself to something a little indulgent, you could do a lot worse than the Encyclopedia of Islands. Richard Field School of Geography, University of Notting- ham, UK e-mail: Richard.Field@nottingham.ac.uk http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/~lgzwww/ contacts/staffPages/richardfield/rf.htm Edited by Joaquin Hortal thesis abstract In search of the forest primeval: data-driven approaches to mapping historic vegetation Todd D. Fagin PhD, Department of Geography, University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK, USA Current address: Department of Geography, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK, USA; e-mail: todd.d.fagin@okstate.edu; http://www.geog.okstate.edu/ Introduction The current biogeographic patterns in a given area are not only the product of contemporary envi- ronmental factors, such as climate, topography, and edaphic conditions, but historical factors as well, including anthropogenic disturbance re- gimes. In North America, for instance, much of the native temperate forest and grassland has been modified in the time since European settlement as a result of intensive human activity (e.g. Forman 1998). Since past human activities can influence biotic patterns for many years (Dupouey et al. 2002), interpretation of biogeographic phenom- ena without explicit consideration of human influ- ence may lead to erroneous conclusions. To better understand the influence of these disturbance regimes on ecosystem structure and function, researchers are increasingly using his- torical data to construct baselines from which sub- sequent changes in biogeographic patterns can be measured (e.g. Shutler and Hoagland 2004; Fritschle 2008). Among the datasets that have been extensively used in such reconstructions are the Public Land Survey (PLS) field notes, witness tree records, and plat maps (i.e. survey map of tracts of land) (Wang 2005). Public Land Survey records provide one of the few quantitative re- cords of pre- and early-European vegetation in much of the western United States. These data have been used to evaluate vegetation dynamics (DeWeese et al. 2007), composition and structure of historical forest and woodland communities (Anderson and Anderson 1975), species- environment interactions (Wang 2007), and distri- bution and abundance of individual species (Wang & Larsen 2006). Despite their widespread adoption, PLS data are fraught with limitations, among them bias in tree selection (Bourdo 1956), taxonomic uncertainty (Mladenoff et al. 2002), and the coarse sampling methods employed by surveyors (He et al. 2007). Nonetheless, the data of the PLS frontiers of biogeography 2.2, 2010 — © 2010 the authors; journal compilation © 2010 The International Biogeography Society