A Dynamic History of Climate Change and Human Impact on the Environment from Keālia Pond, Maui, Hawaiian Islands

• Published in: Annals of the Association of American Geographers Vol. 102; no. 4; pp. 748 - 762
• Main Authors: Pau, Stephanie, MacDonald, Glen M., Gillespie, Thomas W.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washington, DC Taylor & Francis Group 01.07.2012; Association of American Geographers; Taylor & Francis Ltd
• Subjects: 20th century; Anomalía Climática Medieval; Batis; Bgi / Prodig; bosques secos submontanos; Charcoal; Climate; Climate change; Climate models; Climatic conditions; Climatic oscillations. Historical climates. Palaeoclimates; Climatology; crecimiento de la población polinesia; desmonte; Environment; Environmental impact; Environmental policy; Environmental science; Environmental Sciences; Fire; Fires; forest clearance; Forest fires; Forests; Global warming; Hawaii; Hawaiian Islands; History; Human environment; Human influences; Human-environment relationship; Humans; Indexes; Islands; islas de Hawaii; lowland dry forests; Lowlands; Medieval Climate Anomaly; Montane forests; Mountain forests; Narratives; Natural history; Physical geography; Pollen; Polynesian population growth; Polynesian studies; Polynesians; Ponds; Prosopis; Records; Sedimentary geology; Taxa; Taxonomy; Vegetation; Wet climates; 中世纪气候异常; 低地干燥森林; 夏威夷群岛; 森林砍伐; 波利尼西亚的人口增长; Hawaii; United States > US; Maui Hawaii; Historical climate; Sedimentology; Settlement; Climatic variability; Climate; Climatic change; Palaeo-ecology; Vegetation; Plant canopy; Man-environment relations
• ISSN: 0004-5608; 2469-4452; 1467-8306; 2469-4460
• DOI: 10.1080/00045608.2011.652853

High-resolution palynological, charcoal, and sedimentological analysis of a sediment core from Keālia Pond, Maui, coupled with archaeological and historical records, provides a detailed chronology of vegetation and climate change since before human arrival. These records provide new evidence for human-environment linkages during the Hawaiian Polynesian period and subsequent European period. Prior to human arrival, the charcoal record indicates that native forests were subject to natural fires. A shift from dry to wet climate conditions marked the beginning of the Medieval Climate Anomaly (MCA) as evidenced by a precipitation reconstruction based on a pollen abundance index. Charcoal increases around AD 840-1140 signal the presence of Polynesians in the Keālia Pond region, but there is no evidence of rapid and extensive forest clearance immediately after Polynesian arrival. The greatest reduction in pollen diversity at Keālia Pond occurred during the European period (post 1778), at which point the pollen record indicates that montane forest taxa declined, native lowland taxa disappeared from the record, and nonnative taxa Prosopis and Batis made their first appearances. Accounts by early Europeans during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries provide a historical narrative supporting the interpretation that European impacts on vegetation were widespread, whereas in this region of Maui, Polynesian impacts on vegetation appear largely confined to the lowlands.