Vegetational and Climatic History of Jackson Hole and Vicinity

The objectives of this project, now in its second year, have not changed significantly from that of the proposal. Prior to this study, the late-Quaternary vegetation history of the northern Rocky Mountains had been inferred largely from isolated pollen records. These data suggested that conifer forests were established early in postglacial time and were little modified thereafter. The similarity of past vegetation to modern communities over a broad area gives rise to two hypothesis: (1) glacial refugia were c1ose to the ice margin, and (2) vegetation soon colonized the deglaciated areas and has been only subtly affected by climatic perturbations since that time. It is the goal of this project to test these hypotheses in the region of Grand Teton National Park