Nature, Culture, and Conservation in the Anthropocene - Biodiversity Conservation and Environmental Change - page 161

(a) (b)

100 16 000 000

(c) (d)

90 14 400 000

N

80 12 800 000

50 km

70

11 200 000

60

9 600 000

50 8 000 000

40 6 400 000

30

4 800 000

50

20

3 200 000 Percent Grass and

Weed Pollen

New England
Population

25

10 1 600 000

Time Period

0 0 average presettlement

peak postsettlement
most recent

1600 1650 1700 1750 1800

Year

1850 1900 1950 2000

Figure 7.6 Changes in forest cover in New England. Swift River valley in (a) 1880s (Photo credit: Harvard
Forest Archives, Harvard University), (b) 2010 (Photo credit: David Foster, Harvard Forest Archives,
Harvard University). (c) Changes in New England forest cover and human population since 1600, show-
ing the reforestation of abandoned farmland (redrawn from Foster et al. (2010). (d) Fossil pollen data
showing the percentage of grass and weed pollen, indicating open areas, prior to European settlement,
peak post-settlement, and in the late twentieth century (Motzkin and Foster 2002). Reproduced with
permission from John Wiley & Sons.

white pine and red maple, while fire-tolerant pitch pine and white oak have declined. Chest-
nut blight, gypsy moth, beech bark disease, and hemlock woolly adelgid have selectively
attacked various tree species over time, altering their dominance and abundance in the for-
ests. A number of fire-dependent habitats such as pine barren and pitch pine ( Pinus rigida )/
oak communities have declined as a result of fire suppression (North and Keeton 2008, Long
2009). Some forest types like old field pine stands are transient successional stages and will
only persist if a forest management maintains a dynamic mosaic of stands at different succes-
sional stages.