Holocene vegetation and natural disturbance in the Engelmann Spruce--Subalpine Fir biogeoclimatic zone at Mount Kobau, British Columbia.

Discusses Holocene vegetation and natural disturbance in the Englemann Spruce-Subalpine Fir (ESSF) biogeoclimatic zone at Mount Kobau, British Columbia. Reconstruction of the vegetation and natural disturbance history of the Mount Kobau area, in the Engelmann spruce (Picea engelmannii Parry ex Engelm.) ? subalpine fir (Abies lasiocarpa (Hook.) Nutt.) ESSF forest, using pollen, plant macrofossils, and microscopic charcoal; Description of Holocene period of rapid warming; Increase of moisture during the mid-Holocene when fires may have occurred more widely and burned more severely; How open lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta Dougl. ex Loud.) parkland occupied the mountain summit; Cooling of the Late-Holocene which resulted in the establishment of modern ESSF forest; Confirmation of a broad three-stage regional climate pattern inferred by the vegetation of the Holocene; Under future anticipated climate change, the high-elevation, dry ESSF forests in southern British Columbia may be replaced by grasslands.