| Description |
Global climate change poses significant threats to the Caribbean islands. However, little is known about the long-term disturbance regimes in island ecosystems. This research investigates the past 2000 years of hurricane activity as well as natural and anthropogenic fire disturbance through the analysis of a latitudinal transect of sediment records from coastal salt ponds in the British Virgin Islands (BVI). There are three research objectives in this study: (1) to determine the frequency of large (category 3+) hurricanes throughout the British Virgin Islands, (2) to determine the fire regime history for the BVI over the last 2000 years, (3) to explore ecological impacts from disturbances such as hurricanes, wildfire, and anthropogenic landscape modification pre- and post- European settlement. The extent of anthropogenic landscape modification, including the introduction of agriculture and invasive plant species, will be investigated through a multiproxy approach using pollen and charcoal. Our results suggest that at least three large hurricanes have impacted the BVI over the previous 1000 years, at a frequency of one event every ~320 years. Our results also suggest that fire regimes from Belmont Pond, Thatch Island, and Skeleton Pond have been drastically impacted by human activity postsettlement. We also find that hurricane activity and fire regimes during the timing of the Medieval Climate Anomaly were likely responding to changes in climate via dominant atmospheric drivers. This research represents a significant data contribution to a region with little disturbance and vegetation data available. |
