Late pleistocene vegetation and degree of pluvial climatic change in the chihuahuan desert.

Eight Pleistocene wood rat middens at elevations of 1200, 880, and 600 meters in the Chihuahuan Desert contain abundant macrofossils of pinyon pine, juniper, shrubby liveoak, and Opuntia, together with smaller quantities of Agave lecheguilla and other xerophytes of existing desert vegetation, which in dicate a xerophilous woodland vegetation in the lowlands, as much as 800 meters below existing woodland, during the Wisconsin pluvial. Ten radiocarbon dates show ages that range from 11,560 to 14,800 and 16,250 to 20,000 years, and to more than 40,000 years. Absence of most mesophytic montane species in deposits as high as 1200 meters indicates a lack of equivalent downward dis placement for the ponderosa pine zone or other zones of montane vegetation. Uneven stocking of isolated peaks in the Chihuahuan Desert province with montane species suggests that long-distance transport of propagules, rather than former continuity, may account for the disjunct distributions of many species.

Late pleistocene history of coniferous woodland in the mohave desert.

Seventeen ancient wood-rat middens, ranging in radiocarbon age from 7400 to 19,500 years and to older than 40,000 years, have been uncovered in the northeastern, north-central, southeastern, and southwestern sectors of the Mohave Desert. Excellent preservation of macroscopic plant materials (including stems, buds, leaves, fruits, and seeds) enables identification of many plant species growing within the limited foraging range of the sedentary wood rat. An approximately synchronous zonal differentiation of vegetation in response to a gradient of elevation on limestone in the northeastern Mohave Desert is apparent from the macrofossil evidence, preserved in wood-rat middens and ground-sloth coprolites, covering a time span bracketed by radiocarbon ages of about 9000 and 10,000 years. XerophilQus juniper woodlands descended to an elevation of 1100 meters, some 600 meters below the present lower limit of woodland (1700 meters) in the latitude of Frenchman Flat. But desert or semidesert shrubs coexisted with the woodland trees throughout much of the span of elevation corresponding to the pluvial lowering of the woodland zone, and the more mesophytic phase of pinyonjuniper woodland was evidently confined to montane habitats at elevations above 1500 meters. Joshua trees, accompanied by desert shrubs, prevailed down to about 600 meters at Gypsum Cave, Nevada, but only the shrubs of the existing warm-desert vegetation occurred at 530 meters near Rampart Cave, Arizona. Pleistocene middens from the southeastern Mohave Desert record a relatively large downward shift of the pinyon-juniper woodland zone, paralleling the remarkably low minimum elevation of the existing woodland zone in that area. The macrofossil evidence speaks for former continuity of the many disjunct stands of woodland vegetation in the Mohave Desert region, at least along the higher divides connecting most of the ranges. However, there is no macrofossil evidence of pluvial continuity of range for the more mesophytic, montane, coniferous-forest zone of ponderosa pine or white fir now occupying islands of relatively mesic environment on the highest mountains of the region. On the contrary, the uneven stocking of the lofty mountains of the Mohave Desert with mesephytic or boreal species and the trend toward endemism suggest a long history of isolation.

Photosynthetic Mechanisms and Paleoecology from Carbon Isotope Ratios in Ancient Specimens of C4 and CAM Plants.

Carbon istotope ratios of modern, 10,000-year-old, and more than 40,000-year-old Atriplex confertifolia (C(4)) material from Nevada caves indicate that the C(4) photosynthetic pathway was operating in these plants over that period. Samples of a plant with crassulacean acid metabolism, Opuntia polyacantha, were also measured, and a shift in the 8(13)C value from -21.9 per mil (more than 40,000 years ago) to -13.9 per mil (10,000 years ago) was observed. This provides unique physiological evidence to support the hypothesis that the late Pleistocene pluvial climate in the region already had become drier about 10,000 years ago.

The burning of the New World: the extent and significance of broadcast burning by early humans.

It is possible to delimit the areas of the North, Central, and South America that are most susceptible to fire and would have been most affected by burning practices of early Americans. Areas amounting to approximately 155 x 10(5) km2 are here designated as the most burnable part of the New World. Using estimates of burnable biomass, burning frequency, and burning efficiency, the authors determine the amount of biomass burned annually in an environment in which anthropogenic fires were at a hypothesized maximum. The amount of carbon released annually approximates estimates for present-day burning. Changes in carbon sinks may have been the most significant aspect of a shift to a low-biomass state. Decreases in stored biomass, soil carbon, and charcoal production may have had effects on a global scale. Likewise, the shift to a higher biomass/lower fire-frequency state over the last 400-500 years may be one component of an increased mid- to high-latitude carbon sink. The assessment made here is preliminary but may aid in clarifying the state of the climate system during the pre-industrial period.

Origins of fundamental limits for reflection losses at multilayer dielectric mirrors.

Fundamental limits on reflection losses are set by internal material losses associated with the Urbach tail near a band gap and by thermodynamic density fluctuations in fabrication. In materials such as SiO(2) and TiO(2), these limits are of the order of parts in 10(9). The current quality of supercavity mirrors, in contrast to that of optical fibers, is still far from these limits because of purely technological limitations in surface preparation and in the reduction of impurity levels. Overcoming these would greatly benefit, for example, Fabry-Perot interferometers, ring lasers, and gravitational wave detectors.

Regional patterns of genetic diversity in Pinus flexilis (Pinaceae) reveal complex species history.

Pinus flexilis (limber pine) is patchily distributed within its large geographic range; it is mainly restricted to high elevations in the Rocky Mountains and the Basin and Range region of western North America. We examined patterns of allozyme diversity in 30 populations from throughout the species' range. Overall genetic diversity (H(e) = 0.186) was high compared with that of most other pine species but was similar to that of other pines widespread in western North America. The proportion of genetic diversity occurring among populations (G(ST) = 0.101) was also high relative to that for other pines. Observed heterozygosity was less than expected in 28 of the 30 populations. When populations were grouped by region, there were notable differences. Those in the Basin and Range region had more genetic diversity within populations, a higher proportion of genetic diversity among populations, and higher levels of inbreeding within populations than populations from either the Northern or Utah Rocky Mountain regions. Patterns of genetic diversity in P. flexilis have likely resulted from a complex distribution of Pleistocene populations and subsequent gene flow via pollen and seed dispersal.