Biotic Communities of the Colorado Plateau

Paleocommunities

Figures from Allen, C.D. et al., Landscape Changes in the Southwestern United States: Techniques, Long-term Data Sets, and Trends, available at http://biology.usgs.gov/luhna/chap9.html

The biotic communities seen today on the Colorado Plateau are only the most recent communities which have evolved; plants and animals continually adapt to changing environmental conditions. Plant or animal associations commonly seen today may not have occurred in the past, while different communities may have existed in the past which today are rarely if ever seen. Evidence for these significant changes is found in packrat middens, alluvial and cave sites, and in ancient pollen samples collected from lake, bog, and wetland sites throughout the region.

These differences in biotic communities over time are primarily a result of climate change. For example, studies indicate that during the Pleistocene middle-Wisconsin time period (50,000-27,500 B.P.), temperatures on the Colorado Plateau were approximately 3-4 degrees Celsius cooler than they are today, and perhaps 5 degrees cooler during the late-Wisconsin (27,500-14,000 B.P.). There is also some evidence that these time periods were wetter as well, meaning that the conditions for growth were very different from what we observe today.

Information about former plant distributions can be synthesized into regional vegetation maps through time. The maps on this page compare modern and late Pleistocene vegetation on the southern Colorado Plateau. From Pleistocene to modern, note the great contraction of alpine tundra and spruce-fir boreal forests in the southern Rockies, and the elimination of pluvial lakes that once filled large areas in the Great Basin region west of the Plateau.

One of the more remarkable changes is the expansion of ponderosa pine during the last 10,000 years onto much of the Colorado Plateau between about 6000-8000 feet in elevation. During the Pleistocene, ponderosa pine was probably limited to latitudes south of the transect from Albuquerque to Flagstaff. Areas that are today extensive ponderosa parklands and woodlands were thickly-forested with a mixed assortment of different conifers well into the early Holocene. These included subalpine species such as Engelmann spruce which today grow only at the highest elevations, thousands of feet above their former range. In what must be considered a remarkably short time ecologically, ponderosa pine has expanded its range from the Mexican highlands to the Canadian border, and is now the dominant large conifer of the Colorado Plateau.

Packrat Midden Research in the Grand Canyon. On the Colorado Plateau the ice age (Pleistocene) vegetation of the Grand Canyon has been determined through the analysis of plant fossils preserved in caves and fossil packrat middens.  Large changes occurred as the most recent ice age ended and the Holocene era began. Authored by Kenneth L. Cole.

Paleobotany and Paleoclimate of the Southern Colorado Plateau. The biota of the Colorado Plateau during the middle (50,000-27,500 B.P.) and late (27,500-14,000 B.P.) Wisconsin time periods was dramatically different from that seen today. Differences were primarily a result of major climate changes associated with the last major glacial period. This research essay examines the environment of the southern Plateau during this time. Adapted by R. Scott Anderson from his 2000 journal article.

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