Postglacial vegetation at the northern limit of lichen woodland in northwestern Quebec

Three pollen diagrams from the northern part of the lichen woodland in northwestern Quebec show broadly similar Holocene vegetation sequences. Following deglaciation, shortly after 6000 yr BP, shrub and herbaceous tundra plants dominated briefly; Larix laricina, Populus and Juniperus were also important elements of the landscape. A maximum of Alnus crispa and Betula was followed by a period dominated by Picea. In the northernmost site, the forests opened in response to neoglacial cooling during the past 1000 years. Today only black spruce (Picea mariana) grows in northwestern Quebec and there is no evidence that white spruce (P. glauca) ever migrated into the region.