Additional Cautions on the Use of the Glo Survey Records in Vegetational Reconstructions in the Midwest

Abstract

Data from the United States General Land Office Surveys are frequently used to reconstruct the vegetation existing at the time of European settlement as a basis for biotic models. The vegetation recorded in those surveys had been influenced not only by climatic conditions considerably colder and more moist than the present, but by frequent, widespread burning as well. The effect of such burning on the distribution and composition of forest vegetation was as great as the climatic effects and must be taken into account when building prehistoric vegetational models in the Midwest.