Description
Working with marsh sediment cores obtained from three Hudson Estuary sites (42°1.85'N, 73°55.30'W plus 42°1.98'N, 73°55.5'W and 42°1.81'N, 73°55.59'W) located within the National Estuarine Research Reserve at Tivoli Bays on New York's Hudson Estuary, Sritairat et al. explored, as they describe it, "how climate and human impacts have influenced plant ecology, invasive species expansion, habitat loss, carbon storage, and nutrient dynamics over the past millennium based on the multiproxy analysis of sediment cores using palynology, macrofossil, sedimentological, and geochemical analyses." This work revealed a pre-European settlement period (AD 826-1310) that had a "high percentage of Carya, a warmth-loving species," which finding, as they describe it, "supports an increase in temperature." In addition, at a depth dated to AD 1087 ± 72, they found a charcoal maximum that they describe as "a feature that is also found in other Hudson River marsh cores," and which represents, as they phrase it, "the warm, dry Medieval Warm Period (MWP)."