Brian F Cummings

Biographic Data

ID1542315
NAMEBrian F Cummings
GIVEN NAMESBrian F
FAMILY NAMECummings
SIGNATURECUMMINGS B F
AFFILIATIONSQueen's University
ORCID0000-0001-7254-3248
VERIFIEDYes
TOTAL WORKS23
TOTAL CITATIONS38
WORKS AS AUTHOR23
WORKS AS EDITOR0
FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR1997
LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR2025
H-INDEX3

  • A 12,000-year perspective of fire and vegetation history in Northern Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, Canada

    Open AccessKathleen R Laird, Anne-Claude Pépin et al.ARTICLEThe Holocene2025References: 82

    Fire has influenced age stands and forest composition in boreal ecosystems over millennia. The Cape Breton Highlands National Park in northern Nova Scotia encompasses a unique mixture of Boreal, Taiga and Acadian ecosystems. A sediment record from Paquette Lake within the park spans the initial development of the lake to the early 20 th century and is the first well-dated Holocene record of vegetation and fire history from this region. Vegetation…

  • High-resolution analysis of the varved succession at Crawford lake across the base of the proposed Crawfordian stage and Anthropocene series

    Open AccessFrancine Mg Mccarthy, Robert T Patterson et al.ARTICLEThe Anthropocene Review2025Cited by: 3References: 39

    Four years after the Anthropocene Working Group (AWG) voted to work toward defining the Anthropocene series/epoch with a base in the mid-20th C, the varved sediments of Crawford Lake (Milton, ON, Canada) were selected as the Global boundary Stratotype Section and Point (GSSP) candidate. The initial major rise in activity of 239 + 240 Pu had been selected as the primary chronostratigraphic marker to define the base of the Anthropocene, but the pre…

  • The importance of effective moisture and landscape controls on diatom assemblages and primary production in Roche Lake, British Columbia, Canada over the past ca. 1800 years

    Open AccessGraham R Mushet, Eduard G Reinhardt et al.ARTICLEQuaternary Research2023

    Lakes in the semiarid Southern Interior Plateau of British Columbia, Canada are vulnerable to future climate-driven changes in water quantity and quality. However, few long-term monitoring records exist to assess the effects of varying hydroclimate conditions on lake function. We present a high-resolution multiproxy paleolimnological record containing subfossil diatoms, μXRF via ITRAX, and chlorophyll- a that spans the past 1800 years from Roche …

  • The varved succession of Crawford Lake, Milton, Ontario, Canada as a candidate Global boundary Stratotype Section and Point for the Anthropocene series

    Open AccessFrancine Mg Mccarthy, Robert T Patterson et al.ARTICLEThe Anthropocene Review2023Cited by: 17References: 41

    An annually laminated succession in Crawford Lake, Ontario, Canada is proposed for the Global boundary Stratotype Section and Point (GSSP) to define the Anthropocene as a series/epoch with a base dated at 1950 CE. Varve couplets of organic matter capped by calcite precipitated each summer in alkaline surface waters reflect environmental change at global to local scales. Spheroidal carbonaceous particles and nitrogen isotopes record an increase in…

  • Changes in the prairie–forest ecotone in northwest Ontario (Canada) across the Holocene

    Open AccessDonya C Danesh, Cale Ac Gushulak et al.ARTICLEQuaternary Research2022

    Pollen and diatom assemblages from well-dated sediment cores from three lakes forming a west-to-east transect across the boreal forest in northwest Ontario (Canada) were used to evaluate the timing and nature of the movement of the prairie–forest ecotone (PFE) across the Holocene. Changes in vegetation, temperature, and effective moisture were inferred from pollen and pollen-based transfer functions. Analyses indicated site-specific vegetational …

  • Basin-specific records of lake oligotrophication during the middle-to-late Holocene in boreal northeast Ontario, Canada

    Open AccessCale Ac Gushulak, Peter R Leavitt et al.ARTICLEThe Holocene2021References: 13

    Descriptions of regional climate expression require data from multiple lakes, yet little is known of how variation in records within morphometrically complex lakes may affect interpretations. In northeast Ontario (Canada), this issue was addressed using records of pollen, pigments, and diatoms in three sediment cores from two small boreal lakes spanning the last ~6000 years. Pollen analysis suggested warm conditions between ~6000 and ~4000 cal yr…

  • Siliceous algae response to the “Great Acceleration” of the mid-20th century in Crawford Lake (Ontario, Canada)

    Open AccessCale Ac Gushulak, Matthew Marshall et al.ARTICLEThe Anthropocene Review2021Cited by: 2References: 4

    Diatom and chrysophyte assemblages from varved sediments of meromictic Crawford Lake, Ontario record major environmental changes resulting from spatially broadening anthropogenic environmental stressors related to the “Great Acceleration” in the mid-20th century. Biannual assessment of diatom and chrysophyte assemblages over the last ~200 years allowed for rate of change analysis between adjacent samples that increased substantially during the mi…

  • Complex responses of phototrophic communities to climate warming during the Holocene of northeastern Ontario, Canada

    Open AccessBrett G Elmslie, Cale Ac Gushulak et al.ARTICLEThe Holocene2019References: 13

    Historical changes in Holocene climate in northeastern Ontario were quantified using analyses of sedimentary pollen, diatoms, and pigments in a small boreal lake. Modern analog reconstructions of average temperature from Holocene pollen assemblages of Charland Lake showed temperature was ~2°C warmer than present conditions ~7800–4500 cal. yr BP, a time period consistent with the Holocene thermal maximum (HTM). Pollen data suggest a two-phase HTM:…

  • A 1600-year diatom record of hydroclimate variability from Wolf Lake, New York

    Open AccessJ Curt Stager, Brian F Cummings et al.ARTICLEThe Holocene2016References: 3

    A high-resolution diatom record from Wolf Lake, a minimally disturbed ‘heritage’ lake, provides insights into the hydroclimatic history of the Adirondack Mountains of northern New York during the last c. 1600 years. Three pronounced dry periods occurred during c. AD 490–610, 780–870, and 1010–1080, and low precipitation generally prevailed during the warm Medieval Climate Anomaly ( c. AD 950–1350), a finding that fills an important gap in knowled…

  • Bias and signal distortion in using a modern pollen-climate calibration set to infer a Minnesota pre-European-settlement paleoclimate record

    Open AccessJeannine-Marie St Jacques, Brian F Cummings et al.ARTICLEQuaternary International2015

  • Consensus among multiple trophic levels during high- and low-water stands over the last two millennia in a northwest Ontario lake

    Open AccessMoumita Karmakar, Joshua Kurek et al.ARTICLEQuaternary Research2014

    We investigated the modern distribution of fossil midges within a dimictic lake and explored downcore patterns of inferred lake depths over the last 2000 years from previously published proxies. Modern midge distribution within Gall Lake showed a consistent and predictable pattern related to the lake-depth gradient with recognizable assemblages characteristic of shallow-water, mid-depth and profundal environments. Interpretations of downcore chan…

  • Diatom-based evidence of regional aridity during the mid-Holocene period in boreal lakes from northwest Ontario (Canada)

    Open AccessMoumita Karmakar, Kathleen R Laird et al.ARTICLEThe Holocene2014References: 12

    Boreal regions and their freshwater ecosystems may be susceptible to future climate change under projected warmer conditions. Northwest Ontario is a boreal region adjacent to the climatically sensitive prairie-forest ecotone (PFE). Pollen records spanning the Holocene from near the Manitoba/Ontario border to lakes up to ~300 km east of the PFE indicate a warmer and possibly wetter mid-Holocene period across northwest Ontario from ~8000 to 4500 ca…

  • Diatom-inferred changes in effective moisture during the late Holocene from nearshore cores in the southeastern region of the Winnipeg River Drainage Basin (Canada)

    Open AccessSusan Ma, Kathleen R Laird et al.ARTICLEThe Holocene2012Cited by: 2References: 6

    The Winnipeg River Drainage Basin (WRDB), within the boreal forest region of northwest Ontario, is a region that is expected to be negatively affected by climate warming. Inferences of droughts over the past two millennia from Little Raleigh Lake were based on two nearshore sediment cores. The core locations were from depths of ~12 and 15 m and were based on sufficient nearshore sediment accumulation and distance from the modern benthic-to-plankt…

  • A 900-yr diatom and chrysophyte record of spring mixing and summer stratification from varved Lake Mina, west-central Minnesota, USA

    Open AccessJeannine‐Marie St Jacques, Jeannine-Marie St Jacques et al.ARTICLEThe Holocene2009References: 4

    A high-resolution, independent pollen-inferred paleoclimate record and direct algal seasonality data from the actual time of sediment deposition are used to interpret the high-resolution diatom and chrysophyte record of varved Lake Mina, west-central Minnesota, USA during AD 1116—2002. This direct algal seasonality information was obtained by splitting varves into constituent winter-spring and summer lamina, and separately analyzing the siliceous…

  • Climate-related eutrophication of a small boreal lake in northwestern Ontario

    Open AccessMelissa T Moos, Kathleen R Laird et al.ARTICLEThe Holocene2009Cited by: 4References: 6

    A palaeolimnological investigation of changes in water quantity and quality in Lake 239, Experimental Lakes Area, in northwestern Ontario indicates marked changes in limnological conditions during the Holocene. Water quantity changes are based on the analysis of diatoms and inferences of lake-level changes from a nearshore sediment core. Changes in water quality are based on the analysis of diatom assemblages and associated quantitative inference…

  • Extreme fires under warmer and drier conditions inferred from sedimentary charcoal morphotypes from Opatcho Lake, central British Columbia, Canada

    Open AccessMihaela Enache, Mihaela D Enache et al.ARTICLEThe Holocene2009Cited by: 2References: 6

    Predictions of the extent of forest fires under warmer and drier conditions in boreal regions require knowledge of long-term relationships between fire and climate. However, many long-term studies that utilize the remains of total charcoal in lacustrine sediments fail to demonstrate a relationship between climate change and fire activity. A new approach to reconstruct the relative-area burned based on specific types of charcoal particles (the cha…

  • Reconstruction of Holocene lake level from diatoms, chrysophytes and organic matter in a drainage lake from the Experimental Lakes Area (northwestern Ontario, Canada)

    Open AccessKathleen R Laird, Brian F Cummings et al.ARTICLEQuaternary Research2008

    A paleolimnological study of lake-level changes in Lake 239 (Rawson Lake), a headwater lake in the Experimental Lakes Area in northwestern Ontario, indicates large fluctuations have occurred over the Holocene. Analyses are based on diatoms, the proportion of chrysophyte scales to diatoms and organic matter content from near-shore sediment cores. Quantitative estimates of lake level are based on a diatom-inferred depth model that was developed fro…

  • Tracking recorded fires using charcoal morphology from the sedimentary sequence of Prosser Lake, British Columbia (Canada)

    Open AccessMihaela Enache, Mihaela D Enache et al.ARTICLEQuaternary Research2006

    Quantitative analyses of variations in morphological features of charcoal were undertaken in a 210 Pb-dated sediment core from Prosser Lake (British Columbia, Canada). Seven morphological types of charcoal were defined by particle shape, major–minor axis ratio, apparent porosity and progradation to unburned material. The distribution of morphotypes and total charcoal abundances were assessed as a proxy for fire events recorded between 1919 and 20…

  • A 10,000-year high-resolution diatom record from Pilkington Bay, Lake Victoria, East Africa

    Open AccessJ Curt Stager, Brian F Cummings et al.ARTICLEQuaternary Research2003

    A new diatom record from Lake Victoria’s Pilkington Bay, subsampled at 21- to 25-year intervals and supported by 20 AMS dates, reveals a ∼10,000 calendar year environmental history that is supported by published diatom and pollen data from two nearby sites. With their chronologies adjusted here to account for newly documented ancient carbon effects in the lake, these three records provide a coherent, finely resolved reconstruction of Holocene cli…

  • Diatom, Pollen, and Chemical Evidence of Postglacial Climatic Change at Big Lake, South-Central British Columbia, Canada

    Open AccessJames R Bennett, Joseph R Bennett et al.ARTICLEQuaternary Research2001

    Postglacial climatic conditions were inferred from cores taken from Big Lake in southern British Columbia. Low concentrations of nonarboreal pollen and pigments near the base of the core suggest that initial conditions were cool. Increases in both aquatic and terrestrial production suggest warmer and moister conditions until ∼8500 cal yr B.P. Hyposaline diatom assemblages, increases in nonarboreal pollen, and increased concentrations of pigments …

  • Multi-proxy Holocene palaeoclimatic record from a saline lake in the Canadian Subarctic

    Open AccessReinhard Pienitz, John P Smol et al.ARTICLEThe Holocene2000Cited by: 2References: 2

    Multi-proxy palaeolimnological analyses of a postglacial sedimentary sequence at a centennial-scale resolution from an athalassic saline lake in the Yukon were conducted to infer patterns of Holocene climatic change in the Canadian Subarctic, using sediment mineralogy and biostratigraphy (diatoms, pigments). Diatominferred quantitative estimates of palaeosalinity were obtained by use of transfer functions developed from a calibration set of 219 l…

  • Early-Holocene limnological and climatic variability in the Northern Great Plains

    Open AccessKathleen R Laird, Sherilyn C Fritz et al.ARTICLEThe Holocene1998Cited by: 6References: 5

    Information on the timing and direction of climatic and environmental change on a millennial scale exists for many regions of North America, whereas little is known about decadal-to centennial-scale variability. Here we present a high-resolution analysis of diatom-inferred salinity from a site in the Northern Great Plains to reconstruct multidecadal-and centennial-scale climatic patterns during the early Holocene. The diatominferred salinity indi…

  • A High-Resolution 11,400-Yr Diatom Record from Lake Victoria, East Africa

    Open AccessJ Curt Stager, Brian F Cummings et al.ARTICLEQuaternary Research1997

    Fine-interval (∼30–45 yr) sampling of a core from Lake Victoria's Damba Channel shows that numerous abrupt changes in the lake's diatom assemblages have occurred in response to climatic fluctuations over the past 11,400 14 C yr. Four distinct climatic phases bounded by sudden transitions are inferred: (1) variably dry ∼11,400–10,000 yr B.P., (2) humid ∼10,000–7200 yr B.P., (3) more seasonal ∼7200–2200 yr B.P., and (4) more arid ∼2200–0 yr B.P., w…