Main Questions: How has alpine treeline fluctuated in Banff National Park? What do these fluctuations indicate about paleoclimates and paleoenvironments? Description: Changes in alpine treeline can be used as a proxy for broader climatic conditions. In a very general sense treeline migrates higher when it is warm and vice versa when it is cold. In this project you will use surface samples and lake core samples to examine how alpine treeline fluctuations can be reconstructed from pollen records. You will each count 2-5 surface sample slides and then use the software Tilia to analyze the relationship between pollen assemblages and elevation. The results of this analysis will be used to reconstruct Holocene treeline dynamics and paleoenvironments from a pollen record from Eiffel Lake in Banff National Park.