Glacial legacies on interglacial vegetation at the Pliocene-Pleistocene transition in NE Asia
Broad-scale climate control of vegetation is widely assumed. Vegetation-climate lags are generally thought to have lasted no more than a few centuries. Here our palaeoecological study challenges this concept over glacial–interglacial timescales. Through multivariate analyses of pollen assemblages fr...
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ftawi:oai:epic.awi.de:41908 2024-09-15T18:29:54+00:00 Glacial legacies on interglacial vegetation at the Pliocene-Pleistocene transition in NE Asia Herzschuh, Ulrike Birks, H. John B. Laepple, Thomas Andreev, Andrei Melles, Martin Brigham-Grette, Julie 2016 application/pdf https://epic.awi.de/id/eprint/41908/ https://epic.awi.de/id/eprint/41908/1/ncomms11967.pdf https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms11967 https://hdl.handle.net/10013/epic.48731 https://hdl.handle.net/10013/epic.48731.d001 unknown https://epic.awi.de/id/eprint/41908/1/ncomms11967.pdf https://hdl.handle.net/10013/epic.48731.d001 Herzschuh, U. orcid:0000-0003-0999-1261 , Birks, H. J. B. , Laepple, T. orcid:0000-0001-8108-7520 , Andreev, A. , Melles, M. and Brigham-Grette, J. (2016) Glacial legacies on interglacial vegetation at the Pliocene-Pleistocene transition in NE Asia , Nature Communications, 7 , p. 11967 . doi:10.1038/ncomms11967 <https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms11967> , hdl:10013/epic.48731 EPIC3Nature Communications, 7, pp. 11967, ISSN: 2041-1723 Article isiRev 2016 ftawi https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms11967 2024-06-24T04:15:36Z Broad-scale climate control of vegetation is widely assumed. Vegetation-climate lags are generally thought to have lasted no more than a few centuries. Here our palaeoecological study challenges this concept over glacial–interglacial timescales. Through multivariate analyses of pollen assemblages from Lake El’gygytgyn, Russian Far East and other data we show that interglacial vegetation during the Plio-Pleistocene transition mainly reflects conditions of the preceding glacial instead of contemporary interglacial climate. Vegetation–climate disequilibrium may persist for several millennia, related to the combined effects of permafrost persistence, distant glacial refugia and fire. In contrast, no effects from the preceding interglacial on glacial vegetation are detected. We propose that disequilibrium was stronger during the Plio-Pleistocene transition than during the Mid-Pliocene Warm Period when, in addition to climate, herbivory was important. By analogy to the past, we suggest today’s widespread larch ecosystem on permafrost is not in climate equilibrium. Vegetation-based reconstructions of interglacial climates used to assess atmospheric CO2–temperature relationships may thus yield misleading simulations of past global climate sensitivity. Article in Journal/Newspaper permafrost Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar- and Marine Research (AWI): ePIC (electronic Publication Information Center) Nature Communications 7 1 |
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Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar- and Marine Research (AWI): ePIC (electronic Publication Information Center) |
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ftawi |
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description |
Broad-scale climate control of vegetation is widely assumed. Vegetation-climate lags are generally thought to have lasted no more than a few centuries. Here our palaeoecological study challenges this concept over glacial–interglacial timescales. Through multivariate analyses of pollen assemblages from Lake El’gygytgyn, Russian Far East and other data we show that interglacial vegetation during the Plio-Pleistocene transition mainly reflects conditions of the preceding glacial instead of contemporary interglacial climate. Vegetation–climate disequilibrium may persist for several millennia, related to the combined effects of permafrost persistence, distant glacial refugia and fire. In contrast, no effects from the preceding interglacial on glacial vegetation are detected. We propose that disequilibrium was stronger during the Plio-Pleistocene transition than during the Mid-Pliocene Warm Period when, in addition to climate, herbivory was important. By analogy to the past, we suggest today’s widespread larch ecosystem on permafrost is not in climate equilibrium. Vegetation-based reconstructions of interglacial climates used to assess atmospheric CO2–temperature relationships may thus yield misleading simulations of past global climate sensitivity. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Herzschuh, Ulrike Birks, H. John B. Laepple, Thomas Andreev, Andrei Melles, Martin Brigham-Grette, Julie |
spellingShingle |
Herzschuh, Ulrike Birks, H. John B. Laepple, Thomas Andreev, Andrei Melles, Martin Brigham-Grette, Julie Glacial legacies on interglacial vegetation at the Pliocene-Pleistocene transition in NE Asia |
author_facet |
Herzschuh, Ulrike Birks, H. John B. Laepple, Thomas Andreev, Andrei Melles, Martin Brigham-Grette, Julie |
author_sort |
Herzschuh, Ulrike |
title |
Glacial legacies on interglacial vegetation at the Pliocene-Pleistocene transition in NE Asia |
title_short |
Glacial legacies on interglacial vegetation at the Pliocene-Pleistocene transition in NE Asia |
title_full |
Glacial legacies on interglacial vegetation at the Pliocene-Pleistocene transition in NE Asia |
title_fullStr |
Glacial legacies on interglacial vegetation at the Pliocene-Pleistocene transition in NE Asia |
title_full_unstemmed |
Glacial legacies on interglacial vegetation at the Pliocene-Pleistocene transition in NE Asia |
title_sort |
glacial legacies on interglacial vegetation at the pliocene-pleistocene transition in ne asia |
publishDate |
2016 |
url |
https://epic.awi.de/id/eprint/41908/ https://epic.awi.de/id/eprint/41908/1/ncomms11967.pdf https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms11967 https://hdl.handle.net/10013/epic.48731 https://hdl.handle.net/10013/epic.48731.d001 |
genre |
permafrost |
genre_facet |
permafrost |
op_source |
EPIC3Nature Communications, 7, pp. 11967, ISSN: 2041-1723 |
op_relation |
https://epic.awi.de/id/eprint/41908/1/ncomms11967.pdf https://hdl.handle.net/10013/epic.48731.d001 Herzschuh, U. orcid:0000-0003-0999-1261 , Birks, H. J. B. , Laepple, T. orcid:0000-0001-8108-7520 , Andreev, A. , Melles, M. and Brigham-Grette, J. (2016) Glacial legacies on interglacial vegetation at the Pliocene-Pleistocene transition in NE Asia , Nature Communications, 7 , p. 11967 . doi:10.1038/ncomms11967 <https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms11967> , hdl:10013/epic.48731 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms11967 |
container_title |
Nature Communications |
container_volume |
7 |
container_issue |
1 |
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1810471375968665600 |