Vegetation responses to the warming at the Younger Dryas-Holocene transition in the Hengduan Mountains, southwestern China

The Younger Dryas (YD) is one of the most abrupt climatic events in Earth's recent history. The warming at the end of the YD, in particular, is considered to be comparable to the global warming seen in the 21st century. However, the YD termination has received little attention, particularly in...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Quaternary Science Reviews
Main Authors: Wang, Xia, Yao, Yi-Feng, Wortley, Alexandra H., Qiao, Hui-Jie, Blackmore, Stephen, Wang, Yu-Fei, Li, Cheng-Sen
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD 2018
Subjects:
Biodiversity conservation
Biotic feedback
China
Climate change
Global warming
Holocene
Micropaleontology
Pollen
Paleoclimatology
Vegetation dynamics
Geography
Physical
Geosciences
Multidisciplinary
NORTHWESTERN YUNNAN PROVINCE
ALPINE LACUSTRINE RECORD
CLIMATE-CHANGE
LAST DEGLACIATION
MONSOON RECORD
GREENLAND ICE
PLEISTOCENE
VARIABILITY
HISTORY
DIVERSITY
Greenland
Online Access:http://ir.ibcas.ac.cn/handle/2S10CLM1/20609
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2018.06.007
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Summary:The Younger Dryas (YD) is one of the most abrupt climatic events in Earth's recent history. The warming at the end of the YD, in particular, is considered to be comparable to the global warming seen in the 21st century. However, the YD termination has received little attention, particularly in the Hengduan Mountains of Southwestern China, a low latitude temperate biodiversity hotspot. Here we present evidence for a rapid response in the diversity and composition of vegetation to the warming at the YD termination, based on a continuous, well-dated pollen sequence and loss-on-ignition data (12.9-9.2 cal. ka BP) from Haligu wetland in the Hengduan Mountains. Our data indicate that variations in plant diversity were correlated with relative humidity during this period, and suggest a distinct shift from Pinus-Abies-Picea forest to Pinus-dominated forest at the YD-Holocene transition, accompanied by an increase in coverage of generally temperate taxa such as Salix and Betula. This finding provides insights that may be of relevance to biodiversity conservation under future warming scenarios in similar mountain ecosystems worldwide. (C) 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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