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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ftubpotsdam:oai:kobv.de-opus4-uni-potsdam:45275 2023-05-15T17:57:19+02:00 Glacial legacies on interglacial vegetation at the Pliocene-Pleistocene transition in NE Asia Herzschuh, Ulrike (Prof. Dr.) Birks, H. John B. Laepple, Thomas Andreev, Andrei Melles, Martin Brigham-Grette, Julie 2016 https://publishup.uni-potsdam.de/opus4-ubp/frontdoor/index/index/docId/45275 https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms11967 eng eng https://publishup.uni-potsdam.de/opus4-ubp/frontdoor/index/index/docId/45275 https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms11967 info:eu-repo/semantics/closedAccess Institut für Geowissenschaften article doc-type:article 2016 ftubpotsdam https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms11967 2022-07-28T20:48:46Z 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 University of Potsdam: publish.UP Nature Communications 7 1 |
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Institut für Geowissenschaften |
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Institut für Geowissenschaften Herzschuh, Ulrike (Prof. Dr.) 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 |
topic_facet |
Institut für Geowissenschaften |
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 (Prof. Dr.) Birks, H. John B. Laepple, Thomas Andreev, Andrei Melles, Martin Brigham-Grette, Julie |
author_facet |
Herzschuh, Ulrike (Prof. Dr.) Birks, H. John B. Laepple, Thomas Andreev, Andrei Melles, Martin Brigham-Grette, Julie |
author_sort |
Herzschuh, Ulrike (Prof. Dr.) |
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://publishup.uni-potsdam.de/opus4-ubp/frontdoor/index/index/docId/45275 https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms11967 |
genre |
permafrost |
genre_facet |
permafrost |
op_relation |
https://publishup.uni-potsdam.de/opus4-ubp/frontdoor/index/index/docId/45275 https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms11967 |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/closedAccess |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms11967 |
container_title |
Nature Communications |
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7 |
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1 |
_version_ |
1766165719616061440 |