Skip to main content

Lund University Publications

LUND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

Phytolith and simulation evidence for precipitation-modulated vegetation dynamics along the East Asian monsoon margin

Li, Nannan ; Song, Lina ; Sack, Dorothy ; Lu, Zhengyao LU ; Yu, Fengling ; Gao, Guizai ; Li, Dehui ; Li, Mengzhen ; Yang, Yue and Zong, Yazhuo , et al. (2022) In Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 590.
Abstract

An improved understanding of past interactions between terrestrial vegetation and various forcings, such as climate change, human impact, and paleofire, is crucial for assessing impacts of future global change on terrestrial ecosystems. This study seeks to find the key factor or factors that have driven Holocene vegetation change along the East Asian monsoon margin. Several high-resolution pollen records are reviewed and new phytolith-based paleovegetation reconstructions and physical geochemical datasets are presented from a peatland in northeastern China. Using 108 modern topsoil samples as a training set, canopy cover and vegetation composition are estimated for the period since 5100 cal. yr BP. Variation partitioning analysis (VPA)... (More)

An improved understanding of past interactions between terrestrial vegetation and various forcings, such as climate change, human impact, and paleofire, is crucial for assessing impacts of future global change on terrestrial ecosystems. This study seeks to find the key factor or factors that have driven Holocene vegetation change along the East Asian monsoon margin. Several high-resolution pollen records are reviewed and new phytolith-based paleovegetation reconstructions and physical geochemical datasets are presented from a peatland in northeastern China. Using 108 modern topsoil samples as a training set, canopy cover and vegetation composition are estimated for the period since 5100 cal. yr BP. Variation partitioning analysis (VPA) is used to determine the relative importance of climate change, human impacts, and paleofire disturbance. The generalized dynamic vegetation model LPJ-GUESS is forced with climate anomaly output from an atmospheric general circulation model to simulate vegetation dynamics during the mid-Holocene and the pre-industrial era. The proxy-based estimates are compared to modelling output. Results indicate that regional tree cover varied from 10% to 40% during the past five millennia. The single-core, phytolith-based reconstructions are generally consistent with stacked tree pollen z-scores calculated from different records along the East Asian monsoon margin, implying that mid-Holocene tree cover decrease was persistent and almost synchronous over extensive areas. VPA demonstrates that long-term monsoon marginal vegetation successions were mainly caused by climate effects. Numerical modelling suggests that since the mid-Holocene the retreat of forests along the monsoon margin was primarily associated with precipitation deficits. Our investigation highlights that the precipitation associated with the East Asian monsoon system has exerted a stronger influence than the westerlies on the monsoon margin climate and vegetation change. With ongoing global change, close attention to variations in precipitation patterns and amounts should be especially helpful in efforts aimed at ecological monitoring, change prediction, and restoration.

(Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; and , et al. (More)
; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; and (Less)
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Holocene, LPJ-GUESS, Paleoecology, Peat, Phytolith, Vegetation dynamics
in
Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology
volume
590
article number
110842
publisher
Elsevier
external identifiers
  • scopus:85123913940
ISSN
0031-0182
DOI
10.1016/j.palaeo.2022.110842
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
3ae237d9-bbf8-4e54-b3ae-78da1efdf87a
date added to LUP
2022-05-13 11:32:30
date last changed
2022-05-13 11:32:30
@article{3ae237d9-bbf8-4e54-b3ae-78da1efdf87a,
  abstract     = {{<p>An improved understanding of past interactions between terrestrial vegetation and various forcings, such as climate change, human impact, and paleofire, is crucial for assessing impacts of future global change on terrestrial ecosystems. This study seeks to find the key factor or factors that have driven Holocene vegetation change along the East Asian monsoon margin. Several high-resolution pollen records are reviewed and new phytolith-based paleovegetation reconstructions and physical geochemical datasets are presented from a peatland in northeastern China. Using 108 modern topsoil samples as a training set, canopy cover and vegetation composition are estimated for the period since 5100 cal. yr BP. Variation partitioning analysis (VPA) is used to determine the relative importance of climate change, human impacts, and paleofire disturbance. The generalized dynamic vegetation model LPJ-GUESS is forced with climate anomaly output from an atmospheric general circulation model to simulate vegetation dynamics during the mid-Holocene and the pre-industrial era. The proxy-based estimates are compared to modelling output. Results indicate that regional tree cover varied from 10% to 40% during the past five millennia. The single-core, phytolith-based reconstructions are generally consistent with stacked tree pollen z-scores calculated from different records along the East Asian monsoon margin, implying that mid-Holocene tree cover decrease was persistent and almost synchronous over extensive areas. VPA demonstrates that long-term monsoon marginal vegetation successions were mainly caused by climate effects. Numerical modelling suggests that since the mid-Holocene the retreat of forests along the monsoon margin was primarily associated with precipitation deficits. Our investigation highlights that the precipitation associated with the East Asian monsoon system has exerted a stronger influence than the westerlies on the monsoon margin climate and vegetation change. With ongoing global change, close attention to variations in precipitation patterns and amounts should be especially helpful in efforts aimed at ecological monitoring, change prediction, and restoration.</p>}},
  author       = {{Li, Nannan and Song, Lina and Sack, Dorothy and Lu, Zhengyao and Yu, Fengling and Gao, Guizai and Li, Dehui and Li, Mengzhen and Yang, Yue and Zong, Yazhuo and Jie, Dongmei}},
  issn         = {{0031-0182}},
  keywords     = {{Holocene; LPJ-GUESS; Paleoecology; Peat; Phytolith; Vegetation dynamics}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{03}},
  publisher    = {{Elsevier}},
  series       = {{Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology}},
  title        = {{Phytolith and simulation evidence for precipitation-modulated vegetation dynamics along the East Asian monsoon margin}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.palaeo.2022.110842}},
  doi          = {{10.1016/j.palaeo.2022.110842}},
  volume       = {{590}},
  year         = {{2022}},
}