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Novel insights into post-glacial vegetation change: functional and phylogenetic diversity in pollen records

Reitalu, Triin ; Gerhold, Pille ; Poska, Anneli LU ; Paertel, Meelis ; Vaeli, Vivika and Veski, Siim (2015) In Journal of Vegetation Science 26(5). p.911-922
Abstract
QuestionHow do pollen-based functional and phylogenetic diversity help to explain post-glacial vegetation change in relation to climate and human influence? LocationEstonia and Latvia, NE Europe. MethodsWe used a data set of 1062 pollen samples from 20 sites covering the last 14500yrs to estimate plant richness, evenness, functional and phylogenetic diversity (community-weighted mean and mean pair-wise distance). We adjusted existing functional and phylogenetic diversity measures for the pollen data and tested the methods with a simulation study. The simulations showed that species-based and pollen-based diversity estimates were all significantly positively correlated. ResultsThe Late Glacial (14500-11650cal. yr BP) and the mid-Holocene... (More)
QuestionHow do pollen-based functional and phylogenetic diversity help to explain post-glacial vegetation change in relation to climate and human influence? LocationEstonia and Latvia, NE Europe. MethodsWe used a data set of 1062 pollen samples from 20 sites covering the last 14500yrs to estimate plant richness, evenness, functional and phylogenetic diversity (community-weighted mean and mean pair-wise distance). We adjusted existing functional and phylogenetic diversity measures for the pollen data and tested the methods with a simulation study. The simulations showed that species-based and pollen-based diversity estimates were all significantly positively correlated. ResultsThe Late Glacial (14500-11650cal. yr BP) and the mid-Holocene (8000-4000cal. yr BP) periods showed contrasting values for most of the diversity components, and several diversity estimates were strongly associated with climate. The cold climate during the Late Glacial led to high phylogenetic diversity, and relatively low functional diversity. Climate warming during the transition from the Late Glacial to the Holocene was followed by a decrease in phylogenetic diversity but an increase in functional diversity based on plant height and seed weight. Increasing human impact in the late Holocene was associated with an increase in plant richness and decreases in functional diversity based on plant height and seed weight and in phylogenetic diversity of herbs. ConclusionsPollen-based functional and phylogenetic diversity provide novel insights into post-glacial vegetation change and its drivers. Both functional and phylogenetic diversity were closely related to climatic conditions, suggesting that trait differences play an important role in long-term community response to climate change. Our results indicate that human impact during the last two millennia has influenced functional and phylogenetic diversity negatively by suppressing plants with certain traits (functional convergence) and giving advantage to plants from certain phylogenetic lineages. We see great potential in the further development of functional and phylogenetic diversity methods for pollen data. (Less)
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author
; ; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Pollen data, Plant diversity, Palynological diversity, Millennial time-scale, Long-term, Late quaternary, Biodiversity
in
Journal of Vegetation Science
volume
26
issue
5
pages
911 - 922
publisher
International Association of Vegetation Science
external identifiers
  • wos:000359868800010
  • scopus:84938955461
ISSN
1654-1103
DOI
10.1111/jvs.12300
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
37ae0f45-cc4b-4e9a-8167-78b428c1570b (old id 7972192)
date added to LUP
2016-04-01 10:31:49
date last changed
2022-04-20 03:07:34
@article{37ae0f45-cc4b-4e9a-8167-78b428c1570b,
  abstract     = {{QuestionHow do pollen-based functional and phylogenetic diversity help to explain post-glacial vegetation change in relation to climate and human influence? LocationEstonia and Latvia, NE Europe. MethodsWe used a data set of 1062 pollen samples from 20 sites covering the last 14500yrs to estimate plant richness, evenness, functional and phylogenetic diversity (community-weighted mean and mean pair-wise distance). We adjusted existing functional and phylogenetic diversity measures for the pollen data and tested the methods with a simulation study. The simulations showed that species-based and pollen-based diversity estimates were all significantly positively correlated. ResultsThe Late Glacial (14500-11650cal. yr BP) and the mid-Holocene (8000-4000cal. yr BP) periods showed contrasting values for most of the diversity components, and several diversity estimates were strongly associated with climate. The cold climate during the Late Glacial led to high phylogenetic diversity, and relatively low functional diversity. Climate warming during the transition from the Late Glacial to the Holocene was followed by a decrease in phylogenetic diversity but an increase in functional diversity based on plant height and seed weight. Increasing human impact in the late Holocene was associated with an increase in plant richness and decreases in functional diversity based on plant height and seed weight and in phylogenetic diversity of herbs. ConclusionsPollen-based functional and phylogenetic diversity provide novel insights into post-glacial vegetation change and its drivers. Both functional and phylogenetic diversity were closely related to climatic conditions, suggesting that trait differences play an important role in long-term community response to climate change. Our results indicate that human impact during the last two millennia has influenced functional and phylogenetic diversity negatively by suppressing plants with certain traits (functional convergence) and giving advantage to plants from certain phylogenetic lineages. We see great potential in the further development of functional and phylogenetic diversity methods for pollen data.}},
  author       = {{Reitalu, Triin and Gerhold, Pille and Poska, Anneli and Paertel, Meelis and Vaeli, Vivika and Veski, Siim}},
  issn         = {{1654-1103}},
  keywords     = {{Pollen data; Plant diversity; Palynological diversity; Millennial time-scale; Long-term; Late quaternary; Biodiversity}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{5}},
  pages        = {{911--922}},
  publisher    = {{International Association of Vegetation Science}},
  series       = {{Journal of Vegetation Science}},
  title        = {{Novel insights into post-glacial vegetation change: functional and phylogenetic diversity in pollen records}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/jvs.12300}},
  doi          = {{10.1111/jvs.12300}},
  volume       = {{26}},
  year         = {{2015}},
}