Feedbacks between climate and boreal forests during the Holocene epoch

Foley, Jonathan A.; Kutzbach, John E.; Coe, Michael T.; Levis, Samuel

doi:10.1038/371052a0

Cited by 494 publications

(285 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…Mean annual temperatures probably peaked at c. 9500 years ago, with values 3 o C above modern values at mid-latitudes in the northern hemisphere (Foley et al 1994;Morgan et al 2002). The 'Holocene Optimum' is registered in many Australian climate proxy records.…”

Section: Early Holocene Climate and Environmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Altered Ecologies: Fire, climate and human influence on terrestrial landscapes: Terra Australis 32

Haberle¹,

Stevenson²,

Prebble³

2010

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terra australis 32Terra Australis reports the results of archaeological and related research within the south and east of Asia, though mainly Australia, New Guinea and island Melanesia -lands that remained terra australis incognita to generations of prehistorians. Its subject is the settlement of the diverse environments in this isolated quarter of the globe by peoples who have maintained their discrete and traditional ways of life into the recent recorded or remembered past and at times into the observable present.Since the beginning of the series, the basic colour on the spine and cover has distinguished the regional distribution of topics as follows: ochre for Australia, green for New Guinea, red for South-East Asia and blue for the Pacific Islands. From 2001, issues with a gold spine will include conference proceedings, edited papers and monographs which in topic or desired format do not fit easily within the original arrangements. All volumes are numbered within the same series. Copyright of the text remains with the contributors/authors, 2009. This book is copyright in all countries subscribing to the Berne convention. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study, research, criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright Act, no part may be reproduced by any process without written permission. Inquiries should be made to the publisher. Among saltbush greyer than seaweed we boardwalk the yeasting waves of the old golden-perch pond. List of volumes in Terra AustralisRabbit dung dots a lake bottom dry since their coming -only once, last century, after seven inches of rain a farmer had to rescue his sheep by boat.The roo bounces down-slope, a brown branch crackling.The professor's eye, noting the local runoff and what the westerlies do, observes seas that rush in and out of a continent's middle, salt lakes spreading and emptying, hills pimpling up and down with cartoon-like speed, or gullying themselves into extinction, rainforests and deserts zipping back and forth like Tom and Jerry. A human mouse plague swiftly swarms, perhaps soon gone.Impermanent planet. Impermanent surface. All under air and water. The lunette is a wave, a dumper of sand, a collapsing tower in the mad rabbit years when its top blew off and old bones winked through, with a vault's worth of fine stone cores.Once so simply mislaid in sand, now so obligingly sluiced out to the un-subincised world that smiles at stone knives. terra australis 32Altered Ecologies: Fire, climate and human influence on terrestrial landscapes v You might as well offer your table knife to a carpenter.Cane grass and the Dreamtime's stone fight the eroding rivulets together. In today's rare downpour each lost core, or blunted scraper crowns some tiny eroding hillock, plops its anchor in the dissolving silts.The bettong whose skin took off the stone tool's edge has vanished -sacrifice to future fertility.Through the softening soil Homo sapiens's skeleton bumps up like a carp's back.Waits for the wind to shave it off in pieces.A D-section and a ti...

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Section: Early Holocene Climate and Environmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Altered Ecologies: Fire, climate and human influence on terrestrial landscapes: Terra Australis 32

Haberle¹,

Stevenson²,

Prebble³

2010

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“…Alpine ecosystems play an important role in the global energy balance and carbon budget, which are related to climate sensitivity (Oechel et al 2000;Foley et al 1994;Bonan 1995;Christensen et al 1999;Chapin et al 2000). The Tibetan Plateau is situated in southwestern China, and is the highest continental landmass in the world.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Simulated distribution of vegetation types in response to climate change on the Tibetan Plateau

Song

Zhou

Ouyang

2005

J Vegetation Science

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Questions: What is the relationship between alpine vegetation patterns and climate? And how do alpine vegetation patterns respond to climate changes? Location: Tibetan Plateau, southwestern China. The total area is 2 500 000 km 2 with an average altitude over 4000 m. Methods:The geographic distribution of vegetation types on the Tibetan Plateau was simulated based on climatology using a small set of plant functional types (PFTs) embedded in the biogeochemistry-biography model BIOME4. The paleoclimate for the early Holocene was used to explore the possibility of simulating past vegetation patterns. Changes in vegetation patterns were simulated assuming continuous exponential increase in atmospheric CO 2 concentration, based on a transient ocean-atmosphere simulation including sulfate aerosol effects during the 21st century. Results: Forest, shrub steppe, alpine steppe and alpine meadow extended while no desert vegetation developed under the warmer and humid climate of the early Holocene. In the future climate scenario, the simulated tree line is farther north in most sectors than at present. There are also major northward shifts of alpine meadows and a reduction in shrubdominated montane steppe. The boundary between montane desert and alpine desert will be farther to the south than today. The area of alpine desert would decrease, that of montane desert would increase. Conclusions: The outline of changes in vegetation distribution was captured with the simulation. Increased CO2 concentration would potentially lead to big changes in alpine ecosystems.

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“…The Arctic is important to global climate because its freshwater discharge affects North Atlantic circulation (Bacon, 1998), its snow cover influences global heat budgets (Foley et al, 1994), and its soils and wetlands are potential sources for greenhouse gases (Oechel and Vourlitis, 1996). Arctic climate is naturally variable (Overpeck et al, 1997) and is sensitive to humaninduced changes .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Responses of an arctic landscape to Lateglacial and early Holocene climatic changes: the importance of moisture

Mann

Peteet

Reanier³

et al. 2002

Quaternary Science Reviews

116

132

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Many of the physical and biological processes that characterize arctic ecosystems are unique to high latitudes, and their sensitivities to climate change are poorly understood. Stratigraphic records of land-surface processes and vegetation change in the Arctic Foothills of northern Alaska reveal how tundra landscapes responded to climatic changes between 13,000 and 8000 14 C yr BP. Peat deposition began and shrub vegetation became widespread ca. 12,500 14 C yr BP, probably in response to the advent of warmer and wetter climate. Increased slope erosion caused rapid alluviation in valleys, and Populus trees spread northward along braided floodplains before 11,000 14 C yr BP. Lake levels fell and streams incised their floodplains during the Younger Dryas (YD) (11,000-10,000 14 C yr BP). A hiatus in records of Populus suggest that its geographic range contracted, and pollen records of other species suggest a cooler and drier climate during this interval. Basal peats dating to the YD are rare, suggesting that rates of paludification slowed. Immediately after 10,000 14 C yr BP, lake levels rose, streams aggraded rapidly again, intense solifluction occurred, and Populus re-invaded the area. Moist acidic tundra vegetation was widespread by 8500 14 C yr BP along with wet, organic-rich soils. Most of these landscape-scale effects of climatic change involved changes in moisture. Although low temperature is the most conspicuous feature of arctic climate, shifts in effective moisture may be the proximate cause for many of the impacts that climate change has in arctic regions. r

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Feedbacks between climate and boreal forests during the Holocene epoch

Cited by 494 publications

References 13 publications

Altered Ecologies: Fire, climate and human influence on terrestrial landscapes: Terra Australis 32

Altered Ecologies: Fire, climate and human influence on terrestrial landscapes: Terra Australis 32

Simulated distribution of vegetation types in response to climate change on the Tibetan Plateau

Responses of an arctic landscape to Lateglacial and early Holocene climatic changes: the importance of moisture

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