Palaeovegetation of China: a pollen data‐based synthesis for the mid‐Holocene and last glacial maximum

Abstract

International audiencePollen data from China for 6000 and 18,000 C-14 yr BP Were compiled and used to reconstruct palaeovegetation patterns, using complete taxon lists where possible and a biomization procedure that entailed the assignment of 645 pollen taxa to plant functional types. A set of 658 modern pollen samples spanning all biomes and regions provided a comprehensive test for this procedure and showed convincing agreement between reconstructed biomes and present natural vegetation types, both geographically and in terms of the elevation gradients in mountain regions of north-eastern and south-western China. The 6000 C-14 yr BP map confirms earlier studies in showing that the forest biomes in eastern China were systematically shifted northwards and extended westwards during the mid-Holocene. Tropical rain forest occurred on mainland China at sites characterized today by either tropical seasonal or broadleaved evergreen/warm mixed forest. Broadleaved evergreen/warm mixed forest occurred further north than today, and at higher elevation sites within the modern latitudinal range of this biome. The northern limit of temperate deciduous forest was shifted c. 800 km north relative to today. The 18,000 C-14 yr BP map shows that steppe and even desert vegetation extended to the modem coast of eastern China at the last glacial maximum, replacing today's temperate deciduous forest. Tropical forests were excluded from China and broadleaved evergreen/warm mixed forest had retreated to tropical latitudes, while taiga extended southwards to c. 43 degreesN

Molecular phylogeny, biogeography and ecological niche modelling ofCardiocrinum(Liliaceae): insights into the evolutionary history of endemic genera distributed across the Sino-Japanese floristic region

“…S1b). However, the climatic changes of the Quaternary have caused repeated shifts in the distribution of forests and understorey species throughout East Asia (Liu, 1988;Yu et al, 2000;Qiu et al, 2011). With the increasing temperature since the LGM, the predicted suitable habitats of C. cathayanum, C. giganteum and C. giganteum var.…”

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A late Eocene palynological record of climate change and Tibetan Plateau uplift (Xining Basin, China)

“…NLRs were assigned based on Song et al (2004) and the taxa were grouped according to biome types listed in Yu et al (2000) and Ni et al (2010) (see Table 1), and filtered for pollen taxa found in the Eocene record of Xining. Subsequently 6 biome types were assigned based on more general versions of the PFTs and biomes described by Yu et al (2000): 1) xerophytic vegetation (desert and steppe), 2) conifer forest, 3) temperate broad leaved forest, 4) warm broad leaved forest, 5) tropical forest, and 6) pteridophytes.…”

“…Subsequently 6 biome types were assigned based on more general versions of the PFTs and biomes described by Yu et al (2000): 1) xerophytic vegetation (desert and steppe), 2) conifer forest, 3) temperate broad leaved forest, 4) warm broad leaved forest, 5) tropical forest, and 6) pteridophytes. Taxa that did not fit these groups were placed in a group labeled 'other taxa'.…”

“…These large-scale Table 1 The nearest living relatives and the fossil taxa grouped according to the information from the biome studies. Nearest living relatives (NLR) and biomes based on fossil pollen assemblage.The list below follows from grouping taxa based on modern vegetation and pollen data in G. Yu et al, 2000 andJ. Ni et al, 2010 fluctuations occur throughout the succession and are in line with the lithofacies analysis (Abels et al, 2011) showing aridification at the transition between Zone B and Zone C. Moreover, in zones A and B the dominance of dry taxa pollen influx is somewhat higher whereas in the upper part of the section, in zone C, it decreases at the expense of non-xerophytic taxa becoming more important suggesting some important change is occurring at this time.…”