Glacial legacies on interglacial vegetation at the Pliocene-Pleistocene transition in NE Asia


Contact
Ulrike.Herzschuh [ at ] awi.de

Abstract

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.



Item Type
Article
Authors
Divisions
Primary Division
Programs
Primary Topic
Publication Status
Published
Eprint ID
41908
DOI 10.1038/ncomms11967

Cite as
Herzschuh, U. , Birks, H. J. B. , Laepple, T. , Andreev, A. , Melles, M. and Brigham-Grette, J. (2016): Glacial legacies on interglacial vegetation at the Pliocene-Pleistocene transition in NE Asia , Nature Communications, 7 , p. 11967 . doi: 10.1038/ncomms11967


Download
[thumbnail of ncomms11967.pdf]
Preview
PDF
ncomms11967.pdf

Download (5MB) | Preview
Cite this document as:

Share
Add to AnyAdd to TwitterAdd to FacebookAdd to LinkedinAdd to PinterestAdd to Email


Citation

Geographical region

Research Platforms
N/A

Campaigns
Arctic Land Expeditions > RU-Land_2008_Elgygytgyn


Actions
Edit Item Edit Item