TY  - JOUR
A1  - Courtin, Jérémy
A1  - Andreev, Andrei
A1  - Raschke, Elena
A1  - Bala, Sarah
A1  - Biskaborn, Boris
A1  - Liu, Sisi
A1  - Zimmermann, Heike
A1  - Diekmann, Bernhard
A1  - Stoof-Leichsenring, Kathleen R.
A1  - Pestryakova, Luidmila Agafyevna
A1  - Herzschuh, Ulrike
T1  - Vegetation changes in Southeastern Siberia during the late pleistocene and the holocene
T2  - Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution
N2  - Relationships between climate, species composition, and species richness are of particular importance for understanding how boreal ecosystems will respond to ongoing climate change. This study aims to reconstruct changes in terrestrial vegetation composition and taxa richness during the glacial Late Pleistocene and the interglacial Holocene in the sparsely studied southeastern Yakutia (Siberia) by using pollen and sedimentary ancient DNA (sedaDNA) records. Pollen and sedaDNA metabarcoding data using the trnL g and h markers were obtained from a sediment core from Lake Bolshoe Toko. Both proxies were used to reconstruct the vegetation composition, while metabarcoding data were also used to investigate changes in plant taxa richness. The combination of pollen and sedaDNA approaches allows a robust estimation of regional and local past terrestrial vegetation composition around Bolshoe Toko during the last similar to 35,000 years. Both proxies suggest that during the Late Pleistocene, southeastern Siberia was covered by open steppe-tundra dominated by graminoids and forbs with patches of shrubs, confirming that steppe-tundra extended far south in Siberia. Both proxies show disturbance at the transition between the Late Pleistocene and the Holocene suggesting a period with scarce vegetation, changes in the hydrochemical conditions in the lake, and in sedimentation rates. Both proxies document drastic changes in vegetation composition in the early Holocene with an increased number of trees and shrubs and the appearance of new tree taxa in the lake's vicinity. The sedaDNA method suggests that the Late Pleistocene steppe-tundra vegetation supported a higher number of terrestrial plant taxa than the forested Holocene. This could be explained, for example, by the "keystone herbivore" hypothesis, which suggests that Late Pleistocene megaherbivores were able to maintain a high plant diversity. This is discussed in the light of the data with the broadly accepted species-area hypothesis as steppe-tundra covered such an extensive area during the Late Pleistocene.
KW  - last glacial
KW  - Holocene
KW  - Lake Bolshoe Toko
KW  - paleoenvironments
KW  - sedimentary ancient DNA
KW  - metabarcoding
KW  - trnL
KW  - pollen
Y1  - 2021
UR  - https://publishup.uni-potsdam.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/63638
SN  - 2296-701X
VL  - 9
PB  - Frontiers Media
CY  - Lausanne
ER  -