TY  - JOUR
A1  - Tian, Fang
A1  - Qin, Wen
A1  - Zhang, Ran
A1  - Herzschuh, Ulrike
A1  - Ni, Jian
A1  - Zhang, Chengjun
A1  - Mischke, Steffen
A1  - Cao, Xianyong
T1  - Palynological evidence for the temporal stability of the plant community in the Yellow River Source Area over the last 7,400 years
T2  - Vegetation history and archaeobotany
N2  - The terrestrial ecosystem in the Yellow River Source Area (YRSA) is sensitive to climate change and human impacts, although past vegetation change and the degree of human disturbance are still largely unknown. A 170-cm-long sediment core covering the last 7,400 years was collected from Lake Xingxinghai (XXH) in the YRSA. Pollen, together with a series of other environmental proxies (including grain size, total organic carbon (TOC) and carbonate content), were analysed to explore past vegetation and environmental changes for the YRSA. Dominant and common pollen components-Cyperaceae, Poaceae, Artemisia, Chenopodiaceae and Asteraceae-are stable throughout the last 7,400 years. Slight vegetation change is inferred from an increasing trend of Cyperaceae and decreasing trend of Poaceae, suggesting that alpine steppe was replaced by alpine meadow at ca. 3.5 ka cal bp. The vegetation transformation indicates a generally wetter climate during the middle and late Holocene, which is supported by increased amounts of TOC and Pediastrum (representing high water-level) and is consistent with previous past climate records from the north-eastern Tibetan Plateau. Our results find no evidence of human impact on the regional vegetation surrounding XXH, hence we conclude the vegetation change likely reflects the regional climate signal.
KW  - Pollen
KW  - Lake Xingxinghai
KW  - Tibetan Plateau
KW  - Holocene
KW  - Vegetation change
KW  - Regional climate
Y1  - 2022
UR  - https://publishup.uni-potsdam.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/64200
SN  - 0939-6314
SN  - 1617-6278
VL  - 31
IS  - 6
SP  - 549
EP  - 558
PB  - Springer
CY  - New York
ER  -