@article{GluecklerGengGrimmetal.2022, author = {Gl{\"u}ckler, Ramesh and Geng, Rongwei and Grimm, Lennart and Baisheva, Izabella and Herzschuh, Ulrike and Stoof-Leichsenring, Kathleen R. and Kruse, Stefan and Andreev, Andrej Aleksandrovic and Pestryakova, Luidmila and Dietze, Elisabeth}, title = {Holocene wildfire and vegetation dynamics in Central Yakutia, Siberia, reconstructed from lake-sediment proxies}, series = {Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution}, volume = {10}, journal = {Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution}, publisher = {Frontiers Media}, address = {Lausanne}, issn = {2296-701X}, doi = {10.3389/fevo.2022.962906}, pages = {19}, year = {2022}, abstract = {Wildfires play an essential role in the ecology of boreal forests. In eastern Siberia, fire activity has been increasing in recent years, challenging the livelihoods of local communities. Intensifying fire regimes also increase disturbance pressure on the boreal forests, which currently protect the permafrost beneath from accelerated degradation. However, long-term relationships between changes in fire regime and forest structure remain largely unknown. We assess past fire-vegetation feedbacks using sedimentary proxy records from Lake Satagay, Central Yakutia, Siberia, covering the past c. 10,800 years. Results from macroscopic and microscopic charcoal analyses indicate high amounts of burnt biomass during the Early Holocene, and that the present-day, low-severity surface fire regime has been in place since c. 4,500 years before present. A pollen-based quantitative reconstruction of vegetation cover and a terrestrial plant record based on sedimentary ancient DNA metabarcoding suggest a pronounced shift in forest structure toward the Late Holocene. Whereas the Early Holocene was characterized by postglacial open larch-birch woodlands, forest structure changed toward the modern, mixed larch-dominated closed-canopy forest during the Mid-Holocene. We propose a potential relationship between open woodlands and high amounts of burnt biomass, as well as a mediating effect of dense larch forest on the climate-driven intensification of fire regimes. Considering the anticipated increase in forest disturbances (droughts, insect invasions, and wildfires), higher tree mortality may force the modern state of the forest to shift toward an open woodland state comparable to the Early Holocene. Such a shift in forest structure may result in a positive feedback on currently intensifying wildfires. These new long-term data improve our understanding of millennial-scale fire regime changes and their relationships to changes of vegetation in Central Yakutia, where the local population is already being confronted with intensifying wildfire seasons.}, language = {en} } @article{AndreevRaschkeBiskabornetal.2021, author = {Andreev, Andrei and Raschke, Elena and Biskaborn, Boris and Vyse, Stuart Andrew and Courtin, J{\´e}r{\´e}my and B{\"o}hmer, Thomas and Stoof-Leichsenring, Kathleen R. and Kruse, Stefan and Pestryakova, Luidmila Agafyevna and Herzschuh, Ulrike}, title = {Late Pleistocene to Holocene vegetation and climate changes in northwestern Chukotka (Far East Russia) deduced from lakes Ilirney and Rauchuagytgyn pollen records}, series = {Boreas : an international journal of quaternary research}, volume = {50}, journal = {Boreas : an international journal of quaternary research}, number = {3}, publisher = {Wiley-Blackwell}, address = {Oxford [u.a.]}, issn = {0300-9483}, doi = {10.1111/bor.12521}, pages = {652 -- 670}, year = {2021}, abstract = {This paper presents two new pollen records and quantitative climate reconstructions from northern Chukotka documenting environmental changes over the last 27.9 ka. Open tundra- and steppe-like habitats dominated between 27.9 and 18.7 cal. ka BP. Betula and Alnus shrubs might have grown in sheltered microhabitats but disappeared after 18.7 cal. ka BP. Although the climate was rather harsh, local herb-dominated communities supported herbivores as is evident by the presence of coprophilous spores in the sediments. The increase in Salix and Cyperaceae similar to 16.1 cal. ka BP suggests climate amelioration. Shrub Betula appeared similar to 15.9 cal. ka BP, and became dominant after similar to 15.52 cal. ka BP, whilst typical steppe communities drastically reduced. Very high presence of Botryococcus in the Lateglacial sediments reflects widespread shallow habitats, probably due to lake level increase. Shrub Alnus became common after similar to 13 cal. ka BP reflecting further climate amelioration. Simultaneously, herb communities gradually decreased in the vegetation reaching a minimum similar to 11.8 cal. ka BP. A gradual decrease of algae remains suggests a reduction of shallow-water habitats. Shrubby and graminoid tundra was dominant similar to 11.8-11.1 cal. ka BP, later Salix stands significantly decreased. The forest-tundra ecotone established in the Early Holocene, shortly after 11.1 cal. ka BP. Low contents of green algae in the Early Holocene sediments likely reflect deeper aquatic conditions. The most favourable climate conditions were between similar to 10.6 and 7 cal. ka BP. Vegetation became similar to the modern after similar to 7 cal. ka BP but Pinus pumila came to the Ilirney area at about 1.2 cal. ka BP. It is important to emphasize that the study area provided refugia for Betula and Alnus during MIS 2. It is also notable that our records do not reflect evidence of Younger Dryas cooling, which is inconsistent with some regional environmental records but in good accordance with some others.}, language = {en} } @article{JiaAnslanChenetal.2022, author = {Jia, Weihan and Anslan, Sten and Chen, Fahu and Cao, Xianyong and Dong, Hailiang and Dulias, Katharina and Gu, Zhengquan and Heinecke, Liv and Jiang, Hongchen and Kruse, Stefan and Kang, Wengang and Li, Kai and Liu, Sisi and Liu, Xingqi and Liu, Ying and Ni, Jian and Schwalb, Antje and Stoof-Leichsenring, Kathleen R. and Shen, Wei and Tian, Fang and Wang, Jing and Wang, Yongbo and Wang, Yucheng and Xu, Hai and Yang, Xiaoyan and Zhang, Dongju and Herzschuh, Ulrike}, title = {Sedimentary ancient DNA reveals past ecosystem and biodiversity changes on the Tibetan Plateau: overview and prospects}, series = {Quaternary science reviews : the international multidisciplinary research and review journal}, volume = {293}, journal = {Quaternary science reviews : the international multidisciplinary research and review journal}, publisher = {Elsevier}, address = {Oxford}, issn = {0277-3791}, doi = {10.1016/j.quascirev.2022.107703}, pages = {14}, year = {2022}, abstract = {Alpine ecosystems on the Tibetan Plateau are being threatened by ongoing climate warming and intensified human activities. Ecological time-series obtained from sedimentary ancient DNA (sedaDNA) are essential for understanding past ecosystem and biodiversity dynamics on the Tibetan Plateau and their responses to climate change at a high taxonomic resolution. Hitherto only few but promising studies have been published on this topic. The potential and limitations of using sedaDNA on the Tibetan Plateau are not fully understood. Here, we (i) provide updated knowledge of and a brief introduction to the suitable archives, region-specific taphonomy, state-of-the-art methodologies, and research questions of sedaDNA on the Tibetan Plateau; (ii) review published and ongoing sedaDNA studies from the Tibetan Plateau; and (iii) give some recommendations for future sedaDNA study designs. Based on the current knowledge of taphonomy, we infer that deep glacial lakes with freshwater and high clay sediment input, such as those from the southern and southeastern Tibetan Plateau, may have a high potential for sedaDNA studies. Metabarcoding (for microorganisms and plants), metagenomics (for ecosystems), and hybridization capture (for prehistoric humans) are three primary sedaDNA approaches which have been successfully applied on the Tibetan Plateau, but their power is still limited by several technical issues, such as PCR bias and incompleteness of taxonomic reference databases. Setting up high-quality and open-access regional taxonomic reference databases for the Tibetan Plateau should be given priority in the future. To conclude, the archival, taphonomic, and methodological conditions of the Tibetan Plateau are favorable for performing sedaDNA studies. More research should be encouraged to address questions about long-term ecological dynamics at ecosystem scale and to bring the paleoecology of the Tibetan Plateau into a new era.}, language = {en} } @article{StoofLeichsenringHuangLiuetal.2022, author = {Stoof-Leichsenring, Kathleen R. and Huang, Sichao and Liu, Sisi and Jia, Weihan and Li, Kai and Liu, Xingqi and Pestryakova, Luidmila A. and Herzschuh, Ulrike}, title = {Sedimentary DNA identifies modern and past macrophyte diversity and its environmental drivers in high-latitude and high-elevation lakes in Siberia and China}, series = {Limnology and oceanography}, volume = {67}, journal = {Limnology and oceanography}, number = {5}, publisher = {Wiley-Blackwell}, address = {Oxford [u.a.]}, issn = {0024-3590}, doi = {10.1002/lno.12061}, pages = {1126 -- 1141}, year = {2022}, abstract = {Arctic and alpine aquatic ecosystems are changing rapidly under recent global warming, threatening water resources by diminishing trophic status and changing biotic composition. Macrophytes play a key role in the ecology of freshwaters and we need to improve our understanding of long-term macrophytes diversity and environmental change so far limited by the sporadic presence of macrofossils in sediments. In our study, we applied metabarcoding using the trnL P6 loop marker to retrieve macrophyte richness and composition from 179 surface-sediment samples from arctic Siberian and alpine Chinese lakes and three representative lake cores. The surface-sediment dataset suggests that macrophyte richness and composition are mostly affected by temperature and conductivity, with highest richness when mean July temperatures are higher than 12 degrees C and conductivity ranges between 40 and 400 mu S cm(-1). Compositional turnover during the Late Pleistocene/Holocene is minor in Siberian cores and characterized by a less rich, but stable emergent macrophyte community. Richness decreases during the Last Glacial Maximum and rises during wetter and warmer climate in the Late-glacial and Mid-Holocene. In contrast, we detect a pronounced change from emergent to submerged taxa at 14 ka in the Tibetan alpine core, which can be explained by increasing temperature and conductivity due to glacial runoff and evaporation. Our study provides evidence for the suitability of the trnL marker to recover modern and past macrophyte diversity and its applicability for the response of macrophyte diversity to lake-hydrochemical and climate variability predicting contrasting macrophyte changes in arctic and alpine lakes under intensified warming and human impact.}, language = {en} } @article{CourtinAndreevRaschkeetal.2021, author = {Courtin, J{\´e}r{\´e}my and Andreev, Andrei and Raschke, Elena and Bala, Sarah and Biskaborn, Boris and Liu, Sisi and Zimmermann, Heike and Diekmann, Bernhard and Stoof-Leichsenring, Kathleen R. and Pestryakova, Luidmila Agafyevna and Herzschuh, Ulrike}, title = {Vegetation changes in Southeastern Siberia during the late pleistocene and the holocene}, series = {Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution}, volume = {9}, journal = {Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution}, publisher = {Frontiers Media}, address = {Lausanne}, issn = {2296-701X}, doi = {10.3389/fevo.2021.625096}, pages = {18}, year = {2021}, abstract = {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.}, language = {en} }