@article{LiLiuHerzschuhetal.2018,
  author    = {Li, Huashu and Liu, Xingqi and Herzschuh, Ulrike and Cao, Xianyong and Yu, Zhitong and Wang, Yong},
  title     = {Vegetation and climate changes since the middle MIS 3 inferred from a Wulagai Lake pollen record, Inner Mongolia, Northeastern China},
  series = {Review of palaeobotany and palynology : an international journal},
  volume    = {262},
  journal   = {Review of palaeobotany and palynology : an international journal},
  publisher = {Elsevier},
  address   = {Amsterdam},
  issn      = {0034-6667},
  doi       = {10.1016/j.revpalbo.2018.12.006},
  pages     = {44 -- 51},
  year      = {2018},
  abstract  = {The climate conditions during Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 3 were similar to present-day conditions, but whether humidity then exceeded present levels is debated, and the driving mechanisms of palaeoclimate evolution since MIS 3 remain unclear. Here, we use pollen data from Wulagai Lake, Inner Mongolia, to reconstruct vegetation and climate changes since the middle MIS 3. The steppe biome is reconstructed as the first dominant biome and the desert biome as the second, and the results show that the vegetation was steppe over the last 43,800 years. Poaceae, Artemisia, Caryophyllaceae and Humulus were abundant from middle to late MIS 3, indicating humid climate conditions. As drought-tolerant species such as Hippophae, Nitraria and Chenopodiaceae spread during MIS 2, the climate became arid. The Holocene is characterized by the dominance of steppe with mixed coniferous-broadleaved forests in the Greater Hinggan Range, and the desert biome retains high affinity scores, indicating that the climate was semi-arid. The climate from middle to late MIS 3 was wetter than in the Holocene; this shift was related to changes in the Northern Hemisphere's solar insolation and ice volume. The humid conditions during MIS 3 were attributed to strong ice-albedo feedback, which led to evaporation that was less than the precipitation. The enhanced evaporation caused by increased solar insolation and decreased ice volume might have exceeded the precipitation during the Holocene and resulted in low effective humidity in the Wulagai Lake basin.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{TianQinZhangetal.2022,
  author    = {Tian, Fang and Qin, Wen and Zhang, Ran and Herzschuh, Ulrike and Ni, Jian and Zhang, Chengjun and Mischke, Steffen and Cao, Xianyong},
  title     = {Palynological evidence for the temporal stability of the plant community in the Yellow River Source Area over the last 7,400 years},
  series = {Vegetation history and archaeobotany},
  volume    = {31},
  journal   = {Vegetation history and archaeobotany},
  number    = {6},
  publisher = {Springer},
  address   = {New York},
  issn      = {0939-6314},
  doi       = {10.1007/s00334-022-00870-5},
  pages     = {549 -- 558},
  year      = {2022},
  abstract  = {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.},
  language  = {en}
}