@article{LiWangHerzschuhetal.2022,
  author    = {Li, Zhen and Wang, Yongbo and Herzschuh, Ulrike and Cao, Xianyong and Ni, Jian and Zhao, Yan},
  title     = {Pollen-based biome reconstruction on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau during the past 15,000 years},
  series = {Palaeogeography, palaeoclimatology, palaeoecology : an international journal for the geo-sciences},
  volume    = {604},
  journal   = {Palaeogeography, palaeoclimatology, palaeoecology : an international journal for the geo-sciences},
  publisher = {Elsevier},
  address   = {Amsterdam},
  issn      = {0031-0182},
  doi       = {10.1016/j.palaeo.2022.111190},
  pages     = {12},
  year      = {2022},
  abstract  = {Reconstruction of past vegetation change is critical for better understanding the potential impact of future global change on the fragile alpine ecosystems of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau (QTP). In this paper, pollen assemblages comprising 58 records from the QTP, spanning the past 15 kyrs, were collected to reconstruct biome compositions using a standard approach. Six forest biomes were identified mainly on the southeastern plateau, exhibiting a pattern of gradual expansion along the eastern margin during early to mid-Holocene times. The alpine meadow biome was separately identified based on an updated scheme, and showed notable westward expansions towards lower latitudes and higher altitudes during early Holocene times. Consistent patterns of migration could also be identified for the alpine steppe biome, which moved eastward during the late Holocene after 4 ka. As the dominant biome type, temperate steppe was distributed widely over the QTP with minor migration patterns, except for a progressive expansion to lower altitudes in the late Holocene times. The desert biome was inferred mainly as covering the northwestern plateau and the Qaidam Basin, in relatively restricted areas. The spatial distribution of the reconstructed biomes represent the large-scale vegetation gradient on the QTP. Monsoonal precipitation expressed predominant controls on the development of alpine ecosystems, while the variations in desert vegetation responded to regional moisture brought by the mid-latitude Westerlies. Temperature changes played relatively minor roles in the variations of alpine vegetation, but exerted more significant impacts on the forest biomes.},
  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}
}
@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{HerzschuhLiBoehmeretal.2022,
  author    = {Herzschuh, Ulrike and Li, Chenzhi and Boehmer, Thomas and Postl, Alexander K. and Heim, Birgit and Andreev, Andrei A. and Cao, Xianyong and Wieczorek, Mareike and Ni, Jian},
  title     = {LegacyPollen 1.0},
  series = {Earth system science data : ESSD},
  volume    = {14},
  journal   = {Earth system science data : ESSD},
  number    = {7},
  publisher = {Copernicus},
  address   = {G{\"o}ttingen},
  issn      = {1866-3508},
  doi       = {10.5194/essd-14-3213-2022},
  pages     = {3213 -- 3227},
  year      = {2022},
  abstract  = {Here we describe the LegacyPollen 1.0, a dataset of 2831 fossil pollen records with metadata, a harmonized taxonomy, and standardized chronologies. A total of 1032 records originate from North America, 1075 from Europe, 488 from Asia, 150 from Latin America, 54 from Africa, and 32 from the Indo-Pacific. The pollen data cover the late Quaternary (mostly the Holocene). The original 10 110 pollen taxa names (including variations in the notations) were harmonized to 1002 terrestrial taxa (including Cyperaceae), with woody taxa and major herbaceous taxa harmonized to genus level and other herbaceous taxa to family level. The dataset is valuable for synthesis studies of, for example, taxa areal changes, vegetation dynamics, human impacts (e.g., deforestation), and climate change at global or continental scales. The harmonized pollen and metadata as well as the harmonization table are available from PANGAEA (https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.929773; Herzschuh et al., 2021). R code for the harmonization is provided at Zenodo (https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5910972; Herzschuh et al., 2022) so that datasets at a customized harmonization level can be easily established.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{CaoTianHerzschuhetal.2022,
  author    = {Cao, Xianyong and Tian, Fang and Herzschuh, Ulrike and Ni, Jian and Xu, Qinghai and Li, Wenjia and Zhang, Yanrong and Luo, Mingyu and Chen, Fahu},
  title     = {Human activities have reduced plant diversity in eastern China over the last two millennia},
  series = {Global change biology},
  volume    = {28},
  journal   = {Global change biology},
  number    = {16},
  publisher = {Wiley},
  address   = {Hoboken},
  issn      = {1354-1013},
  doi       = {10.1111/gcb.16274},
  pages     = {4962 -- 4976},
  year      = {2022},
  abstract  = {Understanding the history and regional singularities of human impact on vegetation is key to developing strategies for sustainable ecosystem management. In this study, fossil and modern pollen datasets from China are employed to investigate temporal changes in pollen composition, analogue quality, and pollen diversity during the Holocene. Anthropogenic disturbance and vegetation's responses are also assessed. Results reveal that pollen assemblages from non-forest communities fail to provide evidence of human impact for the western part of China (annual precipitation less than 400 mm and/or elevation more than 3000 m.a.s.l.), as inferred from the stable quality of modern analogues, principal components, and diversity of species and communities throughout the Holocene. For the eastern part of China, the proportion of fossil pollen spectra with good modern analogues increases from ca. 50\% to ca. 80\% during the last 2 millennia, indicating an enhanced intensity of anthropogenic disturbance on vegetation. This disturbance has caused the pollen spectra to become taxonomically less diverse over space (reduced abundances of arboreal taxa and increased abundances of herbaceous taxa), highlighting a reduced south-north differentiation and divergence from past vegetation between regions in the eastern part of China. We recommend that care is taken in eastern China when basing the development of ecosystem management strategies on vegetation changes in the region during the last 2000 years, since humans have significantly disturbed the vegetation during this period.},
  language  = {en}
}
@misc{CaoTianAndreevetal.2020,
  author    = {Cao, Xianyong and Tian, Fang and Andreev, Andrei and Anderson, Patricia M. and Lozhkin, Anatoly V. and Bezrukova, Elena and Ni, Jian and Rudaya, Natalia and Stobbe, Astrid and Wieczorek, Mareike and Herzschuh, Ulrike},
  title     = {A taxonomically harmonized and temporally standardized fossil pollen dataset from Siberia covering the last 40 kyr},
  series = {Zweitver{\"o}ffentlichungen der Universit{\"a}t Potsdam : Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Reihe},
  journal   = {Zweitver{\"o}ffentlichungen der Universit{\"a}t Potsdam : Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Reihe},
  number    = {1},
  issn      = {1866-8372},
  doi       = {10.25932/publishup-51243},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-512438},
  pages     = {19},
  year      = {2020},
  abstract  = {Pollen records from Siberia are mostly absent in global or Northern Hemisphere synthesis works. Here we present a taxonomically harmonized and temporally standardized pollen dataset that was synthesized using 173 palynological records from Siberia and adjacent areas (northeastern Asia, 42-75 degrees N, 50-180 degrees E). Pollen data were taxonomically harmonized, i.e. the original 437 taxa were assigned to 106 combined pollen taxa. Age-depth models for all records were revised by applying a constant Bayesian age-depth modelling routine. The pollen dataset is available as count data and percentage data in a table format (taxa vs. samples), with age information for each sample. The dataset has relatively few sites covering the last glacial period between 40 and 11.5 ka (calibrated thousands of years before 1950 CE) particularly from the central and western part of the study area. In the Holocene period, the dataset has many sites from most of the area, with the exception of the central part of Siberia. Of the 173 pollen records, 81 \% of pollen counts were downloaded from open databases (GPD, EPD, PANGAEA) and 10 \% were contributions by the original data gatherers, while a few were digitized from publications. Most of the pollen records originate from peatlands (48 \%) and lake sediments (33 \%). Most of the records (83 \%) have >= 3 dates, allowing the establishment of reliable chronologies. The dataset can be used for various purposes, including pollen data mapping (example maps for Larix at selected time slices are shown) as well as quantitative climate and vegetation reconstructions. The datasets for pollen counts and pollen percentages are available at https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.898616 (Cao et al., 2019a), also including the site information, data source, original publication, dating data, and the plant functional type for each pollen taxa.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{CaoTianAndreevetal.2020,
  author    = {Cao, Xianyong and Tian, Fang and Andreev, Andrei and Anderson, Patricia M. and Lozhkin, Anatoly V. and Bezrukova, Elena and Ni, Jian and Rudaya, Natalia and Stobbe, Astrid and Wieczorek, Mareike and Herzschuh, Ulrike},
  title     = {A taxonomically harmonized and temporally standardized fossil pollen dataset from Siberia covering the last 40 kyr},
  series = {Earth System Science Data},
  volume    = {12},
  journal   = {Earth System Science Data},
  number    = {1},
  publisher = {Copernics Publications},
  address   = {Katlenburg-Lindau},
  issn      = {1866-3508},
  doi       = {10.5194/essd-12-119-2020},
  pages     = {119 -- 135},
  year      = {2020},
  abstract  = {Pollen records from Siberia are mostly absent in global or Northern Hemisphere synthesis works. Here we present a taxonomically harmonized and temporally standardized pollen dataset that was synthesized using 173 palynological records from Siberia and adjacent areas (northeastern Asia, 42-75 degrees N, 50-180 degrees E). Pollen data were taxonomically harmonized, i.e. the original 437 taxa were assigned to 106 combined pollen taxa. Age-depth models for all records were revised by applying a constant Bayesian age-depth modelling routine. The pollen dataset is available as count data and percentage data in a table format (taxa vs. samples), with age information for each sample. The dataset has relatively few sites covering the last glacial period between 40 and 11.5 ka (calibrated thousands of years before 1950 CE) particularly from the central and western part of the study area. In the Holocene period, the dataset has many sites from most of the area, with the exception of the central part of Siberia. Of the 173 pollen records, 81 \% of pollen counts were downloaded from open databases (GPD, EPD, PANGAEA) and 10 \% were contributions by the original data gatherers, while a few were digitized from publications. Most of the pollen records originate from peatlands (48 \%) and lake sediments (33 \%). Most of the records (83 \%) have >= 3 dates, allowing the establishment of reliable chronologies. The dataset can be used for various purposes, including pollen data mapping (example maps for Larix at selected time slices are shown) as well as quantitative climate and vegetation reconstructions. The datasets for pollen counts and pollen percentages are available at https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.898616 (Cao et al., 2019a), also including the site information, data source, original publication, dating data, and the plant functional type for each pollen taxa.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{HerzschuhCaoLaeppleetal.2019,
  author    = {Herzschuh, Ulrike and Cao, Xianyong and Laepple, Thomas and Dallmeyer, Anne and Telford, Richard J. and Ni, Jian and Chen, Fahu and Kong, Zhaochen and Liu, Guangxiu and Liu, Kam-Biu and Liu, Xingqi and Stebich, Martina and Tang, Lingyu and Tian, Fang and Wang, Yongbo and Wischnewski, Juliane and Xu, Qinghai and Yan, Shun and Yang, Zhenjing and Yu, Ge and Zhang, Yun and Zhao, Yan and Zheng, Zhuo},
  title     = {Position and orientation of the westerly jet determined Holocene rainfall patterns in China},
  series = {Nature Communications},
  volume    = {10},
  journal   = {Nature Communications},
  publisher = {Nature Publ. Group},
  address   = {London},
  issn      = {2041-1723},
  doi       = {10.1038/s41467-019-09866-8},
  pages     = {8},
  year      = {2019},
  abstract  = {Proxy-based reconstructions and modeling of Holocene spatiotemporal precipitation patterns for China and Mongolia have hitherto yielded contradictory results indicating that the basic mechanisms behind the East Asian Summer Monsoon and its interaction with the westerly jet stream remain poorly understood. We present quantitative reconstructions of Holocene precipitation derived from 101 fossil pollen records and analyse them with the help of a minimal empirical model. We show that the westerly jet-stream axis shifted gradually southward and became less tilted since the middle Holocene. This was tracked by the summer monsoon rain band resulting in an early-Holocene precipitation maximum over most of western China, a mid-Holocene maximum in north-central and northeastern China, and a late-Holocene maximum in southeastern China. Our results suggest that a correct simulation of the orientation and position of the westerly jet stream is crucial to the reliable prediction of precipitation patterns in China and Mongolia.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{GeisslerFiedlerNietal.2019,
  author    = {Geissler, Katja and Fiedler, Sebastian and Ni, Jian and Herzschuh, Ulrike and Jeltsch, Florian},
  title     = {Combined effects of grazing and climate warming drive shrub dominance on the Tibetan Plateau},
  series = {The Rangeland journal},
  volume    = {41},
  journal   = {The Rangeland journal},
  number    = {5},
  publisher = {CSIRO Publishing},
  address   = {Collingwood},
  issn      = {1036-9872},
  doi       = {10.1071/RJ19027},
  pages     = {425 -- 439},
  year      = {2019},
  abstract  = {Encroachment of shrubs into the unique pastoral grassland ecosystems of the Tibetan Plateau has significant impact on ecosystem services, especially forage production. We developed a process-based ecohydrological model to identify the relative importance of the main drivers of shrub encroachment for the alpine meadows within the Qinghai province. Specifically, we explored the effects of summer livestock grazing (intensity and type of livestock) together with the effects of climate warming, including interactions between herbaceous and woody vegetation and feedback loops between soil, water and vegetation. Under current climatic conditions and a traditional herd composition, an increasing grazing intensity above a threshold value of 0.32 +/- 0.10 large stock units (LSU) ha(-1) day(-1) changes the vegetation composition from herbaceous towards a woody and bare soil dominated system. Very high grazing intensity (above 0.8 LSU ha(-1) day(-1)) leads to a complete loss of any vegetation. Under warmer conditions, the vegetation showed a higher resilience against livestock farming. This resilience is enhanced when the herd has a higher browser : grazer ratio. A cooler climate has a shrub encroaching effect, whereas warmer conditions increase the cover of the herbaceous vegetation. This effect was primarily due to season length and an accompanied competitive loss of slower growing shrubs, rather than evaporative water loss leading to less soil water in deeper soil layers for deeper rooting shrubs. If climate warming is driving current shrub encroachment, we conclude it is only indirectly so. It would be manifest by an advancing shrubline and could be regarded as a climatic escape of specific shrub species such as Potentilla fruticosa. Under the recent high intensity of grazing, only herding by more browsing animals can potentially prevent both shrub encroachment and the complete loss of herbaceous vegetation.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{TianCaoDallmeyeretal.2018,
  author    = {Tian, Fang and Cao, Xianyong and Dallmeyer, Anne and Lohmann, Gerrit and Zhang, Xu and Ni, Jian and Andreev, Andrei and Anderson, Patricia M. and Lozhkin, Anatoly V. and Bezrukova, Elena and Rudaya, Natalia and Xu, Qinghai and Herzschuh, Ulrike},
  title     = {Biome changes and their inferred climatic drivers in northern and eastern continental Asia at selected times since 40 cal ka BP},
  series = {Vegetation History and Archaeobotany},
  volume    = {27},
  journal   = {Vegetation History and Archaeobotany},
  number    = {2},
  publisher = {Springer},
  address   = {New York},
  issn      = {0939-6314},
  doi       = {10.1007/s00334-017-0653-8},
  pages     = {365 -- 379},
  year      = {2018},
  abstract  = {Recent global warming is pronounced in high-latitude regions (e.g. northern Asia), and will cause the vegetation to change. Future vegetation trends (e.g. the "arctic greening") will feed back into atmospheric circulation and the global climate system. Understanding the nature and causes of past vegetation changes is important for predicting the composition and distribution of future vegetation communities. Fossil pollen records from 468 sites in northern and eastern Asia were biomised at selected times between 40 cal ka bp and today. Biomes were also simulated using a climate-driven biome model and results from the two approaches compared in order to help understand the mechanisms behind the observed vegetation changes. The consistent biome results inferred by both approaches reveal that long-term and broad-scale vegetation patterns reflect global- to hemispheric-scale climate changes. Forest biomes increase around the beginning of the late deglaciation, become more widespread during the early and middle Holocene, and decrease in the late Holocene in fringe areas of the Asian Summer Monsoon. At the southern and southwestern margins of the taiga, forest increases in the early Holocene and shows notable species succession, which may have been caused by winter warming at ca. 7 cal ka bp. At the northeastern taiga margin (central Yakutia and northeastern Siberia), shrub expansion during the last deglaciation appears to prevent the permafrost from thawing and hinders the northward expansion of evergreen needle-leaved species until ca. 7 cal ka bp. The vegetation-climate disequilibrium during the early Holocene in the taiga-tundra transition zone suggests that projected climate warming will not cause a northward expansion of evergreen needle-leaved species.},
  language  = {en}
}