TY  - JOUR
A1  - Li, Huashu
A1  - Liu, Xingqi
A1  - Herzschuh, Ulrike
A1  - Cao, Xianyong
A1  - Yu, Zhitong
A1  - Wang, Yong
T1  - Vegetation and climate changes since the middle MIS 3 inferred from a Wulagai Lake pollen record, Inner Mongolia, Northeastern China
JF  - Review of palaeobotany and palynology : an international journal
N2  - 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.
KW  - Pollen
KW  - Biome
KW  - Ice volume
KW  - Solar insolation
Y1  - 2018
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.revpalbo.2018.12.006
SN  - 0034-6667
SN  - 1879-0615
VL  - 262
SP  - 44
EP  - 51
PB  - Elsevier
CY  - Amsterdam
ER  - 
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
JF  - 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
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1007/s00334-022-00870-5
SN  - 0939-6314
SN  - 1617-6278
VL  - 31
IS  - 6
SP  - 549
EP  - 558
PB  - Springer
CY  - New York
ER  -