TY - THES A1 - Wischnewski, Juliane T1 - Reconstructing climate variability on the Tibetan Plateau : comparing aquatic and terrestrial signals T1 - Klimarekonstruktionen auf dem Tibet Plateau : aquatische und terrestrische Signale im Vergleich N2 - Spatial and temporal temperature and moisture patterns across the Tibetan Plateau are very complex. The onset and magnitude of the Holocene climate optimum in the Asian monsoon realm, in particular, is a subject of considerable debate as this time period is often used as an analogue for recent global warming. In the light of contradictory inferences regarding past climate and environmental change on the Tibetan Plateau, I have attempted to explain mismatches in the timing and magnitude of change. Therefore, I analysed the temporal variation of fossil pollen and diatom spectra and the geochemical record from palaeo-ecological records covering different time scales (late Quaternary and the last 200 years) from two core regions in the NE and SE Tibetan Plateau. For interpretation purposes I combined my data with other available palaeo-ecological data to set up corresponding aquatic and terrestrial proxy data sets of two lake pairs and two sets of sites. I focused on the direct comparison of proxies representing lacustrine response to climate signals (e.g., diatoms, ostracods, geochemical record) and proxies representing changes in the terrestrial environment (i.e., terrestrial pollen), in order to asses whether the lake and its catchments respond at similar times and magnitudes to environmental changes. Therefore, I introduced the established numerical technique procrustes rotation as a new approach in palaeoecology to quantitatively compare raw data of any two sedimentary records of interest in order to assess their degree of concordance. Focusing on the late Quaternary, sediment cores from two lakes (Kuhai Lake 35.3°N; 99.2°E; 4150 m asl; and Koucha Lake 34.0°N; 97.2°E; 4540 m asl) on the semi-arid northeastern Tibetan Plateau were analysed to identify post-glacial vegetation and environmental changes, and to investigate the responses of lake ecosystems to such changes. Based on the pollen record, five major vegetation and climate changes could be identified: (1) A shift from alpine desert to alpine steppe indicates a change from cold, dry conditions to warmer and more moist conditions at 14.8 cal. ka BP, (2) alpine steppe with tundra elements points to conditions of higher effective moisture and a stepwise warming climate at 13.6 cal. ka BP, (3) the appearance of high-alpine meadow vegetation indicates a further change towards increased moisture, but with colder temperatures, at 7.0 cal. ka BP, (4) the reoccurrence of alpine steppe with desert elements suggests a return to a significantly colder and drier phase at 6.3 cal. ka BP, and (5) the establishment of alpine steppe-meadow vegetation indicates a change back to relatively moist conditions at 2.2 cal. ka BP. To place the reconstructed climate inferences from the NE Tibetan Plateau into the context of Holocene moisture evolution across the Tibetan Plateau, I applied a five-scale moisture index and average link clustering to all available continuous pollen and non-pollen palaeoclimate records from the Tibetan Plateau, in an attempt to detect coherent regional and temporal patterns of moisture evolution on the Plateau. However, no common temporal or spatial pattern of moisture evolution during the Holocene could be detected, which can be assigned to the complex responses of different proxies to environmental changes in an already very heterogeneous mountain landscape, where minor differences in elevation can result in marked variations in microenvironments. Focusing on the past 200 years, I analysed the sedimentary records (LC6 Lake 29.5°N, 94.3°E, 4132 m asl; and Wuxu Lake 29.9°N, 101.1°E, 3705 m asl) from the southeastern Tibetan Plateau. I found that despite presumed significant temperature increases over that period, pollen and diatom records from the SE Tibetan Plateau reveal only very subtle changes throughout their profiles. The compositional species turnover investigated over the last 200 years appears relatively low in comparison to the species reorganisations during the Holocene. The results indicate that climatically induced ecological thresholds are not yet crossed, but that human activity has an increasing influence, particularly on the terrestrial ecosystem. Forest clearances and reforestation have not caused forest decline in our study area, but a conversion of natural forests to semi-natural secondary forests. The results from the numerical proxy comparison of the two sets of two pairs of Tibetan lakes indicate that the use of different proxies and the work with palaeo-ecological records from different lake types can cause deviant stories of inferred change. Irrespective of the timescale (Holocene or last 200 years) or region (SE or NE Tibetan Plateau) analysed, the agreement in terms of the direction, timing, and magnitude of change between the corresponding terrestrial data sets is generally better than the match between the corresponding lacustrine data sets, suggesting that lacustrine proxies may partly be influenced by in-lake or local catchment processes whereas the terrestrial proxy reflects a more regional climatic signal. The current disaccord on coherent temporal and spatial climate patterns on the Tibetan Plateau can partly be ascribed to the complexity of proxy response and lake systems on the Tibetan Plateau. Therefore, a multi-proxy, multi-site approach is important in order to gain a reliable climate interpretation for the complex mountain landscape of the Tibetan Plateau. N2 - Die räumlichen und zeitlichen Temperatur- und Feuchtigkeitsmuster auf dem Tibet-Plateau sind sehr komplex. Im Einzugsbereich der asiatischen Monsune sind insbesondere der Beginn und das Ausmaß des Klimaoptimums während des Holozäns von wissenschaftlichem Interesse, da diese Periode oft als Analogie für die derzeitige globale Klimaerwärmung herangezogen wird. In Hinblick auf sich teilweise widersprechende Paläoklima- und Umweltrekonstruktionen für das Tibet-Plateau, ist es mein Ziel, die bestehenden Unstimmigkeiten bezüglich des Zeitpunktes und des Ausmaßes des Umweltwandels zu erklären. Dafür wurden von mir zeitliche Variationen fossiler Pollen- und Diatomeenspektren und geochemische Untersuchungen an Seesedimenten unterschiedlicher Zeitskalen (Spätquartär und die letzten 200 Jahre) aus zwei Kernregionen auf dem NO und SO Tibet-Plateau analysiert. Zur Unterstützung der Interpretation wurden die hier erhobenen Daten mit bereits vorhandenen paläoökologischen Aufzeichnungen der Lokalitäten kombiniert, um Datensätze der entsprechenden aquatischen und terrestrischen Proxy-Daten (Stellvertreterdaten) zweier Seenpaare aus den beiden Regionen gegenüberstellen zu können. Hierbei konzentrierte ich mich auf den direkten Vergleich von Proxies, die die Seenentwicklung reflektieren (z.B. Diatomeen, Ostracoden, geochemische Eigenschaften), mit Proxies, die Veränderungen der terrestrischen Umgebung des Sees beschreiben (terrestrische Pollen). Durch diesen Vergleich lässt sich beurteilen, ob Veränderungen im See selbst mit Umweltveränderungen in dem jeweiligen Einzugsgebiet zeitlich übereinstimmen. Dafür habe ich die bereits etablierte numerische Methode Procrustes-Rotation als neuen Ansatz in der Paläoökologie eingeführt. Damit ist ein quantitativer Vergleich von Rohdaten zweier beliebiger sedimentärer Datensätze möglich, um den Grad der Übereinstimmung zu prüfen. Um die in dieser Arbeit rekonstruierten Umwelt- und Klimaereignisse des nordöstlichen Tibet-Plateaus in einen größeren Zusammenhang hinsichtlich holozäner Klimaentwicklung des gesamten Plateaus setzen zu können, und um schlüssige zeitliche und räumliche Klimatrends auf dem Plateau erkennen zu können, habe ich auf alle vorhandenen Paläoklimadatensätze einen Fünf-Skalen Feuchtigkeitsindex und eine Clusteranalyse angewandt. Es konnten jedoch keine einheitlichen zeitlichen und räumlichen Trends der holozänen Klimaentwicklung nachgewiesen werden, was meiner Analyse entsprechend, auf die komplexen Reaktionen verschiedener Proxies auf Umweltveränderungen in einer ohnehin sehr heterogen Berglandschaft, zurückgeführt werden kann. Die Ergebnisse des numerischen Proxy-Vergleichs beider Seenpaare zeigen, dass die Verwendung von verschiedenen Proxies und die Arbeit mit paläo-ökologischen Datensätzen unterschiedlicher See-Typen zu abweichenden Klimaableitungen führen können. Unabhängig vom untersuchten Zeitraum (Holozän oder die letzten 200 Jahren) oder der Region (SO oder NO Tibet-Plateau), ist die Übereinstimmung zweier Datensätze hinsichtlich der Richtung, des Zeitpunktes und des Ausmaßes der abgeleiteten Paläo-Umweltverhältnisse in der Regel zwischen den entsprechenden terrestrischen Datensätzen besser als zwischen den entsprechenden lakustrinen Datensätzen. Die derzeitige Uneinigkeit über stimmige zeitliche und räumliche Klimatrends auf dem Tibet-Plateau kann daher teilweise der Komplexität der verschieden Proxies und ihrer individuellen Empfindlichkeiten gegenüber Umweltveränderungen sowie der unterschiedlichen Reaktionsweise verschiedenartiger See-Systeme auf dem Plateau zugeschrieben werden. Meine Ergebnisse zeigen, dass ein „Multi-Proxy-Multi-Site-Ansatz“ für zuverlässige Paläoklimaableitungen für das Tibet-Plateau von zentraler Bedeutung ist. KW - Tibet Plateau KW - Holozän KW - Pollen KW - Diatomeen KW - Prokrustes Analyse KW - Tibetan Plateau KW - Holocene KW - Pollen KW - Diatoms KW - Procrustes rotation analysis Y1 - 2011 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus-52453 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Herzschuh, Ulrike A1 - Cao, Xianyong A1 - Laepple, Thomas A1 - Dallmeyer, Anne A1 - Telford, Richard J. A1 - Ni, Jian A1 - Chen, Fahu A1 - Kong, Zhaochen A1 - Liu, Guangxiu A1 - Liu, Kam-Biu A1 - Liu, Xingqi A1 - Stebich, Martina A1 - Tang, Lingyu A1 - Tian, Fang A1 - Wang, Yongbo A1 - Wischnewski, Juliane A1 - Xu, Qinghai A1 - Yan, Shun A1 - Yang, Zhenjing A1 - Yu, Ge A1 - Zhang, Yun A1 - Zhao, Yan A1 - Zheng, Zhuo T1 - Position and orientation of the westerly jet determined Holocene rainfall patterns in China JF - Nature Communications N2 - 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. Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-019-09866-8 SN - 2041-1723 VL - 10 PB - Nature Publ. Group CY - London ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Wischnewski, Juliane A1 - Mackay, Anson W. A1 - Appleby, Peter G. A1 - Mischke, Steffen A1 - Herzschuh, Ulrike T1 - Modest diatom responses to regional warming on the southeast Tibetan Plateau during the last two centuries JF - Journal of paleolimnolog N2 - A general mean annual temperature increase accompanied with substantial glacial retreat has been noted on the Tibetan Plateau during the last two centuries but most significantly since the mid 1950s. These climate trends are particularly apparent on the southeastern Tibetan Plateau. However, the Tibetan Plateau (due to its heterogeneous mountain landscape) has very complex and spatially differing temperature and precipitations patterns. As a result, intensive palaeolimnological investigations are necessary to decipher these climatic patterns and to understand ecological responses to recent environmental change. Here we present palaeolimnological results from a (210)Pb/(137)Cs-dated sediment core spanning approximately the last 200 years from a remote high-mountain lake (LC6 Lake, working name) on the southeastern Tibetan Plateau. Sediment profiles of diatoms, organic variables (TOC, C:N) and grain size were investigated. The (210)Pb record suggests a period of rapid sedimentation, which might be linked to major tectonic events in the region ca. 1950. Furthermore, unusually high (210)Pb supply rates over the last 50 years suggest that the lake has possibly been subjected to increasing precipitation rates, sediment focussing and/or increased spring thaw. The majority of diatom taxa encountered in the core are typical of slightly acidic to circumneutral, oligotrophic, electrolyte-poor lakes. Diatom species assemblages were rich, and dominated by Cyclotella sp., Achnanthes sp., Aulacoseira sp. and fragilarioid taxa. Diatom compositional change was minimal over the 200-year period (DCCA = 0.85 SD, p = 0.59); only a slightly more diverse but unstable diatom assemblage was recorded during the past 50 years. The results indicate that large-scale environmental changes recorded in the twentieth century (i.e. increased precipitation and temperatures) are likely having an affect on the LC6 Lake, but so far these impacts are more apparent on the lake geochemistry than on the diatom flora. Local and/or regional peculiarities, such as increasing precipitation and cloud cover, or localized climatic phenomena, such as negative climate feedbacks, might have offset the effects of increasing mean surface temperatures. KW - Diatoms KW - Tibetan Plateau KW - Mountain lake KW - Climate change KW - Lake sediments KW - Palaeolimnology Y1 - 2011 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1007/s10933-011-9533-x SN - 0921-2728 VL - 46 IS - 2 SP - 215 EP - 227 PB - Springer CY - Dordrecht ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Wischnewski, Juliane A1 - Herzschuh, Ulrike A1 - Ruehland, Kathleen M. A1 - Braeuning, Achim A1 - Mischke, Steffen A1 - Smol, John P. A1 - Wang, Lily T1 - Recent ecological responses to climate variability and human impacts in the Nianbaoyeze Mountains (eastern Tibetan Plateau) inferred from pollen, diatom and tree-ring data JF - Journal of paleolimnolog N2 - The Tibetan Plateau is a region that is highly sensitive to recent global warming, but the complexity and heterogeneity of its mountainous landscape can result in variable responses. In addition, the scarcity and brevity of regional instrumental and palaeoecological records still hamper our understanding of past and present patterns of environmental change. To investigate how the remote, high-alpine environments of the Nianbaoyeze Mountains, eastern Tibetan Plateau, are affected by climate change and human activity over the last similar to 600 years, we compared regional tree-ring studies with pollen and diatom remains archived in the dated sediments of Dongerwuka Lake (33.22A degrees N, 101.12A degrees E, 4,307 m a.s.l.). In agreement with previous studies from the eastern Tibetan Plateau, a strong coherence between our two juniper-based tree-ring chronologies from the Nianbaoyeze and the Anemaqin Mountains was observed, with pronounced cyclical variations in summer temperature reconstructions. A positive directional trend to warmer summer temperatures in the most recent decades, was, however, not observed in the tree-ring record. Likewise, our pollen and diatom spectra showed minimal change over the investigated time period. Although modest, the most notable change in the diatom relative abundances was a subtle decrease in the dominant planktonic Cyclotella ocellata and a concurrent increase in small, benthic fragilarioid taxa in the similar to 1820s, suggesting higher ecosystem variability. The pollen record subtly indicates three periods of increased cattle grazing activity (similar to 1400-1480 AD, similar to 1630-1760 AD, after 1850 AD), but shows generally no significant vegetation changes during past similar to 600 years. The minimal changes observed in the tree-ring, diatom and pollen records are consistent with the presence of localised cooling centres that are evident in instrumental and tree-ring data within the southeastern and eastern Tibetan Plateau. Given the minor changes in regional temperature records, our complacent palaeoecological profiles suggest that climatically induced ecological thresholds have not yet been crossed in the Nianbaoyeze Mountains region. KW - Tibetan Plateau KW - Nianbaoyeze Mountains KW - Pollen KW - Diatoms KW - Tree-ring KW - Climate change KW - Human impact Y1 - 2014 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1007/s10933-013-9747-1 SN - 0921-2728 SN - 1573-0417 VL - 51 IS - 2 SP - 287 EP - 302 PB - Springer CY - Dordrecht ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Wischnewski, Juliane A1 - Kramer, Annette A1 - Kong, Zhaochen A1 - Mackay, Anson W. A1 - Simpson, Gavin L. A1 - Mischke, Steffen A1 - Herzschuh, Ulrike T1 - Terrestrial and aquatic responses to climate change and human impact on the southeastern Tibetan Plateau during the past two centuries JF - Global change biology N2 - Rapid population growth and economic development have led to increased anthropogenic pressures on the Tibetan Plateau, causing significant land cover changes with potentially severe ecological consequences. To assess whether or not these pressures are also affecting the remote montane-boreal lakes on the SE Tibetan Plateau, fossil pollen and diatom data from two lakes were synthesized. The interplay of aquatic and terrestrial ecosystem response was explored in respect to climate variability and human activity over the past 200 years. Nonmetric multidimensional scaling and Procrustes rotation analysis were undertaken to determine whether pollen and diatom responses in each lake were similar and synchronous. Detrended canonical correspondence analysis was used to develop quantitative estimates of compositional species turnover. Despite instrumental evidence of significant climatic warming on the southeastern Plateau, the pollen and diatom records indicate very stable species composition throughout their profiles and show only very subtle responses to environmental changes over the past 200 years. The compositional species turnover (0.36-0.94 SD) is relatively low in comparison to the species reorganizations known from the periods during the mid-and early-Holocene (0.64-1.61 SD) on the SE Plateau, and also in comparison to turnover rates of sediment records from climate-sensitive regions in the circum arctic. Our results indicate that climatically induced ecological thresholds are not yet crossed, but that human activity has an increasing influence, particularly on the terrestrial ecosystem in our study area. Synergistic processes of post-Little Ice Age warming, 20th century climate warming and extensive reforestations since the 19th century have initiated a change from natural oak-pine forests to seminatural, likely less resilient pine-oak forests. Further warming and anthropogenic disturbances would possibly exceed the ecological threshold of these ecosystems and lead to severe ecological consequences. KW - climate change KW - compositional species turnover KW - diatoms KW - human impact KW - pollen KW - Procrustes rotation KW - Tibetan Plateau Y1 - 2011 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2486.2011.02474.x SN - 1354-1013 VL - 17 IS - 11 SP - 3376 EP - 3391 PB - Wiley-Blackwell CY - Malden ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Wischnewski, Juliane A1 - Mischke, Steffen A1 - Wang, Yongbo A1 - Herzschuh, Ulrike T1 - Reconstructing climate variability on the northeastern Tibetan Plateau since the last Lateglacial - a multi-proxy, dual-site approach comparing terrestrial and aquatic signals JF - Quaternary science reviews : the international multidisciplinary research and review journal N2 - A sediment core from a closed basin lake (Lake Kuhai) from the semi-arid northeastern Tibetan Plateau was analysed for its pollen record to infer Lateglacial and post glacial vegetation and climatic change. At Lake Kuhai five major vegetation and climate shifts could be identified: (1) a change from cold and dry to relatively warmer and more moist conditions at 14.8 cal ka BP: (2) a shift to conditions of higher effective moisture and a stepwise warmer climate at 13.6 cal ka BP; (3) a further shift with increased moisture but colder conditions at 7.0 cal ka BP; (4) a return to a significantly colder and drier phase at 6.3 cal ka BP; (5) and a change back to relatively moist conditions at 2.2 cal ka BP. To investigate the response of lake ecosystems to climatic changes, statistical comparisons were made between the lake Kuhai pollen record and a formerly published ostracod and sedimentary record from the same sediment core. Furthermore, the pollen and lacustrine proxies from lake Kuhai were compared to a previously published pollen and lacustrine record from the nearby Lake Koucha. Statistical comparisons were done using non-metric multidimensional scaling and Procrustes rotation. Differences between lacustrine and pollen responses within one site could be identified, suggesting that lacustrine proxies are partly influenced by in-lake or local catchment processes, whereas the terrestrial (pollen) proxy shows a regional climate signal. Furthermore, we found regional differences in proxy response between lake Kuhai and Lake Koucha. Both pollen records reacted in similar ways to major environmental changes, with minor differences in the timing and magnitude of these changes. The lacustrine records were very similar in their timing and magnitude of response to environmental changes; however, the nature of change was at times very distinct. To place the current study in the context of Holocene moisture evolution across the Tibetan Plateau, we applied a five-scale moisture index and average link clustering to all available continuous palaeo-climate records from the Tibetan Plateau to possibly find general patterns of moisture evolution on the Plateau. However, no common regional pattern of moisture evolution during the Holocene could be detected. We assign this to complex responses of different proxies to environmental and atmospheric changes in an already very heterogeneous mountain landscape where minor differences in elevation can cause strong variation in microenvironments. Y1 - 2011 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2010.10.001 SN - 0277-3791 VL - 30 IS - 1-2 SP - 82 EP - 97 PB - Elsevier CY - Oxford ER -