TY  - JOUR
A1  - Herzschuh, Ulrike
T1  - Legacy of the Last Glacial on the present-day distribution of deciduous versus evergreen boreal forests
JF  - Global ecology and biogeography : a journal of macroecology
N2  - Issue Despite their rather similar climatic conditions, eastern Eurasia and northern North America are largely covered by different plant functional types (deciduous or evergreen boreal forest) composed of larch or pine, spruce and fir, respectively. I propose that these deciduous and evergreen boreal forests represent alternative quasi-stable states, triggered by their different northern tree refugia that reflect the different environmental conditions experienced during the Last Glacial. Evidence This view is supported by palaeoecological and environmental evidence. Once established, Asian larch forests are likely to have stabilized through a complex vegetation-fire-permafrost soil-climate feedback system. Conclusion With respect to future forest developments, this implies that Asian larch forests are likely to be governed by long-term trajectories and are therefore largely resistant to natural climate variability on time-scales shorter than millennia. The effects of regional human impact and anthropogenic global warming might, however, cause certain stability thresholds to be crossed, meaning that irreversible transitions occur and resulting in marked consequences for ecosystem services on these human-relevant time-scales.
KW  - boreal forests
KW  - Glacial refugia
KW  - Holocene
KW  - Larix larch
KW  - permafrost ecosystems
KW  - Palaeoecology
KW  - Siberia
KW  - vegetation-climate-fire-soil feedbacks
KW  - vegetation states
KW  - vegetation trajectories
Y1  - 2018
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1111/geb.13018
SN  - 1466-822X
SN  - 1466-8238
VL  - 29
IS  - 2
SP  - 198
EP  - 206
PB  - John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
CY  - Hoboken
ER  - 
TY  - GEN
A1  - Herzschuh, Ulrike
T1  - Legacy of the Last Glacial on the present-day distribution of deciduous versus evergreen boreal forests
T2  - Postprints der Universität Potsdam : Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Reihe
N2  - Issue Despite their rather similar climatic conditions, eastern Eurasia and northern North America are largely covered by different plant functional types (deciduous or evergreen boreal forest) composed of larch or pine, spruce and fir, respectively. I propose that these deciduous and evergreen boreal forests represent alternative quasi-stable states, triggered by their different northern tree refugia that reflect the different environmental conditions experienced during the Last Glacial. Evidence This view is supported by palaeoecological and environmental evidence. Once established, Asian larch forests are likely to have stabilized through a complex vegetation-fire-permafrost soil-climate feedback system. Conclusion With respect to future forest developments, this implies that Asian larch forests are likely to be governed by long-term trajectories and are therefore largely resistant to natural climate variability on time-scales shorter than millennia. The effects of regional human impact and anthropogenic global warming might, however, cause certain stability thresholds to be crossed, meaning that irreversible transitions occur and resulting in marked consequences for ecosystem services on these human-relevant time-scales.
T3  - Zweitveröffentlichungen der Universität Potsdam : Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Reihe - 1190 
KW  - boreal forests
KW  - Glacial refugia
KW  - Holocene
KW  - Larix larch
KW  - permafrost ecosystems
KW  - Palaeoecology
KW  - Siberia
KW  - vegetation‐climate‐fire‐soil feedbacks
KW  - vegetation states
KW  - vegetation trajectories
Y1  - 2018
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-524057
SN  - 1866-8372
IS  - 2
ER  -