Holocene Vegetation Dynamics Revealed by a High-Resolution Pollen Record from Lake Yangzonghai in Central Yunnan, SW China

Min Wang, Qifa Sun, Hongwei Meng, Linpei Huang, Huayong Li, Hucai Zhang and Caiming Shen ()
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Min Wang: Yunnan Key Laboratory of Plateau Geographical Processes and Environmental Changes, Faculty of Geography, Yunnan Normal University, Kunming 650500, China
Qifa Sun: College of Resources, Environment and Chemistry, Chuxiong Normal University, Chuxiong 675000, China
Hongwei Meng: Yunnan Key Laboratory of Plateau Geographical Processes and Environmental Changes, Faculty of Geography, Yunnan Normal University, Kunming 650500, China
Linpei Huang: Yunnan Key Laboratory of Plateau Geographical Processes and Environmental Changes, Faculty of Geography, Yunnan Normal University, Kunming 650500, China
Huayong Li: School of Resource Environment and Tourism, Anyang Normal University, Anyang 455000, China
Hucai Zhang: Institute for Ecological Research and Pollution Control of Plateau Lakes, School of Ecology and Environmental Science, Yunnan University, Kunming 650500, China
Caiming Shen: Yunnan Key Laboratory of Plateau Geographical Processes and Environmental Changes, Faculty of Geography, Yunnan Normal University, Kunming 650500, China

Land, 2024, vol. 13, issue 6, 1-18

Abstract: Long-term regional vegetation dynamics is essential for the understanding of past land cover changes. High-resolution pollen analysis of a 1020 cm core from a large lake, Lake Yangzonghai (YZH), in central Yunnan, SW China, was conducted to reveal regional vegetation dynamics in the lake catchment over the past 13,400 years. Pollen record, principal component analysis (PCA) of pollen percentages of major arboreal taxa, and plant abundances estimated from the “Regional Estimates of VEgetation Abundance from Large Sites” (REVEALS) model show five successional stages of vegetation dynamics since 13,400 cal. a BP: regional vegetation with high coverages in the lateglacial (13,400–11,400 cal. a BP) was dominated by evergreen broadleaved forest (EBF) and deciduous broadleaved forest (DBF), together with some grass meadows and marshes; pine forest and alder forest expanded in the early Holocene (11,400–9000 cal. a BP) when vegetation coverages were still high; regional vegetation with low coverages was dominated by sweetgum forest, together with some pine forest during the mid-Holocene (9000–4200 cal. a BP); more pine forest, grass meadows and marshes occupied the lake catchment during the late Holocene (4200–800 cal. a BP), when vegetation coverages were higher than the average of the past 13,400 years; regional vegetation with low coverage was dominated by grass meadows and marshes, great deforestation happened in the last 800 years. Regional vegetation dynamics over the past 13,400 years in the Lake YZH catchment was the result of regional vegetation response to climate changes during the lateglacial and early–mid Holocene, and to human activities mainly during the late Holocene.

Keywords: fossil pollen; forest; vegetation coverage; Holocene; Yunnan (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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