The paleoecological record of human disturbance in wetlands of the Lake Tahoe Basin

Increased human activities since discovery of gold in northern California have changed the structure and function of many ecosystems. To reconstruct the changes in watershed environmental conditions, sediment cores were collected from three montane marshes in northern Sierra Nevada, CA. Pollen analysis was conducted, and water content, bulk density, ash, carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, major cations, and lead concentrations of sediments were determined. Cores were dated by the 210Pb method. Pollen analyses showed changes in plant communities in this region due to severe logging in the late-1800s and moderate logging in the 1900s. The local changes were more clearly recorded in small marsh pollen profiles than regional changes. The water milfoil (Myriophyllum spicatum L.) introduction into Tahoe Basin was inferred from the pollen record and ²¹⁰Pb dating. Road construction and maintenance activities were recorded in physical and chemical characteristics, such as increases in sodium, calcium, and magnesium concentrations. Pollen and physical and chemical records also documented the time line of the expansion of dry meadow, and the decrease of pine forest in one of the watersheds. This study showed that sediments in small marshes were especially useful to reconstruct local disturbance by human activities.     

Late Quaternary climatic history of the Chilean Channels based on fossil pollen and beetle analyses,with an analysis of the modern vegetation and pollen rain

Fossil beetles and pollen were examined from an intermorainal bog at Puerto Edén, Isla Wellington, Chile (latitude 49°08'S, longitude 74°25'W). Wood from near the base of the section has an age of 12 960 ± 150 yr BP. Occurrence of flightless beetle species in the basal peat sample is evidence that some members of the biota survived the last glacial maximum in refugia. The assumption that the Chilean Channels were entirely ice-covered is incorrect. Plants and insects that invaded the deglaciated terrain were those of an Empetrum heathland in which patches of Nothofagus forest were restricted to sheltered locations. The climate supporting the heathland is inferred to have been windier and probably drier than that of the present day. From 13 000 yr BP to 9500 yr BP Nothofagus forest expanded, possibly in response to less windiness and more available moisture. Neither the fossil beetle nor pollen data support a return to significantly colder conditions between 11 000 and 10 000 yr BP at the time of the Younger Dryas Stade. From 9500 to 5500 yr BP the climate was as wet as that of the present day, based on an increased representation of the pollen of moorland plants and of aquatic beetle species. From 5500 to 3000 yr BP the climate was drier, as indicated by the expansion of Empetrum heath and the reduction in mesic habitats. From 3000 yr BP to the present-day mesic habitats dominated as the climate returned to a wetter mode. The alternatively wetter and drier episodes are attributed to latitudinal shifts in the position of storm tracks in the belt of Southern Westerlies.     

甘肃西峰红粘土~4.5Ma孢粉记录的植被转变及其与青藏高原隆升的关系

甘肃西峰红粘土剖面蕴涵了大量古环境和古气候变化信息,是重建黄土高原生态环境和气候演化的重要地质记录。通过对红粘土地层孢粉学研究,发现孢粉组合特征在~4.5Ma发生了明显转变,乔木植物花粉明显减少,草本植物花粉大量增加,尤其是藜科花粉百分含量显著增加,麻黄出现频率明显增高;孢粉类型C/A(Chenopodiaceae/Artemisia)和B/A(Betula/Artemisia)的比值发生显著变化,反映研究区从~4.5Ma开始植被类型由稀疏森林草原逐步转变为典型草原,甚至荒漠草原,揭示了亚洲内陆生态环境的一次显著变干事件。这一信息与前人研究红粘土中其他替代性指标指示的气候变干过程具有很好的一致性。孢粉组合中藜科植物含量在此时迅速递增,反映黄土高原气候的季节性反差明显加强。青藏高原在~4.5Ma发生的隆升可能是导致这次亚洲内陆干旱化的主要驱动因素,高原对暖湿气流的屏障和加强季节性反差可能是导致干旱化的重要途径。     

神农架大九湖15.753kaB.P.以来的孢粉记录和环境演变*

根据对大九湖297cm厚的泥炭地层10个AMS ¹⁴ C年龄的测定以及148块孢粉样品的分析,发现每块样品的孢粉(浓度)含量都很高,植物种类繁多,分属于137(科)属,可划分为6个孢粉组合带,植被类型演替大体为:含少量常绿树种的针阔叶混交林—含常绿阔叶树种的落叶阔叶林—常绿落叶阔叶林—含常绿阔叶树种的落叶阔叶林—含少量常绿树种的针阔叶混交林。孢粉带Ⅰ(15.753~11.280kaB.P.)记录了该区域晚冰期及其向全新世过渡时期冷暖波动频繁的气候条件,其中亚带Ⅰ -1(15.753~15.549kaB.P.),Ⅰ -3(14.936~14.505kaB.P.)和Ⅰ -5(12.655~11.280kaB.P.)可能分别对应最老仙女木期、老仙女木和新仙女木冷期,而亚带Ⅰ -2(15.549~14.936kaB.P.)和Ⅰ -4(14.505~12.655kaB.P.)分别对应博令和阿勒罗德暖期。孢粉带Ⅱ(11.280~9.218kaB.P.)代表了由晚冰期冷湿气候向全新世温暖气候转换的早全新世缓慢升温的过渡时期。孢粉带Ⅲ(9.218~7.530kaB.P.)代表中全新世前期的气温波动上升期,7.7kaB.P.前后达到最高温。孢粉带Ⅳ(7.530~4.051kaB.P.)代表中全新世适宜期,水热配置条件最佳。孢粉带Ⅴ(4.051~0.911kaB.P.)体现晚全新世温干的气候。孢粉带Ⅵ(0.911~0kaB.P)反映了大九湖温凉稍湿的气候。     

Quantitative relationship between pollen and vegetation in northern China

205 surface pollen samples from different communities in Northern China were analyzed to understand the quantitative relationship between pollen and its original vegetation. Pollen analysis and vegetation investigation show that the pollen assemblages differ a lot in different vegetation regions. Arboreal pollen account for more than 30% in temperate broad-deciduous forests region. In temperate steppe regions, herb pollen percentages are more than 90%, where Artemisia and Chenopodiaceae are domi- nant pollen types with Artemisia percentages more than 30%. In temperate desert, Chenopodiaceae pollen percentages are more than Artemisia, where ferns are rare. Cyperaceae pollen percentages are more than 20% in sub-alpine or cold meadows. The relations between pollen percentages and vegeta- tion cover indicate that most arboreal pollen shows a close relationship with parent plant covers, most shrubby pollen types have more or less correlations, but most herbs do not show clear correlations. For arboreal pollen types, Picea pollen shows the closest correlation with spruce trees coverage, then is Quercus and Carpinus. Betula, Larix and Juglans have also high correlation coefficients with their plants coverage, but Betula pollen is of overrepresented pollen type and more than 40% in birch forest, while Larix and Juglans pollen is underrepresented and pollen percentages are more than 10% in Larix or Juglans pure forests. Pinus is of overrepresented pollen type, and pollen percentages have some relations with plants cover. Pine forest might present when Pinus pollen percentages are more than 30%. The relations between Ulmus and Populus pollen percentages and vegetation cover are not close, where they are mixed with other arbors, they cannot be recorded easily, but if their pollen percentages are more than 1%, Ulmus or Populus trees should exist. For shrubby pollen types, the correlation be- tween Vitex pollen percentages and vegetation cover is the highest, then is Corylus, Tamariaceae and Nitraria, and their pollen percentages are less than 1% where original plant are absent. Caragana and Spiraea pollen percentages have some relations with vegetation cover. The relations between pollen percentages and vegetation cover are not clear for Rosaceae and Saxifragaceae. For herb pollen types, Cyperaceae pollen has the closest correlation with vegetation cover, where pollen percentages are more than 20% when Cyperaceae are constructive or dominant species in vegetation, and pollen per- centages are less than 5% where Cyperaceae are not constructive or dominant species (cover less than 30%). Artemisia and Chenopodiaceae pollen percentages mainly have close relations with ecological regions. The relations between pollen percentages and cover are not clear for Gramineae, Legumi- nosae and Compositae.     

High-resolution paleoecological analysis of recent disturbance in a southern Chilean Nothofagus forest

A 1600 year paleoecological record of environmental change is developed from a small lake in the Nothofagus forest of southern Chile (45.5°S, 72°W). High resolution fossil pollen, charcoal, sedimentological, and chrysophycean stomatocyst analyses are used to investigate the impacts of natural and anthropogenic disturbances on terrestrial and lacustrine environments. Chronological control is based on a combination of ²¹⁰Pb and ¹⁴C dating. Temporal resolution during the past 150–200 yr is ca. 8 yr/sample. The macroscopic charcoal record correlates very closely with historical and dendroecological records of 20th century anthropogenic burning in this region. The chrysophyte stratigraphy indicates that this burning had immediate impacts on the lake itself, while the pollen record provides evidence for a succession of vegetation changes lagging slightly behind the disturbance. These palynological changes are very similar to the pollen signal of European disturbance in northeastern North America. Pre-European shifts in chrysophyte assemblages may be due to the influence of earthquake activity on the lake, though there is no corroborative evidence in the pollen or charcoal records. This study demonstrates that high resolution paleoecological methods can be used to help bridge the temporal gap between traditional ecological and paleoecological studies of environmental change in the temperate forests of southern South America.     

湖南宝山铜钼铅锌银多金属矿田围岩蚀变与矿化分带特征

宝山铜钼铅锌银矿田主要由中部、东部、西部和北部４个矿床组成,属岩浆期后高中温含矿热液接触交代矽卡岩型铜钼金属铋矿床、中低温热液充填交代铅锌银矿床。矿田围岩蚀变强烈,并与矿化关系密切,具有以岩体为中心向外呈现明显的围岩蚀变和矿化分带特征,可作为找矿的重要标志。     

Rapid change in early Holocene environments inferred from Lake Pupuke,Auckland City,New Zealand

Sediment cores from Lake Pupuke in Auckland City, New Zealand, contain a high‐resolution millennial to centennial‐scale record of changing climate and catchment hydrology spanning the past ca. 10 000 years. Here, we focus on the period between 9500 ± 25 and 7000 ± 155 cal. yr BP during which grain size, diatom palaeoecology, biogenic silica concentrations, sediment elemental and carbon isotope geochemistry reflect changes in sediment sources and lake conditions, with a significant event commencing at ca. 8240 cal. yr BP, commensurate with a lowering of lake level, faster erosion rates and increased sediment influx with a duration of ca. 360 yrs. However, the changes in the lake are not reflected in the terrestrial vegetation, where the pollen record indicates that podocarp forest dominated the Auckland region, with apparent environmental stability during this part of the early Holocene. The synchronous change in most of the proxies between ca. 8240 and 7880 cal. yr BP at Lake Pupuke indicates the presence of a sustained episode of relatively low lake level and concomitant increased rate of erosion in the early Holocene that appears to be at least partly coeval with the 8200 cal. yr BP meltwater event proposed for the North Atlantic region. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Radiocarbon dating the Devensian Lateglacial in Britain: New evidence from Llanilid,South Wales

Radiocarbon dates are described from a section through Lateglacial and early Flandrian sediments at Llanilid, Mid-Glamorgan, South Wales. Comparisons between age determinations on the alkali soluble (humic) and alkali insoluble (humin) organic fractions from 12 biostratigraphic horizons reveal the extent of contamination by both older and younger carbon residues. The Llanilid time-scale suggests that for the Lateglacial, the earliest organic sediments date from around 13 200 yr BP, the early Interstadial Juniperus maximum occurred at ca. 12 400-12 500 yr BP with a marked decline some 200 years later, the main Betula phase lasted only from ca. 11 700 to 11 400 yr BP and the end of the Interstadial occurred around 11 100 yr BP. The beginning of the Flandrian dates from ca. 10 000 yr BP, the Juniperus maximum occurred approximately 200 years later, the expansion of birch woodland began around 9600 yr BP, while the first hazel arrived in the area at ca. 9300 yr BP. These age determinations are discussed in the context of radiocarbon dates from comparable biostratigraphic horizons in western Britain and the dating of Lateglacial events in the ocean core records from the North Atlantic.     

The importance of local‐scale openness within regions dominated by closed woodland

New and existing pollen data from Wales, UK, are used to assess the level of landscape openness at the regional and local scale. At the regional scale, the existing pollen data support the high‐forest model of vegetation structure by 6000 cal. yr. BC prior to any palynological signal for anthropogenic impact in the region. New data from two sites in southwest Wales follow the general regional pattern of early to middle Holocene vegetation succession, but are striking owing to maintenance of high non‐arboreal pollen percentages (NAPs) throughout the mid‐Holocene. It is argued that these NAPs indicate that a significant degree of openness can be found at the local level (and beyond the confines of the peat‐forming site) within regions characterised by closed woodland. It is possible that woodland development in these areas may have been suppressed by reduced drainage, although the role of grazing animals in maintenance of clearings cannot be assessed. Implications for this local degree of openness are discussed, in particular the significance of vegetation heterogeneity at the local scale for the construction of place or locale for prehistoric communities. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.