Holocene coastal environmental changes on the periphery of an area of glacio‐isostatic uplift: an example from Scapa Bay,Orkney, UK

The first detailed investigation of a deep, coastal, sedimentary basin in Orkney reveals a complex Holocene history of back‐barrier morphodynamics. At Scapa Bay, the sea flooded a freshwater marsh after ca. 9400 yr BP at ca. ?5.4 m OD. Before ca. 7800 BP, abundant sediment from nearby cliffs was mobilised inland into a series of gravel barriers across the valley mouth. By ca. 7500 BP, direct marine influence was restricted in the back‐barrier area, although saltmarsh persisted until ca. 5900 BP. By then, at least four gravel ridges had enclosed the backing lagoon, where freshwater inputs became dominant. As terrestrial sediments filled the basin, another freshwater marsh developed. The multiple barrier complex demonstrates progradation resulting from continuous sediment supply in a sheltered embayment. The progressively rising height of the barrier crests seawards probably resulted from a combination of factors such as barrier morphodynamics, increased storminess and long‐term rising relative sea levels. The dominant vegetation surrounding Scapa Bay changed from open grassland to scrub ca. 9400 BP, then to deciduous woodland ca. 7800 BP, and to dwarf‐shrub heath ca. 2600 BP, the latter probably a response to a combination of climate change and human activity. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Fire and vegetation change during the Early Pleistocene in southeastern Australia

Early Pleistocene vegetation in upland southeastern Australia included diverse rainforests and sclerophyll forests, which alternated on precessional timescales. The nature and timing of transitions between these biomes, and the role of fire in maintaining or driving transitions between them, are uncertain. Here we present a high‐resolution pollen record from Stony Creek Basin, a small Early Pleistocene palaeolake in southeastern Australia. The pollen record documents a pattern of vegetation change, over ca. 10 ka at ca. 1590–1600 ka, between sclerophyll forests, dominated by Eucalyptus, Callitris (Cupressaceae) or Casuarinaceae, and rainforests dominated by either angiosperms or conifers of the family Podocarpaceae. Transitions between these biomes typically occurred within ca. 1–2 ka. The associated charcoal record suggests that greatest biomass combustion occurred when local vegetation was dominated by Eucalyptus, and the least biomass combustion occurred when local vegetation was dominated by Podocarpaceae. However, local fires burnt in both sclerophyll and angiosperm‐dominated rainforest vegetation, at least once every several centuries. Fire was very rare (less than about one fire per millennium) only when the local vegetation was rainforest dominated by Podocarpaceae. This suggests that fire was an irregular presence in both sclerophyll‐ and angiosperm‐dominated rainforest biomes during the late Neogene, though was largely absent in Podocarpaceae‐dominated rainforests. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Holocene environmental change in South Georgia: Evidence from lake sediments

The Holocene environmental history of South Georgia is important because of the island's location in the Southern Westerlies in an oceanic zone of the world devoid of high resolution terrestrial records. This is the first attempt to interpret a palaeoenvironmental record from lake sediments in South Georgia. It is based on a wide variety of analyses undertaken on cores from two lakes. Both are in the same, unglaciated, drainage basin, but one is at 80 m above sea-level and near the altitudinal limit for vegetation growth, whereas the other is at 25 m and within the zone of continuous vegetation cover. Results from both lakes indicate shifts of vegetation boundaries, which, together with evidence for changing biotic productivity within the lakes themselves, are interpreted as indicating climatic changes. Radiocarbon dates on the main changes identify a climatic optimum, beginning before 5620 ± 290 ¹⁴C yr BP, and ending at around 4815 ± 330 ¹⁴C yr BP, when conditions in the upper part of the catchment were more conducive to plant growth than they are today. The record obtained from the lower lake was shorter, but indicates two periods of harsher climate relative to the present since 4000 yr BP. This interpretation of the lake evidence agrees with other dated evidence of environmental change from peat sections, glacial stratigraphy and geomorphology in South Georgia. Together the work allows an overall reconstruction of environmental change in the Holocene.     

广西钦州湾百年来红树林演变的有机碳同位素和孢粉示踪及其影响因素

气候变化和人类活动制约下的红树林演变是一种长时间尺度效应,而沉积物则是记录这种响应的最佳档案。采用古生态学研究思路,选择有效的示踪参数是解读这一档案的有效途径。本文通过广西钦州湾红树林区1根柱状沉积物中有机碳同位素(δ13C)、C/N分析和孢粉鉴定,以沉积物中的红树林源有机碳贡献和红树植物孢粉组合为示踪参数,在210Pb年龄框架构建的基础上,通过对比研究红树林源有机碳贡献和红树孢粉组合特征,揭示百年来钦州湾红树林兴衰和群落演替规律;进而重塑其红树林演变历史:兴盛期(1864-1918年)、衰退期(1918-1968年)和低谷期(1968-2007年),这与土地替代、遥感分析和现场勘测数据较为吻合。结合气候变化和人类活动资料,发现钦州湾红树林的近期衰退主要源于人类活动的影响,尤其是虾塘围垦;而与气候变化关系不大。     

川北若尔盖高原表土孢粉的特征及其与现代植被的关系

通过对若尔盖高原不同植被带34个表土样的孢粉分析,研究了各植被带的表土孢粉组合与现代植被的关系。结果显示：表土孢粉组合基本上能够反映出现代植被的整体特征,与现代植被带在空间分布、建群种和优势种属方面基本相同,但不完全等于植被组成,影响其差异的原因可能是人类活动、孢粉保存、孢粉产量、外来孢粉和孢粉鉴定。表土花粉的代表性因种属的不同而各有差异。乔木花粉中,松属具有超代表性,云杉属代表性较好,而桦木属不具有超代表性;草本花粉中,菊科具较好的代表性,蒿属和藜科等具代表性,而禾本科和莎草科具低代表性;蕨类孢子具等代表性。     

海洋风暴沉积的微体生物研究进展

微体生物和它们的化石在研究现代风暴和古风暴沉积方面是一个很好和有效的指标。本文综述了国内外近几十年来有关海洋风暴沉积研究中微体生物的应用。目前主要的研究成果集中在对古风暴层有孔虫、硅藻的研究上,而孢粉方面的研究较少。应用微体化石揭示地质历史时期古风暴的发生频率已较为成熟。但未来需提高古风暴重建的可靠性、准确性和精确性,以及探讨微体化石记录与风暴强度之间的相关关系。有关现代风暴过程中微体生物的研究稍显逊色,研究程度较低。了解现代风暴过程中不同沉积环境下微体生物的沉积特征、面貌,它们的形成和保存机制等将成为未来的研究热点和方向。     

Relationship between surface pollen assemblages and vegetation in Luonan Basin,Eastern Qinling Mountains,Central China

The catchment of South Luohe River in Central China is an important region for investigating modern pollen-environment relationship, because it is located in the transitional zone between south and north China, an environment which is sensitive to climate changes. In this study, 40 surface samples under ten vegetation types were collected to reveal the relationship between pollen assemblages and vegetation. The results show that the surface pollen assemblages reflect the vegetation quite well. In forest topsoils, the average of arboreal pollen content is greater than 40%, and the Selaginella sinensis spore is high. As to sparse forest grassland and shrub community, the average arboreal pollen is 13.2% and 16.6% respectively, and the shrub pollen is relatively higher than that of grassland samples. The grassland and farmland are characterized by low percentage of tree and shrub pollen (<10% and <1%), and high percentage of herbs (>80%). Pinus, Quercus and some other arboreal pollen can indicate the regional vegetation because of their dispersal ability. Quercus pollen is under-representative and so is Pinus. Artemisia pollen is significantly over-represented, has poor correlation with the plant coverage, and may reflect human disturbance. Gramineae can indicate plant quite well, but with low representation. High content of Chenopodiaceae probably suggests human impact. Predominant Selaginella sinensis can be used as an indicator of forest environment. Cluster analysis and principal components analysis of pollen assemblages can distinguish forest and non-forest vegetation well. The former method is better at separating pine and mixed forests, while the latter is more stable and could better differentiate farmland and other non-forest area. The first axis of PCA mainly reflects the humidity.     

晋冀低山丘陵区人工扰动植被花粉组合特征

54个晋冀低山丘陵区人工和人工扰动植被表土花粉样品分析表明:花粉组合以草本植物花粉(74.5％)为主,乔木花粉含量低于20％。人类活动较强的农田以谷物禾本科、蒿属和藜科花粉为主,人类活动较弱的荒地以蒿属、藜科和杂草禾本科花粉为主。人类活动强度不同,指示种不同,孢粉浓度亦不同;农田指示种为谷物禾本科、葡萄科和胡桃科,孢粉浓度约4380粒/g;而蒿属、蓼科和蔷薇科则为荒地指示种,孢粉浓度约10983粒/g。农作物种植方式不同,谷物禾本科花粉含量不同,单一禾本科作物种植区谷物禾本科花粉含量(40.2％)高于多种作物混作区(18.8％)和荒地(3.8％)的含量。谷物禾本科含量的变化可以为利用化石花粉提取和检测人类活动信息提供依据,也可为利用地层中谷物禾本科花粉判断古代农业活动提供依据。     

华南亚热带中部山地垂直植被带表土孢粉散布规律与气候相关性

孢粉学分析是古生态与古气候定量重建的重要指标之一,建立现代表土孢粉与植被之间的定量关系是利用地层孢粉准确解释古生态与古气候变化的前提条件。基于华南亚热带中部山地垂直植被带采集的113个现代表土和苔藓孢粉样品,采用典型对应分析方法（Canonical Correspondence Analysis, CCA）,探讨研究区不同海拔表土孢粉种类散布规律与气候因子之间的关系。主要得出以下结论：1）华南亚热带中部地区现代表土孢粉组合中乔木类以壳斗科栲属、常绿栎属、松属、杉木属和大戟科等种类占绝对优势,草本植物花粉以禾本科、蒿属、菊科和莎草科为主,蕨类孢子以三缝孢子、芒萁属、水龙骨科和单缝孢子为主。2）研究区低海拔至高海拔的孢粉组合呈现以下变化规律：低海拔地区（0~702 m）孢粉组合以栲属、常绿栎属、松属、野桐属、枫香属、茜草科以及禾本科花粉为主;中海拔（703~1 299 m）山坡的优势孢粉为栲属、杉木属、松属和常绿栎属;高海拔地区（1 300~1 600 m）以栲属、常绿栎属、水青冈属、杜鹃花科以及松属花粉最为丰富,表土孢粉组合变化过程与现代植被群落优势种类有较好的一致性。3）CCA分析结果显示,控制研究区域主要表土孢粉分布的气候因子为年均降雨量（MAP）、最热月降水（Mpwa）和最热月温度（Mtwa）;松属、杉木属、栲属、常绿栎属、山茶科、水青冈属和落叶栎属等高百分比含量的花粉所对应的气候特征较为明显。4）低海拔地区的优势种属栲属、常绿栎属等以及相对高海拔的松属、杉木属和水青冈属等能较好地反映气候因子对植被空间分布的影响。因此,文章揭示了华南亚热带中部地区表土孢粉在垂直植被带上具有明显差异,孢粉散布规律可能与研究区植被组成、生境、花粉形态与传播媒介等因素有关,能为利用化石孢粉数据进行古生态与古气候定量重建提供参考资料。     

A near‐annual palaeohydrological study based on testate amoebae from a sub‐alpine mire: surface wetness and the role of climate during the instrumental period

We present the first testate amoeba‐based palaeohydrological reconstruction from the Swiss Alps, and the first depth to the water table (DWT) calibration dataset for this region. Compared to existing models, our new calibration dataset performs well (RMSEP = 4.88), despite the length of the water table gradient covered (53 cm). The present‐day topography and vegetation of the study mire Mauntschas suggest that it is partly ombrotrophic (large Sphagnum fuscum hummocks, one of which was the coring site) but mostly under the minerotrophic influence of springs in the mire and runoff from the surrounding area. Ombrotrophic Sphagnum fuscum hummocks developed at the sampling site only during the last 50 years, when testate amoebae indicate a shift towards dry and/or acid conditions. Prior to AD 1950 the water table was much higher, suggesting that the influence of the mineral‐rich water prevented the development of ombrotrophic hummocks. The reconstructed DWT correlated with Pinus cembra pollen accumulation rates, suggesting that testate amoebae living on the mire and P. cembra growing outside of it partly respond to the same factor(s). Finally, temperature trends from the nearby meteorological station paralleled trends in reconstructed DWT. However, contrary to other studies made on raised bogs of northwestern Europe, the highest correlation was observed for winter temperature, despite the fact that testate amoebae would more logically respond to moisture conditions during the growing season. The observed correlation with winter temperature might reflect a control of winter severity on surface moisture during at least the first part of the growing season, through snow melt and soil frost phenomena influencing run‐off. More ecohydrological work on sub‐alpine mires is needed to understand the relationships between climate, testate amoebae and peatland development. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.