What caused the mid-Holocene forest decline on the eastern Tibet-Qinghai Plateau?

Global Ecology and Biogeography

Volumn 19, Issue 2, 2010, Pages 278-286

  Herzschuh, Ulrike ^a,b   Birks, H John B ^c,d   Liu, Xingqi ^e   Kubatzki, Claudia ^a   Lohmann, Gerrit ^a  

^a ALFRED WEGENER INSTITUTE FOR POLAR AND MARINE RESEARCH   (Germany)

^b UNIVERSITY OF POTSDAM   (Germany)

^c UNIVERSITY OF BERGEN   (Norway)

^d UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LONDON   (United Kingdom)

^e NANJING INSTITUTE OF GEOGRAPHY AND LIMNOLOGY   (China)

Author keywords

Climate change; Forest decline; General circulation models; Holocene; Human activity; Oxygen isotopes; Pollen; Tibet Qinghai Plateau; Transfer functions; Vegetation

Indexed keywords

CLIMATE MODELING; FOREST COVER; FOREST DYNAMICS; GENERAL CIRCULATION MODEL; HOLOCENE; HUMAN ACTIVITY; OXYGEN ISOTOPE; PALEOCLIMATE; PALYNOLOGY; SEDIMENT CORE; TRANSFER FUNCTION; VEGETATION TYPE;

CHINA; QINGHAI; QINGHAI LAKE; QINGHAI-XIZANG PLATEAU;

EID: 76249115942     PISSN: 1466822X     EISSN: 14668238     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1111/j.1466-8238.2009.00501.x     Document Type: Article

References (65)

1. Aldenderfer M. Modeling the Neolithic on the Tibetan Plateau. Late Quaternary climate change and human adaptations in arid China 2007, 151-166. Madsen DBChen FGao X. ed. by, pp, Developments in Quaternary Sciences, Vol. 9, Elsevier, Amsterdam
2. Aldenderfer M, Zhang Y. The prehistory of the Tibetan Plateau to the seventh century A.D.: perspectives and research from China and the West since 1950. Journal of World Prehistory 2004, 18:1-55.
3. Birks HJB. Numerical tools in palaeolimnology - progress, potentialities, and problems. Journal of Paleolimnology 1998, 20:307-332.
4. ter Braak CJF, Juggins S. Weighted averaging partial least squares regression (WA-PLS): an improved method for reconstructing environmental variables from species assemblages. Hydrobiologia 1993, 269/270:485-502.
5. Brantingham PJ, Gao X. Peopling of the northern Tibetan Plateau. World Archaeology 2006, 38:387-414.
6. Brantingham PJ, Xing G, Olsen JW, Haizhou M, Rhode D, Haiying Z, Madsen DB. A short chronology for the peopling of the Tibetan Plateau. Late Quaternary climate change and human adaptations in arid China 2007, 129-150. Madsen DB, Chen F, Gao X, ed. by, pp, Developments in Quaternary Sciences, Vol. 9, Elsevier, Amsterdam
7. Brovkin V, Bendtsen J, Claussen M, Ganopolski A, Kubatzki C, Petoukhov V, Andreev A. Carbon cycle, vegetation, and climate dynamics in the Holocene: experiments with the CLIMBER-2 model. Global Biogeochemical Cycles 2002, 16:1139.
8. Calov R, Ganopolski A, Claussen M, Petoukhov V, Greve R. Transient simulation of the last glacial inception. Part I: Glacial inception as a bifurcation in the climate system. Climate Dynamics 2005, 24:545-561.
9. Chen F, Yu Z, Yang M, Ito E, Wang S, Madsen DB, Huang X, Zhao Y, Sato T, Birks HJB, Boomer I, Chen J, An C, Wünnemann B. Holocene moisture evolution in arid central Asia and its out-of-phase relationship with Asian monsoon history. Quaternary Science Reviews 2008, 27:351-364.
10. Claussen M, Kubatzki C, Brovkin V, Ganopolski A, Hoelzmann P, Pachur HJ. Simulation of an abrupt change in Saharan vegetation in the mid-Holocene. Geophysical Research Letters 1999, 26:2037-2040.
11. Duo L. Studies in the ecology and palaeoecology of the Lhasa Valley, Tibet Autonomous Region, China. 2008, PhD Thesis, University of Bergen
12. Dykoski CA, Edwards RL, Cheng H, Yuan DX, Cai YJ, Zhang ML, Lin YS, Qing JM, An ZS, Revenaugh J. A high-resolution, absolute-dated Holocene and deglacial Asian monsoon record from Dongge Cave, China. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 2005, 233:71-86.
13. Fleitmann D, Burns SJ, Mudelsee M, Neff U, Kramers J, Mangini A, Matter A. Holocene forcing of the Indian monsoon recorded in a stalagmite from southern Oman. Science 2003, 300:1737-1739.
14. Fontes JC, Gasse F, Gibert E. Holocene environmental changes in Lake Bangong basin (Western Tibet). Part 1: Chronology and stable isotopes of carbonates of a Holocene lacustrine core. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 1996, 120:25-47.
15. Gasse F, Arnold M, Fontes JC, Fort M, Gibert E, Huc A, Binyan L, Yuanfang L, Qing L, Mélières F, Van Campo E, Fubao W, Qingsong Z. A 13,000-year climate record from western Tibet. Nature 1991, 353:742-745.
16. Grötzner A, Sausen R, Claussen M. The impact of sub-grid scale sea-ice inhomogeneities on the performance of the atmospheric general circulation model ECHAM3. Climate Dynamics 1996, 12:477-496.
17. Guo S, Savolainen P, Su J, Zhang Q, Qi D, Zhou J, Zhong Y, Zhao X, Liu J. Origin of mitochondrial DNA diversity of domestic yaks. BMC Evolutionary Biology 2006, 6:73.
18. Henderson ACG, Holmes JA. Palaeolimnological evidence for environmental change over the past millennium from Lake Qinghai sediments: a review and future research prospective. Quaternary International 2009, 194:134-147.
19. Henderson ACG, Holmes JA, Zhang J, Leng MJ, Carvalho LR. A carbon- and oxygen-isotope record of recent environmental change from Qinghai Lake, NE Tibetan Plateau. Chinese Science Bulletin 2003, 48:1463-1468.
20. Herzschuh U. Palaeo-moisture evolution at the margins of the Asian monsoon during the last 50 ka. Quaternary Science Reviews 2006, 25:163-178.
21. Herzschuh U, Kürschner H, Mischke S. Temperature variability and vertical vegetation belt shifts during the last ∼50,000 yr in the Qilian Mountains (NE margin of the Tibetan Plateau, China). Quaternary Research 2006, 66:133-146.
22. Herzschuh U, Birks HJB, Mischke S, Liu X, Zhang C. A modern pollen-climate calibration set from the eastern Tibetan Plateau: Journal of Biogeography. in press
23. Hong YT, Hong B, Lin QH, Zhu YX, Shibata Y, Hirota M, Uchida M, Leng XT, Jiang HB, Xu H, Wang H, Yi L. Correlation between Indian Ocean summer monsoon and North Atlantic climate during the Holocene. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 2003, 211:371-380.
24. Vegetation atlas of China 2001, Hou X. ed., Science Press, Beijing
25. Jacobson GL. Ancient permanent plots: sampling in paleovegetational studies. Vegetation history 1988, 3-16. Huntley BWebb T. ed. by, pp, Kluwer, Dordrecht
26. Ji J, Balsam W, Shen J, Wang M, Wang H, Chen J. Centennial blooming of anoxygenic phototrophic bacteria in Qinghai Lake linked to solar and monsoon activities during the last 18,000 years. Quaternary Science Reviews 2009, 28:1304-1308.
27. Kaiser K, Schoch WH, Miehe G. Holocene paleosols and colluvial sediments in Northeast Tibet (Qinghai Province, China): properties, dating and paleoenvironmental implications. Catena 2007, 69:91-102.
28. Kaiser K, Miehe G, Barthelmes A, Ehrmann O, Scharf A, Schult M, Schlütz F, Adamczyk S, Frenzel B. Turf-bearing topsoils on the central Tibetan Plateau, China: pedology, botany, geochronology. Catena 2008, 73:300-311.
29. Kaiser K, Lai Z, Schneider B, Reudenbach C, Miehe G, Brückner H. Stratigraphy and palaeoenvironmental implications of Pleistocene and Holocene aeolian sediments in the Lhasa area, southern Tibet (China). Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 2009, 271:329-342.
30. Kürschner H, Herzschuh U, Wagner D. Phytosociological studies in the north-eastern Tibetan Plateau (NW China) - a first contribution to the subalpine scrub and alpine meadow vegetation. Botanische Jahrbüchen für Systematik 2005, 126:273-315.
31. Kutzbach JE. Monsoon climate of the early Holocene: climate experiment with Earth's orbital parameters for 9000 years ago. Science 1981, 214:59-61.
32. Legutke S, Voss R. The Hamburg atmosphere-ocean coupled circulation model ECHO-G. 1999, Technical report no. 18, Deutsches Klimarechenzentrum, Hamburg
33. Lister G, Kelts K, Chen K, Yu J, Niessen F. Lake Qinghai, China: closed-basin lake levels and the oxygen-isotope record for ostracoda since the latest Pleistocene. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 1991, 84:141-162.
34. Liu X, Shen J, Wang S, Wang Y, Liu W. Southwest monsoon changes indicated by oxygen isotope of ostracode shells from sediments in Qinghai Lake since the late Glacial. Chinese Science Bulletin 2007, 52:539-544.
35. Lorenz SJ, Lohmann G. Acceleration technique for Milankovitch type forcing in a coupled atmosphere-ocean circulation model: method and application for the Holocene. Climate Dynamics 2004, 23:727-743.
36. Meng L, Yang R, Abbott RJ, Miehe G, Hu T, Liu J. Mitochondrial and chloroplast phylogeography of Picea crassifolia Kom. (Pinaceae) in the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau and adjacent highlands. Molecular Ecology 2007, 16:4128-4137.
37. Miehe G, Miehe S, Schlütz F, Kaiser K, Duo L. Palaeoecological and experimental evidence of former forests and woodlands in the treeless desert pastures of southern Tibet (Lhasa, A.R. Xizang, China). Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 2006, 242:54-67.
38. Miehe G, Miehe S, Vogel J, Co S, Duo L. Highest treeline in the Northern Hemisphere found in Southern Tibet. Mountain Research and Development 2007, 27:169-173.
39. Miehe G, Miehe S, Will M, Opgenoorth L, Duo L, Dorgeh T, Liu J. An inventory of forest relicts in the pastures of southern Tibet (Xizang, A.R. China). Plant Ecology 2008, 194:157-177.
40. Miehe G, Miehe S, Kaiser K, Reudenbach C, Behrendes L, Duo L, Schlütz F. How old is pastoralism in Tibet? An ecological approach to the making of a Tibetan landscape. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 2009, 276:130-147.
41. Petoukhov V, Ganopolski A, Brovkin V, Claussen M, Eliseev A, Kubatzki C, Rahmstorf S. CLIMBER-2: a climate system model of intermediate complexity. Part I: Model description and performance for present climate. Climate Dynamics 2000, 16:1-17.
42. Ren G. Decline of the mid- to late Holocene forests in China: climatic change or human impact? Journal of Quaternary Science 2000, 15:273-281.
43. Ren G. Changes in forest cover in China during the Holocene. Vegetation History and Archaeobotany 2007, 16:119-126.
44. Rhode D, Haiying Z, Madsen DB, Gao X, Brantingham JP, Haizhou M, Olsen JW. Epipaleolithic/early Neolithic settlements at Qinghai Lake, western China. Journal of Archaeological Science 2007, 34:600-612.
45. Roeckner E, Arpe K, Bengtsson L, Claussen CM, Dümenil L, Esch M, Giorgetta M, Schiese U, Schulzweida U. The atmospheric general circulation model ECHAM-4: model description and simulation of the present-day climate. 1996, Report 218, Max-Planck-Institut für Meteorologie, Hamburg
46. Ruddiman WF. The anthropogenic greenhouse era began thousands of years ago. Climatic Change 2003, 61:261-293.
47. Schlütz F, Lehmkuhl F. Holocene climatic change and the nomadic Anthropocene in eastern Tibet: palynological and geomorphological results from the Nianbaoyeze Mountains. Quaternary Science Reviews 2009, 28:1449-1471.
48. Schlütz F, Lehmkuhl F, Miehe G, Kaiser K, Liu J. The vegetation history of High Asia as a mirror of Late Quaternary climate change and human influence. Quaternary International 2007, 167-168:368.
49. Shen C, Liu KB, Morrill C, Overpeck JT, Peng J, Tang L. Ecotone shift and major droughts during the mid-late Holocene in the central Tibetan Plateau. Ecology 2008, 89:1079-1088.
50. Shen J, Liu X, Wang S, Matsumoto R. Palaeoclimatic changes in the Qinghai Lake area during the last 18,000 years. Quaternary International 2005, 136:131-140.
51. Shen J, Jones RT, Yang X, Dearing JA, Wang S. The Holocene vegetation history of Lake Erhai, Yunnan province southwestern China: the role of climate and human forcings. The Holocene 2006, 16:265-276.
52. Su B, Xiao C, Deka R, Seielstad M, Kangwanpong D, Xiao J, Lu D, Underhill P, Cavalli-Sforza L, Chakraborty R, Jin L. Y chromosome haplotypes reveal prehistorical migrations to the Himalayas. Human Genetics 2000, 107:582-590.
53. Thompson LG, Yao T, Davis ME, Henderson KA, Mosley-Thompson E, Lin P, Beer J, Synal HA, Cole-Dai J, Bolzan JF. Tropical climate instability: the last glacial cycle from a Qinghai-Tibetan ice core. Science 1997, 276:1821-1825.
54. Wang R, Scarpitta SC, Zhang S, Zheng M. Later Pleistocene/Holocene climate conditions of Qinghai-Xizang Plateau (Tibet) based on carbon and oxygen stable isotopes of Zabuye Lake sediments. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 2002, 203:461-477.
55. Wei K, Gasse F. Oxygen isotopes in lacustrine carbonates of West China revisited: implications for post glacial changes in summer monsoon circulation. Quaternary Science Reviews 1999, 18:1315-1334.
56. Wirtz K, Lemmen C. A global dynamic model for the Neolithic transition. Climatic Change 2003, 59:333-367.
57. Wu Y, Lücke A, Jin Z, Wang S, Schleser GH, Battarbee RW, Xia W. Holocene climate development on the central Tibetan Plateau: a sedimentary record from Cuoe Lake. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 2006, 234:328-340.
58. Xu H, Ai L, Tan L, An Z. Stable isotope in bulk carbonates and organic matter in recent sediments of Lake Qinghai and their climatic implications. Chemical Geology 2006, 235:262-275.
59. Xu H, Hou ZH, Ai L, Tan LC. Precipitation at Lake Qinghai, NE Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, and its relation to Asian summer monsoons on decadal/interdecadal scales during the past 500 years. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 2007, 254:541-549.
60. Yan G, Wang F, Shi G, Li S. Palynological and stable isotopic study of palaeoenvironmental changes on the northeastern Tibetan plateau in the last 30,000 years. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 1999, 153:147-159.
61. Zhang C, Mischke S. A Lateglacial and Holocene lake record from the Nianbaoyeze Mountains and inferences of lake, glacier and climate evolution on the eastern Tibetan Plateau. Quaternary Science Reviews 2009, 28:1970-1983.
62. Zhang Y, Yuan G, Wan M. Qilian shuili zhi [Annals of water management in Qilian County] 2000, 330. eds., p, Lanzhou University Press, Lanzhou
63. Zhao C, Nan Z, Cheng G, Zhang J, Feng Z. GIS-assisted modelling of the spatial distribution of Qinghai spruce (Picea crassifolia) in the Qilian Mountains, northwestern China based on biophysical parameters. Ecological Modelling 2006, 191:487-500.
64. Zhao Y, Yu Z, Chen F. Spatial and temporal patterns of Holocene vegetation and climate changes in arid and semi-arid, China. Quaternary International 2009, 194:6-18.
65. Zhu L, Wu Y, Wang J, Lin X, Ju J, Xie M, Li M, Mäusbacher R, Schwalb A, Daut G. Environmental changes since 8.4 ka reflected in the lacustrine core sediments from Nam Co, central Tibetan Plateau, China. The Holocene 2008, 18:831-839.