Furong Li

Application and limitations of the Artemisia/Chenopodiaceae pollen ratio in arid and semi-arid China

The Artemisia/Chenopodiaceae (A/C) ratio is assumed to be a useful index for reconstructing moisture changes in arid and semi-arid regions. Thorough modern pollen studies are still lacking to understand the reliability and limitation of A/C ratio as a moisture indicator, however. Here we review how well this ratio can be applied in arid and semi-arid China on the basis of new surface pollen data, previous data synthesis and other publications. Results indicate that variance in the A/C ratio can permit identification of modern vegetation types and that the A/C ratio generally has a positive relationship with annual precipitation. However, soil salinity, vegetation community composition, human activity and sample provenance (e.g. soil and lake sediments) will affect the values of the A/C ratio in different vegetation zones and therefore the A/C ratio is not comparable in different regions. We argue that the A/C ratio can only be used to reconstruct vegetation types and climate change in regions with precipitation <450–500 mm, and in steppe, steppe desert and desert areas. Careful studies should be undertaken to understand the modern pollen–vegetation–climate relationships in various regions before using the A/C ratio to interpret vegetation and climate.

Holocene peatland initiation, lateral expansion, and carbon dynamics in the Zoige Basin of the eastern Tibetan Plateau

The Zoige Basin on the eastern Tibetan Plateau has the largest area of highland peatlands in China. However, the development history of these peatlands is still poorly understood. Understanding how these carbon-rich ecosystems responded to change in the Asian summer monsoons during the Holocene will provide insight into the peatland carbon accumulation processes under different climate boundary conditions. Here, we document the timing of initiation and expansion histories of these peatlands using 59 new basal peat ages across the Zoige Basin, with 29 ages for initiation analysis and 30 additional ages for lateral expansion analysis. Also, we synthesized basal ages from 26 sites and carbon accumulation records at four sites from previous studies in this region. The results show that the peatland initiation is widespread at 11.5–10 and 7–6 kyr (1 kyr = 1000 cal. yr BP) and the minimum initiation periods occurred after 5 kyr. Our multiple basal ages along eight transects show that slopes are a dominant control on peatland lateral expansion rates, with very slow and less variable rates at slopes >0.4°. Furthermore, we found a significant relationship between peatland basal ages and peat depths from 85 sites, suggesting relatively uniform peat properties. Carbon accumulation rates from detailed downcore analysis at four sites and on the basis of peat depth–basal age relationship show similar patterns with a peak carbon accumulation at 10–8 kyr. On the basis of estimated mean values of bulk density and carbon content from the region, the Holocene average C accumulation for the Zoige Basin is 31.1 g C/m2/yr. The widespread peatland initiation and rapid accumulation in the early Holocene were likely in response to higher temperature and stronger summer monsoon intensity, while the slowdown of peatland development during the late Holocene might have been caused by climate cooling and drying.

Modern pollen–climate relationships in north Xinjiang, northwestern China : Implications for pollen-based reconstruction of Holocene climate

Fossil pollen records are widely used to reconstruct past climate. Such reconstructions require that the relationships between pollen assemblages, vegetation, and climate are well understood. These can be studied in present circumstances given we assume that modern vegetation and climate are analogous to past ones. In this study, we analyze pollen–vegetation–climate relationships in the Jungar desert and Altay Mountains, northwestern China, a region for which careful reconstruction of past climate is needed to answer unsolved questions on past climate in an area located at the boundary between two different climate regimes (westerlies and monsoon). We use a dataset of 66 surface pollen samples from forest, meadow, steppe, and desert vegetation and six related climate variables, Tann, TJan, TJul, Pann, PJan, and PJul. Principal components analysis, redundancy analysis, Monte Carlo permutation tests, and variation partitioning are applied to quantify these relationships. We also assess pollen ratios as indices of aridity. We find that (1) Pann is the major climatic factor influencing pollen assemblages, followed by PJul, (2) the two variables are not correlated, and (3) the shared effect of (1) PJan and PJul, (2) PJan and Pann, (3) PJul and Tann, and (4) Tann, TJan, and TJul explains a larger portion of the variation in pollen data than the individual effect of each variable. Therefore, robust pollen–climate transfer functions can be developed for Pann and PJul, and several climate variables treated in combination. Artemisia/Chenopodiaceae is a strong index of aridity and Artemisia/Gramineae might be a useful index of Pann and PJul.

A Review of Relative Pollen Productivity Estimates From Temperate China for Pollen-Based Quantitative Reconstruction of Past Plant Cover

Model-based quantitative reconstruction of past plant cover in Europe has shown great potential for: (i) testing hypotheses related to Holocene vegetation dynamics, biodiversity, and their relationships with climate and land use; (ii) studying long term interactions between climate and land use. Similar model-based quantitative reconstruction of plant cover in China has been restricted due to the lack of standardized datasets of existing estimates of relative pollen productivity (RPP). This study presents the first synthesis of all RPP values available to date for 39 major plant taxa from temperate China and proposes standardized RPP datasets that can be used for model-based quantitative reconstructions of past plant cover using fossil pollen records for the region. We review 11 RPP studies in temperate China based on modern pollen and related vegetation data around the pollen samples. The study areas include meadow, steppe and desert vegetation, various woodland types, and cultural landscapes. We evaluate the strategies of each study in terms of selection of study areas and distribution of study sites; pollen- and vegetation-data collection in field; vegetation-data collection from satellite images and vegetation maps; and data analysis. We compare all available RPP estimates, select values based on precise rules and calculate mean RPP estimates. We propose two standardized RPP datasets for 31 (Alt1) and 29 (Alt2) plant taxa. The ranking of mean RPPs (Alt-2) relative to Poaceae (= 1) for eight major taxa is: Artemisia (21) > Pinus (18.4) > Betula (12.5) > Castanea (11.5) > Elaeagnaceae (8.8) > Juglans (7.5) > Compositae (4.5) > Amaranthaceae/Chenopodiaceae (4). We conclude that although RPPs are comparable between Europe and China for some genera and families, they can differ very significantly, e.g., Artemisia, Compositae, and Amaranthaceae/Chenopodiaceae. For some taxa, we present the first RPP estimates e.g. Castanea, Elaeagnaceae, and Juglans. The proposed standardized RPP datasets are essential for model-based reconstructions of past plant cover using fossil pollen records from temperate China.