A late Holocene record of vegetation and fire from the Amur Basin, far-eastern Russia

Yu, Shaohua; Zheng, Zhuo; Kershaw, A. Peter; Skrypnikova, Marina; Huang, Kangyou

doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2014.07.059

Cited by 18 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 46 publications

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“…This study shows that the mixed secondary forest of Larix , Betula and Pinus which dominates the southern region of the GHM today is a product of fire, anthropogenic disturbance (Chang et al, 2007) and forest management, rather than reflecting natural vegetation communities. The expansion of secondary forest and increasing fire activity found in this study are comparable to results from the Amur Basin in eastern Russia which suggested anthropogenic activity drove secondary pine forest expansion and fire activity in the last 250 years (Yu, Zheng, Kershaw, Skrypnikova, & Huang, 2014). A peat record from the northern region of the GHM also found secondary forest expansion occurred in the last 300 years (Han et al, 2019).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 85%

Environmental change and human land‐use over the past 200 years in the Great Hinggan Mountains, Northeastern China

et al. 2020

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Mountain ecosystems are sensitive to environmental changes and are affected by direct and indirect anthropogenic activities. This study sought to understand the impacts of human occupation, environmental and climate change on the Great Hinggan Mountains (GHM) in Northeastern China. The last 200 years of environmental changes are reconstructed by analyzing sediment cores from five small mountain lakes. Cores were dated using 210Pb and 137Cs radioisotopes, microscopic charcoal identified regional fire activity and fossil pollen analysis reconstructed temporal and spatial changes in vegetation. Peaks in 137Cs, 226Ra and microscopic charcoal flux were found to follow similar trends between sites. The radioisotope records reflect redistribution processes, such as erosion and fire events, which overwhelm the atmospheric fallout signal in the GHM. Microscopic charcoal increased from 1950 CE and peaked at all sites after 2000 CE suggesting that current fire management, coupled with a warmer climate due to global warming, may be leading to more wildfire events in the region. Pinus, Quercus and Betula declined at all sites as human occupation occurred in the early 1900s. Initially, open forest and grassland expanded in response to overexploitation of forests, followed by arboreal pollen reaching maximum values after 2000 CE. This study concludes that the present‐day mixed coniferous broad‐leaved forest dominating the southern region of the GHM is a product of changing fire activity, excessive logging and, more recently, forestry management and vegetation regeneration. Results suggest further management strategies are needed to address land degradation and wildfire events in mountain regions of Northeastern China.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 85%

Environmental change and human land‐use over the past 200 years in the Great Hinggan Mountains, Northeastern China

et al. 2020

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“…A study on the Nearctic Yellow Rail demonstrated the importance of a thick litter cover for this species, and that a fire frequency of 2–5 years would provide suitable habitat conditions (Austin and Buhl 2013). Fire frequency is increasing in the Amur region due to climate change and drying up of wetlands caused by dam construction (Smirenski and Smirenski 2007, Sokolova 2015, Yu et al 2017). As frequent fires leave little litter behind, an increase in annual fires could threaten the species in the future.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Discovery of a new breeding population of the Vulnerable Swinhoe’s Rail Coturnicops exquisitus confirmed by genetic analysis

Heim

Trense

Heim³

et al. 2018

Bird Conservation International

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SummaryThe ‘Vulnerable’ Swinhoe’s Rail Coturnicops exquisitus is believed to occur in only two regions in Russia’s Far East and China’s Heilongjiang province, separated by more than 1,000 km. Recent observations suggest that the Amur region, situated between the two known populations, might be inhabited by this secretive species as well. As the species is rather similar in appearance and field characteristics to its Nearctic sister taxon, the Yellow Rail C. noveboracensis, and almost all field records relate to flushed individuals in flight, we aimed to complement the field observations by genetic evidence. Samples were obtained from four individuals and one eggshell and their mitochondrial cytochrome b genes were amplified and sequenced. The genetic analyses unequivocally confirmed that swab samples and eggshell were attributable to Swinhoe’s Rail, thus constituting the first known breeding record of this species for 110 years. It is therefore likely that the individuals observed in the field also belonged to this species. It seems possible that Swinhoe’s Rail is more widely distributed in the Amur region and was overlooked in the past, possibly due to a misleading description of its calls in the literature.

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“…6). During the past 250 years, vegetation was marked by significant rises in gymnosperms, such as pines, combined with the reduction in the swamp area and a large increase in fire activity (Yu et al, 2017), likely resulting in higher contributions of gymnosperm to the surface sediment, while these changes are not resolved in the samples analyzed for our record.…”

Section: Amur River Basinmentioning

confidence: 93%

Deglacial records of terrigenous organic matter accumulation off the Yukon and Amur rivers based on lignin phenols and long-chain n-alkanes

Cao

Hefter²,

Tiedemann³

et al. 2023

Clim. Past

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Abstract. Arctic warming and sea level change will lead to widespread permafrost thaw and subsequent mobilization. Sedimentary records of past warming events during the Last Glacial–interglacial transition can be used to study the conditions under which permafrost mobilization occurs and which changes in vegetation on land are associated with such warming. The Amur and Yukon rivers discharging into the Okhotsk and Bering seas, respectively, drain catchments that have been, or remain until today, covered by permafrost. Here we study two marine sediment cores recovered off the mouths of these rivers. We use lignin phenols as biomarkers, which are excellently suited for the reconstruction of terrestrial higher plant vegetation, and compare them with previously published lipid biomarker data. We find that in the Yukon basin, vegetation change and wetland expansion began already in the early deglaciation (ED; 14.6–19 ka). This timing is different from observed changes in the Okhotsk Sea reflecting input from the Amur basin, where wetland expansion and vegetation change occurred later in the Pre-Boreal (PB). In the two basins, angiosperm contribution and wetland extent all reached maxima during the PB, both decreasing and stabilizing after the PB. The permafrost of the Amur basin began to become remobilized in the PB. Retreat of sea ice coupled with increased sea surface temperatures in the Bering Sea during the ED might have promoted early permafrost mobilization. In modern Arctic river systems, lignin and n-alkanes are transported from land to the ocean via different pathways, i.e., surface runoff vs. erosion of deeper deposits, respectively. However, accumulation rates of lignin phenols and lipids are similar in our records, suggesting that under conditions of rapid sea level rise and shelf flooding, both types of terrestrial biomarkers are delivered by the same transport pathway. This finding suggests that the fate of terrigenous organic matter in the Arctic differs on both temporal and spatial scales.

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A late Holocene record of vegetation and fire from the Amur Basin, far-eastern Russia

Cited by 18 publications

References 46 publications

Environmental change and human land‐use over the past 200 years in the Great Hinggan Mountains, Northeastern China

Environmental change and human land‐use over the past 200 years in the Great Hinggan Mountains, Northeastern China

Discovery of a new breeding population of the Vulnerable Swinhoe’s Rail Coturnicops exquisitus confirmed by genetic analysis

Deglacial records of terrigenous organic matter accumulation off the Yukon and Amur rivers based on lignin phenols and long-chain n-alkanes

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