Climate change and resilience of deciduous <i>Nothofagus</i> forests in central–east Chilean Patagonia over the last 3200 years

Simi, E.; Moreno, Patricio I.; Villa-Martínez, Rodrigo; Vilanova, Isabel; Pol‐Holz, Ricardo De

doi:10.1002/jqs.2948

Cited by 15 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 34 publications

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“…yr BP, which coincides with minor changes in the percentage and concentration of Nothofagus dombeyi -type. Simi et al (2017) report volcanic activity in two records in the Aysén region in southwest Chile, showing a minimal variation in arboreal pollen, similar to our records. In both cases, these slight changes in pollen percentage are reflecting the persistence of the forest despite the constant disturbance processes related to volcanic activity.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 89%

Late-Holocene vegetation dynamics and disturbance regimes in north Patagonia Argentina (40°S)

2020

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Natural disturbance processes such as volcanic eruptions, fire and human activities are important vegetation drivers in north Patagonia. Here, we tested the impact of volcanic ash fall and fire on vegetation composition analysing two sediment records, Lake Avutarda and Lake Bruja, located in the forest-steppe transition at 40°S. In addition, our analysis provides the first account on the history of Nothofagus alpina at its eastern distribution limits. Our results comprise the last 3000 years, indicating the persistence of the vegetation despite evident volcanic activity documented by numerous tephra layers in both records. Eleven fire episodes were identified, while redundancy analysis indicates a non-significant influence of fire activity on the vegetation. The population increase of Nothofagus alpina represents the most important change in vegetation composition in the last three millennia. We speculate that the presumed change in climate, which led to the expansion of Austrocedrus chilensis south of the study area, also caused the increase of Nothofagus alpina populations in the region.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 89%

Late-Holocene vegetation dynamics and disturbance regimes in north Patagonia Argentina (40°S)

2020

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“…The ratio between rainforest and sclerophyll plant taxa (rainforest:sclerophyll) was calculated from the land‐cover data published in Mariani et al () prior to the elaboration of statistics (see below). From the same data set, Isoëtes , a littoral macrophyte, spore abundances were considered as proxy for aquatic conditions, such as lake level and light penetration variation (Bogotá‐A et al, ; Chappuis et al, ; Finkenbinder et al, ; Pesce & Moreno, ; Simi et al, ).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Biogeochemical Responses to Holocene Catchment‐Lake Dynamics in the Tasmanian World Heritage Area, Australia

et al. 2018

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Environmental changes such as climate, land use, and fire activity affect terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems at multiple scales of space and time. Due to the nature of the interactions between terrestrial and aquatic dynamics, an integrated study using multiple proxies is critical for a better understanding of climate‐ and fire‐driven impacts on environmental change. Here we present a synthesis of biological and geochemical data (pollen, spores, diatoms, micro X‐ray fluorescence scanning, CN content, and stable isotopes) from Dove Lake, Tasmania, allowing us to disentangle long‐term terrestrial‐aquatic dynamics through the last 12 kyear. We found that aquatic dynamics at Dove Lake are tightly linked to vegetation shifts dictated by regional hydroclimatic variability in western Tasmania. A major shift in the diatom composition was detected at ca. 6 ka, and it was likely mediated by changes in regional terrestrial vegetation, charcoal, and iron accumulation. High rainforest abundance prior ca. 6 ka is linked to increased terrestrially derived organic matter delivery into the lake, higher dystrophy, anoxic bottom conditions, and lower light penetration depths. The shift to a landscape with a higher proportion of sclerophyll species following the intensification of El Niño‐Southern Oscillation since ca. 6 ka corresponds to a decline in terrestrial organic matter input into Dove Lake, lower dystrophy levels, higher oxygen availability, and higher light availability for algae and littoral macrophytes. This record provides new insights on terrestrial‐aquatic dynamics that could contribute to the conservation management plans in the Tasmanian World Heritage Area and in temperate high‐altitude dystrophic systems elsewhere.

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“…Although there is evidence for ancient human-induced transformations (i.e. localized fires set by hunter-gatherers) over the past 3000 years (Holz et al, 2016;Méndez et al, 2016), Austral Chile is considered as a near pristine region up to 1750 AD, when European settlers burned and opened vast areas of densely vegetated Patagonia (Moreno et al, 2018;Simi et al, 2017). Leaving aside the fact that humanized landscapes are a recent occurrence, this region is omitted from our analyses because discriminating between natural and anthropogenic agents causing such transformations is challenging, as typically both factors are involved (Holz et al, 2016;Méndez et al, 2016;Moreno et al, 2018).…”

Section: Regional Settingsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Geohistorical records of the Anthropocene in Chile

Gayó

McRostie

Campbell

et al. 2019

Elementa: Science of the Anthropocene

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The deep-time dynamics of coupled socio-ecological systems at different spatial scales is viewed as a key framework to understand trends and mechanisms that have led to the Anthropocene. By integrating archeological and paleoenvironmental records, we test the hypothesis that Chilean societies progressively escalated their capacity to shape national biophysical systems as socio-cultural complexity and pressures on natural resources increased over the last three millennia. We demonstrate that Pre-Columbian societies intentionally transformed Chile’s northern and central regions by continuously adjusting socio-cultural practices and/or incorporating technologies that guaranteed resource access and social wealth. The fact that past human activities led to cumulative impacts on diverse biophysical processes, not only contradicts the notion of pristine pre-Industrial Revolution landscapes, but suggests that the Anthropocene derives from long-term processes that have operated uninterruptedly since Pre-Columbian times. Moreover, our synthesis suggests that most of present-day symptoms that describe the Anthropocene are rooted in pre-Columbian processes that scaled up in intensity over the last 3000 years, accelerating after the Spanish colonization and, more intensely, in recent decades. The most striking trend is the observed coevolution between the intensity of metallurgy and heavy-metal anthropogenic emissions. This entails that the Anthropocene cannot be viewed as a universal imprint of human actions that has arisen as an exclusive consequence of modern industrial societies. In the Chilean case, this phenomenon is intrinsically tied to historically and geographically diverse configurations in society-environment feedback relationships. Taken collectively with other case studies, the patterns revealed here could contribute to the discussion about how the Anthropocene is defined globally, in terms of chronology, stratigraphic markers and attributes. Furthermore, this deep-time narrative can potentially become a science-based instrument to shape better-informed discourses about the socio-environmental history in Chile. More importantly, however, this research provides crucial “baselines” to delineate safe operating spaces for future socio-ecological systems.

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Climate change and resilience of deciduous Nothofagus forests in central–east Chilean Patagonia over the last 3200 years

Cited by 15 publications

References 34 publications

Late-Holocene vegetation dynamics and disturbance regimes in north Patagonia Argentina (40°S)

Late-Holocene vegetation dynamics and disturbance regimes in north Patagonia Argentina (40°S)

Biogeochemical Responses to Holocene Catchment‐Lake Dynamics in the Tasmanian World Heritage Area, Australia

Geohistorical records of the Anthropocene in Chile

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