Identifying environmental drivers of fungal non-pollen palynomorphs in the montane forest of the eastern Andean flank, Ecuador

Abstract

Samples taken from sedimentary archives indicate that fungal non-pollen palynomorphs (NPPs) can be used to provide information on forest cover, fire regime, and depositional environment in the eastern Andean flank montane forest of Ecuador. Within the 52 samples examined, 54 fungal NPP morphotypes are reported, of which 25 were found to be previously undescribed. Examination of fungal NPPs over a gradient of forest cover (2-64%) revealed three distinct assemblages: (1) low (<8%) forest cover Neurospora, IBB-16, HdV-201, OU-102, and OU-110 indicative of an open degraded landscape; (2) medium (8-32%) forest cover Cercophora-type 1, Xylariaceae, Rosellinia-type, Kretzschmaria deusta, Amphirosellinia, Sporormiella, and Glomus suggestive of a forested landscape disturbed by herbivores and soil erosion; and (3) high (32-63%) forest cover Anthostomella fuegiana, OU-5, OU-101, OU-108, and OU-120. Environmental variables for forest cover (forest pollen), available moisture (aquatic remains), regional fire regime (microcharcoal), and sediment composition (organic carbon) were found to explain~40% of the variance in the fungal NPP data set. Fire was found to be the primary control on fungal NPP assemblage composition, with available moisture and sediment composition the next most important factors.

Grazing activities in the southern central Pyrenees during the last millennium as deduced from the non-pollen palynomorphs (NPP) record of Lake Montcortès

“…3 has proved to be a useful tool to disentangle the nature of the forcings involved (Loughlin et al 2018). NPP provide additional information due to their independent nature in relation to other proxies (van Geel 2001;Montoya et al 2012).…”

Tracking Hunter-Gatherer Impact on Vegetation in Last Interglacial and Holocene Europe: Proxies and Challenges

“…In particular, the presence of some types of NPP, which appear after fires or can live within open habitats (e.g. Loughlin et al, 2018), constitutes one possible type of evidence of past fires.…”

“…These are deposited close to their point of origin (Cugny et al, 2010;Innes et al, 2013;Sandom et al 2014a;Revelles & van Geel, 2016;Huang et al, 2020). Both pollen data and NPP have been used to identify the role of herbivores in landscape transformations, past mammalian behaviour and herbivore extinction processes in the past (Gill et al, 2013;Sandom et al 2014a;Loughlin et al, 2018).…”

In search of the ice age tropics, a tribute to Prof. Daniel Livingstone and Prof. Paul Colinvaux

“…The 25,000 yr sequences provide new insights about the timing of nonanalog plant communities relative to megafaunal population collapse. Loughlin et al (2018) studied an area that had yielded one of Colinvaux's most important paleoecological records, that of Mera Ecuador Bush et al, 1990). Loughlin et al's work explores an understudied source of potential paleoecological data by analyzing nonpollen palynomorphs.…”

“…Loughlin et al (2018) studied an area that had yielded one of Colinvaux’s most important paleoecological records, that of Mera Ecuador (Liu and Colinvaux, 1985; Bush et al, 1990). Loughlin et al’s work explores an understudied source of potential paleoecological data by analyzing nonpollen palynomorphs.…”