Abstract. Coastal vegetation both mitigates the damage inflicted by marine disasters
on coastal areas and plays an important role in the global carbon cycle
(i.e., blue carbon). Nevertheless, detailed records of changes in coastal
vegetation composition and diversity in the Holocene, coupled with climate
change and river evolution, remain unclear. To explore vegetation dynamics
and their influencing factors on the coastal area of the Bohai Sea (BS)
during the Holocene, we present high-resolution pollen and sediment grain
size data obtained from a sediment core of the BS. The results reveal that
two rapid and abrupt changes in salt marsh vegetation are linked with the
river system changes. Within each event, a recurring pattern – starting with a decline in Cyperaceae, followed by an increase in Artemisia and Chenopodiaceae – suggests a successional process that is determined by the close relationship between Yellow River (YR) channel shifts and the wetland community dynamics. The phreatophyte Cyperaceae at the base of each sequence indicate lower saline conditions. Unchannelized river flow characterized the onset of the YR channel shift, caused a huge river-derived sediment accumulation in the floodplain and destroyed the sedges in the coastal depression. Along with the formation of a new channel, lateral migration of the lower channel stopped, and a new intertidal mudflat was formed. Pioneer species (Chenopodiaceae, Artemisia) were the first to colonize the bare zones of the
lower and middle marsh areas. In addition, the pollen results revealed that
the vegetation of the BS land area was dominated by broadleaved forests
during the Early Holocene (8500–6500 BP) and by conifer and broadleaved
forests in the Middle Holocene (6500–3500 BP), which was followed by an
expansion of broadleaved trees (after 3500 BP). The pollen record
indicated that a warmer Early and Late Holocene and colder Middle Holocene
were consistent with previously reported temperature records for East Asia.
The main driving factors of temperature variation in this region are
insolation, the El Niño–Southern Oscillation and greenhouse gases
forcing.