Reply to Carcaillet and Vernet

Willis, Katherine J.; Rudner, Edina; Sümegi, Pál

doi:10.1006/qres.2001.2225

Cited by 18 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 6 publications

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“…In the same way, the biome reconstruction method used by Fauquette et al (1999) may indicate the presence of the steppe biome due to the great abundance of pollen from steppe herbaceous species in these ecotonal regions. Recently, Willis et al (2000Willis et al ( , 2001, Carcaillet and Vernet (2001) and Willis and van Andel (2004) showed convincing evidence for the continuous presence of tree vegetation during full-glacial periods throughout central and eastern Europe.…”

Section: Quantitative Climatic Analysesmentioning

confidence: 96%

Rodent paleofaunas as indicators of climatic change in Europe during the last 125,000 years

Fernández

2006

Quat. res.

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This paper presents a quantitative reconstruction of the European late Pleistocene paleoclimate based on 72 rodent assemblages of five sequences from France, Germany and Bulgaria, covering the last interglacial–glacial cycle. They show a pattern of severe changes in temperature, with reduced precipitation during the coldest periods. A tentative correlation between the isotopic and palynological records and the paleotemperature changes is shown. These changes are consistent with variations in atmospheric circulation patterns in response to an expanding–retracting Fennoscandian ice-sheet. They can be attributed to the enhancement–weakening of the Scandinavian-Polar anticyclone and its associated dry winds, the south–north shifting of the North Atlantic Polar Front, and the varying supply of moist air from the Atlantic. Qualitative paleoenvironmental analysis shows broadleaved-deciduous forests in France and Bulgaria during most of the studied period. Taiga and tundra appeared in eastern France during the lower Würm. The German sequence indicates the presence of coniferous forests. These results are broadly consistent with other paleobiological records (mammalian, avian and insect faunas, isotopic record in dental tissue, palynology). The main discrepancies with the paleoclimate inferred from the palynological record are found during the coldest periods and are probably due to the interaction between vegetation, climate, and atmospheric CO2 levels.

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Section: Quantitative Climatic Analysesmentioning

confidence: 96%

Rodent paleofaunas as indicators of climatic change in Europe during the last 125,000 years

Fernández

2006

Quat. res.

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“…20 ka) and the Mid-Holocene the forest line in Europe migrated more than 2000 km: from areas close to the Alps (e.g. Hungary (Willis et al 2000(Willis et al , 2001) during the LGM to northern Scandinavia at the present day (e.g. Van der Hammen et al 1971).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Quaternary Ice-Age dynamics in the Colombian Andes: developing an understanding of our legacy

Hooghiemstra

Hammen

2004

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. B

188

163

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Pollen records from lacustrine sediments of deep basins in the Colombian Andes provide records of vegetation history, the development of the floristic composition of biomes, and climate variation with increasing temporal resolution. Local differences in the altitudinal distribution of present-day vegetation belts in four Colombian Cordilleras are presented. Operating mechanisms during Quaternary Ice-Age cycles that stimulated speciation are discussed by considering endemism in the asteraceous genera Espeletia, Espeletiopsis and Coespeletia. The floristically diverse lower montane forest belt (1000-2300 m) was compressed by ca. 55% during the last glacial maximum (LGM) (20 ka), and occupied the slopes between 800 m and 1400 m during that period. Under low LGM atmospheric p CO 2 values, C 4 -dominated vegetation, now occurring below 2200 m, expanded up to ca. 3500 m. Present-day C 3 -dominated paramo vegetation is therefore not an analogue for past C 4 -dominated vegetation (with abundant Sporobolus lasiophyllus).Quercus immigrated into Colombia 478 ka and formed an extensive zonal forest from 330 ka when former Podocarpus-dominated forest was replaced by zonal forest with Quercus and Weinmannia. During the last glacial cycle the ecological tolerance of Quercus may have increased. In the ecotone forests Quercus was rapidly and massively replaced by Polylepis between 45 and 30 ka illustrating complex forest dynamics in the tropical Andes.

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“…In particular, bioturbation causes mixing of assemblages, and fragmentation of the charcoal pieces causes quantitative bias in records (Carcaillet, 2001a(Carcaillet, , 2001bRobin et al, 2012). Poorly documented such processes mean that extensive extrapolation is required for taxonomic and chronological interpretation of any unidentified or undated pieces in charcoal assemblages, often with questionable results (Carcaillet and Vernet, 2001;Giesecke, 2016;Robin et al, 2016;Willis et al, 2001).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A comparative review of soil charcoal data: Spatiotemporal patterns of origin and long-term dynamics of Western European nutrient-poor grasslands

et al. 2018

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The nutrient-poor grasslands of Western Europe are of major conservation concern because land use changes threaten their high biodiversity. Studies assessing their characteristics show that their past and ongoing dynamics are strongly related to human activities. Yet, the initial development patterns of this specific ecosystem remain unclear. Here, we examine findings from previous paleoecological investigations performed at local level on European grassland areas ranging from several hundred square meters to several square kilometers. Comparing data from these locally relevant studies at a regional scale, we investigate these grasslands' spatiotemporal patterns of origin and long-term dynamics. The study is based on taxonomic identification and radiocarbon AMS dating of charcoal pieces from soil/soil sediment archives of nutrient-poor grasslands in Mediterranean and temperate Western Europe (La Crau plain, Mont Lozère, Grands Causses, Vosges Mountains, Franconian Alb, and Upper-Normandy region). We address the following questions: (1) What are the key determinants of the establishment of these nutrient-poor grasslands? (2) What temporal synchronicities might there be? and (3) What is the spatial scale of these grasslands' past dynamics? The nutrient-poor grasslands in temperate Western Europe are found to result from the first anthropogenic woodland clearings during the late Neolithic, revealed by fire events in mesophilious mature forests. In contrast, the sites with Mediterranean affinities appear to have developed at earlier plant successional stages (pine forest, matorral), established before the first human impacts in the same period. However, no general pattern of establishment and dynamics of the nutrient-poor grasslands could be identified. Local mechanisms appear to be the key determinants of the dynamics of these ecosystems. Nevertheless, this paleoecological synthesis provides insights into past climate or human impacts on present-day vegetation.

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Reply to Carcaillet and Vernet

Cited by 18 publications

References 6 publications

Rodent paleofaunas as indicators of climatic change in Europe during the last 125,000 years

Rodent paleofaunas as indicators of climatic change in Europe during the last 125,000 years

Quaternary Ice-Age dynamics in the Colombian Andes: developing an understanding of our legacy

A comparative review of soil charcoal data: Spatiotemporal patterns of origin and long-term dynamics of Western European nutrient-poor grasslands

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