气候变化领域集成服务门户(CCPortal): Describing a drowned Pleistocene ecosystem: Last Glacial Maximum vegetation reconstruction of the Palaeo-Agulhas Plain

CCPortal

DOI	10.1016/j.quascirev.2019.105866
	Describing a drowned Pleistocene ecosystem: Last Glacial Maximum vegetation reconstruction of the Palaeo-Agulhas Plain
	Cowling R.M.; Potts A.J.; Franklin J.; Midgley G.F.; Engelbrecht F.; Marean C.W.
发表日期	2020
ISSN	0277-3791
卷号	235
英文摘要	Pleistocene ecosystems provided the stage for modern human emergence. Terrestrial vegetation communities structure resources for human foragers, providing plant food, wood for fuel and tools, and fibre, as well as habitat for animal prey. The Pleistocene distribution of vegetation communities is seldom considered as a key constraint on hunter-gatherers foraging across the landscape. We used modern vegetation patterns along the Cape south coast to develop a rule-based model of the expected vegetation for a given soil type, precipitation regime and fire regime. We then applied this ruleset to present-day environmental conditions to test and validate the model. We also scaled the climate-vegetation ruleset to account for likely effects of low atmospheric [CO2] and lower temperature in the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) on plant water use efficiency. The model was then used to postdict vegetation patterns for the LGM using palaeo-landscape reconstruction of geological substrata and soils, and palaeoclimate simulations. This palaeoscape comprised the extensive Palaeo-Agulhas Plain (PAP), which was exposed at lower sea levels during glacial periods. Our model predicts that the PAP was dominated by limestone fynbos in its southern part, and by shale grassland with cappings of dune fynbos-thicket mosaic in the north. Shale and sandstone fynbos were restricted to the western zone, which experienced a stronger winter rainfall regime during the LGM than at present. The entire PAP was dissected by broad and shallow floodplains supporting a mosaic of woodland and grassland on fertile, alluvial soils. This savanna-like vegetation, as well as shale grassland, are poorly represented in the modern landscape, and would have been capable of supporting the diverse megafauna typical of glacial periods. These Pleistocene periods would have presented a very different resource landscape for early modern human hunter-gatherers than the interglacial landscape such as is found in the Cape coastal lowlands today. © 2019
英文关键词	Cape Floristic Region; Cape south coast; Fynbos; Hunter-gatherers; Palaeoscape; Pleistocene vegetation change
语种	英语
scopus关键词	Ecosystems; Forestry; Glacial geology; Lime; Sea level; Shale; Soils; Wood; Cape Floristic Region; Fynbos; Hunter-gatherers; Palaeoscape; Pleistocene vegetation; Vegetation; atmospheric gas; coastal zone; environmental conditions; floodplain; fynbos; grassland; hunter-gatherer; Last Glacial Maximum; low temperature; plant community; Pleistocene; reconstruction; sandstone; savanna; shale; water use efficiency; Agulhas Plain; South Africa; Western Cape; Animalia
来源期刊	Quaternary Science Reviews
文献类型	期刊论文
条目标识符	http://gcip.llas.ac.cn/handle/2XKMVOVA/151516
作者单位	African Centre for Coastal Palaeoscience, Nelson Mandela University, Port Elizabeth, Eastern Cape 6031, South Africa; School of Geographical Sciences & Urban Planning, Arizona State University, P.O. Box 875302, Tempe, AZ 85287-5302, United States; Department of Botany and Plant Sciences, University of California, Riverside, CA 92507, United States; Department of Botany and Zoology, Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch, Western Cape 7602, South Africa; Global Change Institute, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, Gauteng 2050, South Africa; School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Institute of Human Origins, Arizona State University, PO Box 872402, Tempe, AZ 85287-2402, United States
推荐引用方式 GB/T 7714	Cowling R.M.,Potts A.J.,Franklin J.,et al. Describing a drowned Pleistocene ecosystem: Last Glacial Maximum vegetation reconstruction of the Palaeo-Agulhas Plain[J],2020,235.
APA	Cowling R.M.,Potts A.J.,Franklin J.,Midgley G.F.,Engelbrecht F.,&Marean C.W..(2020).Describing a drowned Pleistocene ecosystem: Last Glacial Maximum vegetation reconstruction of the Palaeo-Agulhas Plain.Quaternary Science Reviews,235.
MLA	Cowling R.M.,et al."Describing a drowned Pleistocene ecosystem: Last Glacial Maximum vegetation reconstruction of the Palaeo-Agulhas Plain".Quaternary Science Reviews 235(2020).