Late Quaternary Araucaria forest and Campos (grasslands) vegetation dynamics inferred from a high-resolution pollen record from Lagoa Dourada in southern Brazil

Daniela Piraquive-Bermúdez*, Hermann Behling, Bernd Zolitschka, Thomas Giesecke

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

Forest-grassland mosaics are ecosystems with sharp contrasts. Factors controlling their heterogeneity have interested researchers worldwide. To date, only few natural remains of these ecosystems exist, such as the Araucaria and Campos region in southern Brazil. Different paleoecological studies elucidate the vegetation and climate history of the region, documenting shifts between forests and grasslands since the Middle Holocene. However, uncertainty remains about whether system shifts were sudden or gradual and on the importance of driving factors and triggers such as climate, change and disturbance. We reconstruct the paleoecological history of the Araucaria forest-grassland mosaics in Paraná state in decadal to sub-decadal resolution during the Holocene. High resolution pollen analysis documents that in this region the expansion of woodlands occurred gradually while sedimentological analyses reveal stepwise shifts of the precipitation regime of the region. During the Early Holocene (10300-8300 cal yr BP), the landscape was characterized by grassland-dominated Campos vegetation, with sporadic occurrences of arboreal taxa. Araucaria angustifolia was present initially in small abundances. In the Mid-Holocene (8300-4000 cal BP), a transition to more humid conditions fostered the development of woodlands. The establishment of Araucaria angustifolia near the lake occurred around 7300 cal yr BP, together with a general expansion of woodlands. In the Late Holocene (4000-150 cal yr BP), Araucaria angustifolia became dominant within forest patches with a second stepwise expansion around 3300 cal yr BP. The onset of Euro-American land use during the last two centuries intensified erosion and altered species composition, reflected in sediment and pollen data. In addition, Lagoa Dourada documents vegetational changes that seem to coincide with the 8.2 ka event and the Little Ice Age.

Original languageEnglish
Article number108685
Pages (from-to)1-14
Number of pages14
JournalQuaternary Science Reviews
Volume333
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Jun 2024

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2024 The Authors

Funding

We are grateful to Maria Carolina G. de O. Portes and Sonia Fontana for assistance during fieldwork, to Vivian Luciana Jeske-Pieruschka for organizing the permits to work in the park: Instituto Ambiental do Parana, Number: 55.16 (Vila Velha) SISBIO, available at: https:// www.iat.pr.gov.br/sites/agua-terra/arquivos_restritos/files/documento/2021-05/auto_55_16_LGDB.pdf. Finally, we thank the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, DFG who funded this research through the grant GI 732/8-1.

FundersFunder number
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, DFGGI 732/8-1

    Keywords

    • Araucaria forest
    • Campos
    • Grasslands
    • South America
    • Vegetation dynamics

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