Landscape History, Vegetation History, and Past Human Impacts

Rodriguez F, Bräuning A, Gerique-Zipfel A, Behling H, Volland F (2013)

Publication Language: English

Publication Type: Book chapter / Article in edited volumes

Publication year: 2013

Publisher: Springer-Verlag

Edited Volumes: Ecosystem Services, Biodiversity and Environmental Change in a Tropical Mountain Ecosystem of South Ecuador

Series: Ecological Studies. Analysis and Synthesis.

City/Town: Berlin Heidelberg

Book Volume: 221

Pages Range: 53-66

ISBN: 978-3-642-38136-2

URI: http://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007%2F978-3-642-38137-9_5

DOI: 10.1007/978-3-642-38137-9_5

Abstract

Three pollen profiles reveal vegetation changes during the past 16,500 years of the Podocarpus National Park (PNP) in the Southern Ecuadorian Andes. Andean glaciers retreated after the Last Glacial Maximum and the Younger Dryas cold interval, accompanied by a marked decline of páramo vegetation between 11660 and 4280 b.p., and the expansion of subpáramo vegetation. Polylepis was widespread during the warm early Holocene, whereupon páramo vegetation increased after 4200 b.p. The upper montane forest became abundant after 4200 b.p., and an increase of páramo taxa since 500 b.p. indicates moister climate since then. Charcoal particle concentration maxima are evident between 1800 to 1600 b.p. and 600 to 400 b.p. The mountain region became permanently settled at the end of the nineteenth century when the exploitation of natural resources was initiated. Decadal variations in ring-width chronology from Cedrela montana are possibly related to large-scale atmospheric pressure variations in the tropical Pacific Ocean.

Authors with CRIS profile

Achim Bräuning Lehrstuhl für Geographie (Physische Geographie) Andres Gerique-Zipfel Lehrstuhl für Geographie (Kulturgeographie und Entwicklungsforschung) Franziska Volland Lehrstuhl für Geographie (Physische Geographie)

Involved external institutions

Georg-August-Universität Göttingen DE Germany (DE)

How to cite

APA:

Rodriguez, F., Bräuning, A., Gerique-Zipfel, A., Behling, H., & Volland, F. (2013). Landscape History, Vegetation History, and Past Human Impacts. In Bendix J., Beck E., Bräuning A., Makeschin F., Mosandl R., Scheu S., Wilcke W. (Eds.), Ecosystem Services, Biodiversity and Environmental Change in a Tropical Mountain Ecosystem of South Ecuador. (pp. 53-66). Berlin Heidelberg: Springer-Verlag.

MLA:

Rodriguez, Fernando, et al. "Landscape History, Vegetation History, and Past Human Impacts." Ecosystem Services, Biodiversity and Environmental Change in a Tropical Mountain Ecosystem of South Ecuador. Ed. Bendix J., Beck E., Bräuning A., Makeschin F., Mosandl R., Scheu S., Wilcke W., Berlin Heidelberg: Springer-Verlag, 2013. 53-66.

BibTeX: Download