Vegetation and fire variability in the central Cerrados (Brazil) during the Pleistocene-Holocene transition was influenced by oscillations in the SASM boundary belt

Autor(es)

Cassino, Raquel Franco ^[1] ; Ledru, Marie-Pierre ^[2] ; Santos, Rudney de Almeida ^{[3, 2]} ; Favier, Charly ^[2]

Afiliação do(s) autor(es)

^[1] Univ Fed Ouro Preto, Dept Geol, Campus Morro do Cruzeiro, BR-35400000 Bauxita, Ouro Preto - Brazil

^[2] Univ Montpellier, Inst Sci Evolut Montpellier, CNRS IRD EPHE, Montpellier - France

^[3] Univ Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo - Brazil

• Tipo de documento: Artigo Científico
• Fonte: QUATERNARY SCIENCE REVIEWS; v. 232, MAR 15 2020.
• Citações Web of Science: 0

Resumo

This study investigates historical fire regimes and arboreal cover variability in the Brazilian Cerrados, a large Neotropical savanna ecosystem, during the Pleistocene-Holocene transition and early Holocene, and then tests whether the observed variation is linked to South American Summer Monsoon (SASM) variability. We present high-resolution pollen, XRF and charcoal records from Lagoa Feia, located in central Cerrados, and assess how they compare with other pollen records from the surrounding region to investigate regional trends of vegetation and fire regime variability. Our results show that the Pleistocene-Holocene transition was marked by a wet episode, which included moist forest expansion and rising lake levels, that correlates well with increased monsoon activity in a large area of central South America during the same period. This wet episode chronologically coincides with the Younger Dryas cold episode in the northern hemisphere. Our data revealed moisture declines in central Cerrados after 11.2 kyr BP, along with centennial-scale fluctuations from dry to wet conditions throughout the early Holocene period until around 6 kyr BP. These dry/wet oscillations are associated with weakened SASM activity and repeated shifts of its belt position during this time range. Fire activity increased in central Cerrados just after the onset of drier conditions during the early Holocene, and likely contributed to decreased arboreal cover at that time. A trend of increasing moisture in the region was observed after 6 kyr BP. Our study reveals how centennial and millennial-scale changes in monsoon activity influenced arboreal cover, diversity and fire regimes in the central Cerrados. (C) 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. (AU)

• Processo FAPESP: 13/50297-0 - Dimensions US-BIOTA São Paulo: integrando disciplinas para a predição da biodiversidade da Floresta Atlântica no Brasil
• Beneficiário: Cristina Yumi Miyaki
• Modalidade de apoio: Auxílio à Pesquisa - Programa BIOTA - Temático