Influence of landscape evolution on the distribution of floristic patterns in northern Amazonia revealed by delta 13C data

Autor(es)

Zani, H. ^[1] ; Rossetti, D. F. ^[1] ; Cohen, M. L. C. ^[2] ; Pessenda, L. C. R. ^[3] ; Cremon, E. H. ^[1]

Afiliação do(s) autor(es)

^[1] Inst Nacl Pesquisas Espaciais, Div Sensoriamento Remoto, BR-12245970 Sao Jose Dos Campos, SP - Brazil

^[2] Fed Univ Para, Ctr Geociencias, BR-66059 Belem, PA - Brazil

^[3] Univ Sao Paulo, Lab 14C, BR-05508 Sao Paulo - Brazil

• Tipo de documento: Artigo Científico
• Fonte: JOURNAL OF QUATERNARY SCIENCE; v. 27, n. 8, p. 854-864, NOV 2012.
• Citações Web of Science: 9

Resumo

The Amazonian lowlands include large patches of open vegetation which contrast sharply with the rainforest, and the origin of these patches has been debated. This study focuses on a large area of open vegetation in northern Brazil, where d13C and, in some instances, C/N analyses of the organic matter preserved in late Quaternary sediments were used to achieve floristic reconstructions over time. The main goal was to determine when the modern open vegetation started to develop in this area. The variability in d13C data derived from nine cores ranges from -32.2 to -19.6 parts per thousand, but with nearly 60% of data above -26.5 parts per thousand. The most enriched values were detected only in ecotone and open vegetated areas. The development of open vegetation communities was asynchronous, varying between estimated ages of 6400 and 3000 cal a BP. This suggests that the origin of the studied patches of open vegetation might be linked to sedimentary dynamics of a late Quaternary megafan system. As sedimentation ended, this vegetation type became established over the megafan surface. In addition, the data presented here show that the presence of C4 plants must be used carefully as a proxy to interpret dry paleoclimatic episodes in Amazonian areas. Copyright (c) 2012 John Wiley \& Sons, Ltd. (AU)

• Processo FAPESP: 09/00672-3 - Sensoriamento remoto aplicado à análise sedimentar quaternária no interflúvio dos Rios Negro e Branco (AM)
• Beneficiário: Hiran Zani
• Modalidade de apoio: Bolsas no Brasil - Doutorado
• Processo FAPESP: 10/09484-2 - Megaleques quaternários no estado de Roraima, norte da Amazônia: implicações sedimentológicas, climáticas e tectônicas
• Beneficiário: Dilce de Fátima Rossetti
• Modalidade de apoio: Auxílio à Pesquisa - Regular