Dataset Information

Terrestrial biome distribution in the Late Neogene inferred from a black carbon record in the northeastern equatorial Pacific.

ABSTRACT: The appearance and expansion of C4 plants in the Late Cenozoic was a dramatic example of terrestrial ecological change. The fire hypothesis, which suggests fire as a major cause of C4 grassland is gaining support, yet a more detailed relationship between fire and vegetation-type change remains unresolved. We report the content and stable carbon isotope record of black carbon (BC) in a sediment core retrieved from the northeastern equatorial Pacific that covers the past 14.3 million years. The content record of BC suggests the development process of a flammable ecosystem. The stable carbon isotope record of BC reveals the existence of the Late Miocene C4 expansion, the 'C4 maximum period of burned biomass' during the Pliocene to Early Pleistocene, and the collapse of the C4 in the Late Pleistocene. Records showing the initial expansion of C4 plants after large fire support the role of fire as a destructive agent of C3-dominated forest, yet the weak relationships between fire and vegetation after initial expansion suggest that environmental advantages for C4 plants were necessary to maintain the development of C4 plants during the late Neogene. Among the various environmental factors, aridity is likely most influential in C4 expansion.

SUBMITTER: Kim D

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5015089 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Terrestrial biome distribution in the Late Neogene inferred from a black carbon record in the northeastern equatorial Pacific.

Kim Donghyun D Lee Yong Il YI Hyeong Kiseong K Yoo Chan Min CM

Scientific reports 20160908

The appearance and expansion of C4 plants in the Late Cenozoic was a dramatic example of terrestrial ecological change. The fire hypothesis, which suggests fire as a major cause of C4 grassland is gaining support, yet a more detailed relationship between fire and vegetation-type change remains unresolved. We report the content and stable carbon isotope record of black carbon (BC) in a sediment core retrieved from the northeastern equatorial Pacific that covers the past 14.3 million years. The co ...[more]

PMID: 27604853

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Project description:Planktic foraminiferal biostratigraphic zonation schemes are critical for providing first-order relative age control in deep-sea sediments and provide the basis on which to interpret evolutionary dynamics through time. Over the previous decades, the majority of published biostratigraphic zonation schemes focused on the tropical regions of the world. The mid-latitude or temperate regions, especially of the northwest Pacific, have been understudied in terms of recording plankton occurrences. Lack of detailed biostratigraphic studies have largely left out this region from plankton evolutionary analyses, thus how this part of the world ocean, which is characterized by the Kuroshio Current Extension (KCE), may contribute to global plankton biodiversity is unknown. In this study, we present the first magnetostratigraphically-calibrated late Neogene to Quaternary (15.12-0 Ma) planktic foraminiferal zonation schemes from the northwest Pacific for three Ocean Drilling Program Leg 198 holes (1207A, 1208A, and 1209A) that span the KCE. We utilize previously published warm subtropical, cool subtropical, and temperate zonation schemes from the southwest Pacific, with modifications. We find examples of significant diachroneity among primary marker taxa used to construct biozones at the three northwest Pacific sites, which ranges from 0.075 to 2.29 million years. Comparison of our primary datum markers with those of the tropical planktic foraminiferal zonation scheme also reveal diachroneity on the scale of 0.022 to 4.8 million years. We have identified times of intense dissolution in the northwest Pacific, namely in the middle to late Miocene that likely contribute to the observed diachroneity of datums. This study highlights the need for regionally specific mid-latitude biostratigraphic zonation schemes, as diachronous datums and differing assemblages may be hallmarks of oceanic ecotones created by major boundary current systems. These data also provide a framework to characterize local plankton evolutionary dynamics and paleobiogeographic patterns in future studies.

Dataset Information

Terrestrial biome distribution in the Late Neogene inferred from a black carbon record in the northeastern equatorial Pacific.

Publications

Terrestrial biome distribution in the Late Neogene inferred from a black carbon record in the northeastern equatorial Pacific.

Similar Datasets

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