Dataset Information

Brazilian montane rainforest expansion induced by Heinrich Stadial 1 event.

ABSTRACT: The origin of modern disjunct plant distributions in the Brazilian Highlands with strong floristic affinities to distant montane rainforests of isolated mountaintops in the northeast and northern Amazonia and the Guyana Shield remains unknown. We tested the hypothesis that these unexplained biogeographical patterns reflect former ecosystem rearrangements sustained by widespread plant migrations possibly due to climatic patterns that are very dissimilar from present-day conditions. To address this issue, we mapped the presence of the montane arboreal taxa Araucaria, Podocarpus, Drimys, Hedyosmum, Ilex, Myrsine, Symplocos, and Weinmannia, and cool-adapted plants in the families Myrtaceae, Ericaceae, and Arecaceae (palms) in 29 palynological records during Heinrich Stadial 1 Event, encompassing a latitudinal range of 30°S to 0°S. In addition, Principal Component Analysis and Species Distribution Modelling were used to represent past and modern habitat suitability for Podocarpus and Araucaria. The data reveals two long-distance patterns of plant migration connecting south/southeast to northeastern Brazil and Amazonia with a third short route extending from one of them. Their paleofloristic compositions suggest a climatic scenario of abundant rainfall and relative lower continental surface temperatures, possibly intensified by the effects of polar air incursions forming cold fronts into the Brazilian Highlands. Although these taxa are sensitive to changes in temperature, the combined pollen and speleothems proxy data indicate that this montane rainforest expansion during Heinrich Stadial 1 Event was triggered mainly by a less seasonal rainfall regime from the subtropics to the equatorial region.

SUBMITTER: Pinaya JLD

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6884455 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Brazilian montane rainforest expansion induced by Heinrich Stadial 1 event.

Pinaya Jorge L D JLD Cruz Francisco W FW Ceccantini Gregório C T GCT Corrêa Pedro L P PLP Pitman Nigel N Vemado Felipe F Lopez Maria Del Carmen S MDCS Pereira Filho Augusto J AJ Grohmann Carlos H CH Chiessi Cristiano M CM Stríkis Nicolás M NM Horák-Terra Ingrid I Pinaya Walter H L WHL de Medeiros Vanda B VB Santos Rudney de A RA Akabane Thomas K TK Silva Maicon A MA Cheddadi Rachid R Bush Mark M Henrot Alexandra-Jane AJ François Louis L Hambuckers Alain A Boyer Frédéric F Carré Matthieu M Coissac Eric E Ficetola Francesco F Huang Kangyou K Lézine Anne-Marie AM Nourelbait Majda M Rhoujjati Ali A Taberlet Pierre P Sarmiento Fausto F Abel-Schaad Daniel D Alba-Sánchez Francisca F Zheng Zhuo Z De Oliveira Paulo E PE

Scientific reports 20191129 1

The origin of modern disjunct plant distributions in the Brazilian Highlands with strong floristic affinities to distant montane rainforests of isolated mountaintops in the northeast and northern Amazonia and the Guyana Shield remains unknown. We tested the hypothesis that these unexplained biogeographical patterns reflect former ecosystem rearrangements sustained by widespread plant migrations possibly due to climatic patterns that are very dissimilar from present-day conditions. To address thi ...[more]

PMID: 31784587

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Project description:Topography is commonly viewed as a passive backdrop on which vegetation grows. Yet, in certain circumstances, a bidirectional feedback may develop between the control of topography and the spatial distribution of vegetation and landform development, because vegetation modulates the erosion of the land surface. Therefore, if reinforcing feedbacks are established between erosion and land cover distribution over timescales relevant to landform development, then the interactions between vegetation and topography may create distinctive landforms, shaped by vegetation. We expose here a strong correlation between the spatial distribution of vegetation, erosion rates, and topography at a characteristic length scale of 102-103m (mesoscale topography) in the Luquillo Experimental forest (LEF) of Puerto Rico. We use high-resolution LiDAR topography to characterize landforms, satellite images to classify the vegetation into forest types, and in-situ produced cosmogenic 10Be in the quartz extracted from soils and stream sediments to document spatial variations in soil erosion. The data document a strong correlation between forest type and topographic position (hilltop vs. valleys), and a correlation between topographic position and 10Be-derived erosion rates over 103−104 years. Erosion is faster in valleys, which are mostly covered by monocot Palm Forest, and slower on surrounding hills mostly covered by the dicot Palo Colorado Forest. Transition from one forest type to the next occurs across a break-in-slope that separates shallowly convex hilltops from deeply concave valleys (coves). The break-in-slope is the consequence of a longer-lasting erosional imbalance whereby coves erode faster than hills over landscape-shaping timescales. Such a deepening of the coves is usually spurred by external drivers, but such drivers are here absent. This implies that cove erosion is driven by a process originating within the coves themselves. We propose that vegetation is the primary driver of this imbalance, soil erosion being faster under Palm forest than under Palo Colorado forest. Concentration of the Palm forest in the deepening coves is reinforced by the better adaptation of Palm trees to the erosive processes that take place in the coves, once these develop steep slopes. At the current rate of landscape development, we find that the imbalance started within the past 0.1–1.5 My. The initiation of the process could correspond to time of settlement of these mountain slopes by the Palm and Palo Colorado forests.

Dataset Information

Brazilian montane rainforest expansion induced by Heinrich Stadial 1 event.

Publications

Brazilian montane rainforest expansion induced by Heinrich Stadial 1 event.

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