Premium
Evolution of the relative abundance of C 4 plants on the Chinese Loess Plateau since the Last Glacial Maximum and its implications
Author(s) -
Jiang Wenqi,
Wu Jianyu,
Wu Haibin,
Li Qin,
Lin Yating,
Yu Yanyan
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
journal of quaternary science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.142
H-Index - 94
eISSN - 1099-1417
pISSN - 0267-8179
DOI - 10.1002/jqs.3084
Subject(s) - last glacial maximum , paleosol , holocene , abundance (ecology) , relative species abundance , physical geography , plateau (mathematics) , loess , loess plateau , forcing (mathematics) , glacial period , climate change , organic matter , geology , climatology , paleoclimatology , ecology , geography , geomorphology , soil science , paleontology , biology , oceanography , mathematical analysis , mathematics
Understanding the distribution of C 3 and C 4 plants and its forcing mechanisms since the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) is important for anticipating their possible response to future climate change. The spatiotemporal pattern of C 4 plant abundance on the Chinese Loess Plateau (CLP) is complex and the dominant causal factors are contentious. Here, we use δ 13 C records of organic matter in paleosols from the CLP to reconstruct changes in the representation of C 4 plants since the LGM. The results indicate that the relative abundance of C 4 plants increased after the LGM, reaching a maximum during 10–6 ka bp, and then decreased. Spatially, the representation of C 4 plants was characterized by increasing values from north‐west to south‐east. In addition, the smallest spatial difference (∼10%) in the representation of C 4 plants between the north‐west and south‐east parts of the CLP was during the LGM, and the largest difference (∼30%) was during the early Holocene. We combined our findings with output from the BIOME4 model to study the sensitivity of C 4 plants to changes in climate and atmospheric CO 2 concentration. The results suggest that increasing temperature was the dominant factor driving C 4 plant expansion on the CLP since the LGM.