Preliminary palynological analysis of a Holocene peat bog from Apakará-tepui (Chimantá Massif, Venezuelan Guayana)
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.3989/collectbot.2011.v30.008Keywords:
Neotropics, Paleoclimatology, Paleoecology, Palynology, QuaternaryAbstract
Preliminary palynological analysis of a Holocene peat bog from Apakará-tepui (Chimantá Massif, Venezuelan Guayana).- This paper reports the preliminary palynological results, at a millennial scale, of a Holocene peat bog sequence, since around 8.0 cal kyr BP to the present, obtained in the summit of the Apakará-tepui (2170 m elevation), in the Chimantá massif, located in the neotropical Venezuelan Guayana. The early Holocene was characterized by a vegetation different to the present, in which trees and shrubs dominated and Myrica (Myricaceae) was the main element of the gallery forests around a permanent water body, as indicated by the continuous presence of Isoëtes (Isoëtaceae) in high percentages. Around the middle Holocene (5.3 cal kyr BP), a shift towards more herbaceous and non-flooded communities occurred, and the present day vegetation established. This has been interpreted as a shift from warmer and wetter climates to cooler and drier conditions. The first phase, from 8.0 to 5.3 cal kyr BP, falls within a warming phase widely documented worldwide, known as the Holocene Thermal Maximum. The millennial trends shown here will be refined with further studies at centennial to decadal time scales. These results support the hypothesis that the best sites to detect paleoenvironmental changes in the summits of the tabular Guayana mountains are close to altitudinal ecotones.
Downloads
References
Absy, M. L. 1979. A palynological study of Holocene sediments in the Amazon basin. PhD thesis, University of Amsterdam. Ahti, T. 1992. La flora: plantas inferiores. In: Huber, O. (Ed.), El Macizo del Chimantá, Escudo de Guayana, Venezuela. Un ensayo ecológico tepuyano. O. Todtmann Eds., Caracas: 133-138.
Bennett, K. D. 1996. Determination of the number of zones in a biostratigraphical sequence. New Phytol. 132: 155-170. Blaauw, M. 2010. Methods and code for ‘classical’ agemodelling of radiocarbon sequences. Quat. Geochronol. 5: 512-518.
Burn, M. J. & Mayle, F. E. 2008. Palynological differentiation between henera of the Moraceae family and implications for Amazonian palaeoecology. Rev. Palaeobot. Palynol. 149: 187-201. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.revpalbo.2007.12.003
Bush, M. B. & Weng, M. B. 2006. Introducing a new (freeware) tool for palynology. J. Biogeogr. 34: 377-380. Colinvaux, P. A., De Oliveira, P. E. & Moreno, J. E. 1999. Amazon pollen manual and atlas. Harwood Academic Publishers, Amsterdam.
Curtis, J. H., Brenner, M. & Hodell, D. A. 1999. Climate change in the Lake Valencia Basin, Venezuela, ~12,600 yr BP to present. Holocene 9: 609-619. http://dx.doi.org/10.1191/095968399669724431
Erdtman, G. 1952. Pollen morphology and plant taxonomy. Angiosperms. Almqvist & Wiksell, Stockholm. Haug, G. H., Hughen, K. A., Sigman, D. M., Peterson, L. C. & Rohl, U. 2001. Southward migration of the Intertropical Convergence Zone through the Holocene. Science 293: 1304-1308.
Herrera, L. F. & Urrego, L. E. 1996. Atlas de polen de plantas útiles y cultivadas de la Amazonia colombiana. Estudios en la Amazonia colombiana XI, Tropenbos Colombia. Hickey, R. J. & Smith, A. R. 1995. Isoëtaceae. In: Berry. P. E., Holst, B. K. & Yatskievych, K. (Eds.), Flora of the Venezuelan Guayana 2, Pteridophytes, Spermatophytes: Acanthaceae-Araceae. Missouri Botanical Garden Press, St. Louis: 189-190.
Huber, O. 1987. Guayana Highlands versus Guayana lowlands, a reappraisal. Taxon 37: 595-614. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/1221102
Huber, O. 1992a. La flora: Helechos y plantas fanerógamas. In: Huber, O. (Ed.), El Macizo del Chimantá, Escudo de Guayana, Venezuela. Un ensayo ecológico tepuyano. O. Todtmann Eds., Caracas: 139-160.
Huber, O. 1992b. La vegetación. In: Huber, O. (Ed.), El Macizo del Chimantá, Escudo de Guayana, Venezuela. Un ensayo ecológico tepuyano. O. Todtmann Eds., Caracas: 161-178. Huber, O. 1995a. Geographical and physical features. In: Berry, P. E., Holst, B. K. & Yatskievych, K. (Eds.), Flora of the Venezuelan Guayana 1, Introduction. Missouri Botanical Garden Press, St. Louis: 1-61.
Huber, O. 1995b. Vegetation. In: Berry, P. E., Holst, B. K. & Yatskievych, K. (Eds.), Flora of the Venezuelan Guayana 1, Introduction. Missouri Botanical Garden Press, St. Louis: 97-160.
Jiménez, L. C. 1996. Atlas palinológico de la Amazonia colombiana I. Familias Ceasalpiniaceae, Fabaceae y Mimosaceae. Caldasia 18: 295-327.
Leal, A. V. 2010. Historia holocena de la vegetación y el fuego en bordes sabana/bosque y turberas de la Gran Sabana, Guayana venezolana. PhD thesis, University Simón Bolívar.
Lellinger, D. B. 1995. Pterozonium. In: Berry, P. E., Holst, B. K. & Yatskievych, K. (Eds.), Flora of the Venezuelan Guayana 2, Pteridophytes, Spermatophytes: Acanthaceae-Araceae. Missouri Botanical Garden Press, St. Louis: 280-286.
López-Martínez, C., Lara, A., Rull, V., Campbell, L. & Nogué, S. 2010. Additions to the Pantepui pollen flora (Venezuelan Guayana): the Maguire collection. Collect. Bot. (Barcelona) 29: 31-49.
Miller, J. S. 2001. Myricaceae. In: Berry, P. E., Yaskievych, K. & Holst, B. K. (Eds.), Flora of the Venezuelan Guayana 6, Liliaceae-Myrsinaceae. Missouri Botanical Garden Press, St. Louis: 733-734.
Montoya, E., Rull, V., Stansell, N. D., Bird, B. W., Nogué, S., Vegas-Vilarrúbia, T., Abbott, M. B. & Díaz, W. A. 2011. Vegetation changes in the Neotropical Gran Sabana (Venezuela) around the Younger Dryas Chron. J. Quat. Sci. 26: 207-218. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/jqs.1445
Nogué, S., Rull, V., Montoya, E., Huber, O. & Vegas-Vilarrúbia, T. 2009a. Paleoecology of the Guayana Highlands (northern South America): Holocene pollen record from the Eruodatepui, in the Chimantá massif. Palaeoegogr. Palaeoclimatol. Palaeoecol. 281: 165-173.
Nogué, S., Rull, V. & Vegas-Vilarrúbia, T. 2009b. Modeling biodiversity loss by global warming in Pantepui, northern South America: projected upward migration and potential habitat loss. Clim. Change 94: 77-85. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10584-009-9554-x
Polissar, P. J., Abbott, M. B., Shemesh, A., Wolfe, A. P. & Bradley, R. S. 2006. Hydrologic balance of tropical South America from oxygen isotopes of lake sediment opal. Earth Planet. Sci. Let. 242: 375-389. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2005.12.024
Pruski, J. F. 1997. Asteraceae. In: Berry, P. E., Holst, B. K. & Yaskievych, K. (Eds.), Flora of the Venezuelan Guayana 3, Araliaceae-Cactaceae. Missouri Botanical garden Press, St. Louis: 177-393.
Reimer, P. J., Baillie, M. G. L., Bard, E. et al. 2009. INTCAL 09 and MARINE09 radiocarbon age calibration curves, 0-50,000 years cCal BP. Radiocarbon 51: 1111-1150.
Renssen, H., Seppä, H., Heiri, O., Roche, D. M., Goosse, H. & Fichefet, T. 2009. The spatial and temporal complexity of the Holocene thermal maximum. Nature Geosci. 2: 411-414. http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/ngeo513
Roubik, D. W. & Moreno, J. E. 1991. Pollen and spores of Barro Colorado Island. Monographs in Systematic Botany, 36. Missouri Botanical Garden Press, St. Louis.
Rull, V. 1987. A note on pollen counting in palaeoecology. Pollen Spores 29: 471-480.
Rull, V. 2003. An illustrated key for the identidication of pollen from Pantepui and the Gran Sabana (eastern Venezuelan Guayana). Palynology 27: 99-133.
Rull, V. 2004. An evaluation of the Lost World and Vertical Displacement hypotheses in the Chimanta Massif, Venezuela Guayana. Glob. Ecol. Biogeogr. 13: 141-148. Rull, V. 2005a. Vegetation and environmental constancy in the Neotropical Guayana Highlands during the last 6000 years? Rev. Palaeobot. Palynol. 135: 205-222. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.revpalbo.2005.03.008
Rull, V. 2005b. Palaeovegetational and palaeoenvironmental trends in the summit of the Guaiquinima massif (Venezuelan Guayana) during the Holocene. J. Quat. Sci. 20: 135-145. Rull, V. 2007a. The Guayana Highlands: a promised (but threatened) land for ecological and evolutionary science. Biotropica 39: 31-34. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1744-7429.2006.00215.x
Rull, V. 2007b. Holocene global warming and the origin of the neotropical Gran Sabana in the Venezuelan Guayana. J. Biogeogr. 34: 279-288. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2699.2006.01620.x
Rull, V. 2010. The Guayana Highlands: a natural laboratory for the biogeographical and evolutionary study of the neotropical flora. In: Sánchez-Villagra, M., Aguilera, O. & Carlini, A. (Eds.), Urumaco and Venezuelan palaeontology-The fossil record of the Northern Neotropics. Indiana University Press, Bloomington: 84-102.
Rull, V., Abbott, M. B., Vegas-Vilarrúbia, T., Bezada, M., Montoya, E., Nogué, S & González, C. 2010a. Paleoenvironmental trends in Venezuela during the last glacial cycle. In: Sánchez-Villagra, M., Aguilera, O. & Carlini, A. (Eds.), Urumaco and Venezuelan palaeontology-The fossil record of the Northern Neotropics. Indiana University Press, Bloomington: 55-83.
Rull, V., Stansell, N. D., Montoya, E., Bezada, M. & Abbott, M. B. 2010b. Palynological signal of the Younger Dryas in the tropical Venezuelan Andes. Quat. Sci. Rev. 29: 3045-3056. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2010.07.012
Rull, V. & Vegas-Vilarrúbia, T. 2006. Unexpected biodiversity loss under global warming in the neotropical Guayana Highlands: a preliminary appraisal. Glob. Change Biol. 12: 1-6. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2486.2005.001080.x
Rull, V., Vegas-Vilarrúbia, T., Nogué, S. & Huber, O. 2009. Conservation of the neotropical vascular flora from the neotropical Guayana Highlands in the face global warming. Cons. Biol. 23: 1323-1327. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1523-1739.2009.01266.x PMid:19549217
Salgado-Labouriau, M. L. & Villar, L. 1992. Contribución a la flora polínica de los tepuyes. In: Huber, O. (Ed.), El Macizo del Chimantá, Escudo de Guayana, Venezuela. Un ensayo ecológico tepuyano. O. Todtmann Eds., Caracas: 219-236. Steyermark, J. A., Berry, P. E. & Holst, B. K. 1995-2005. Flora of the Venezuelan Guayana 1-9. Missouri Botanical Garden Press, St. Louis.
Tryon, A. F. & Lugardon, B. 1991. Spores of Pteridophyta. Springer-Verlag, New York. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-8991-0
Vegas-Vilarrúbia, T., Rull, V., Montoya, E. & Safont, E. 2011. Quaternary palaeoecology and nature conservation: a general review and some examples from the Neotropics. Quat. Sci. Rev.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2011 Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
© CSIC. Manuscripts published in both the print and online versions of this journal are the property of the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, and quoting this source is a requirement for any partial or full reproduction.
All contents of this electronic edition, except where otherwise noted, are distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) licence. You may read the basic information and the legal text of the licence. The indication of the CC BY 4.0 licence must be expressly stated in this way when necessary.
Self-archiving in repositories, personal webpages or similar, of any version other than the final version of the work produced by the publisher, is not allowed.
