Surface soil phytoliths as vegetation and altitude indicators: a study from the southern Himalaya.
Sci Rep
; 5: 15523, 2015 Oct 26.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-26500137
ABSTRACT
Phytoliths represent one of the few available altitudinal vegetation proxies for mountain ecosystems. This study analyzed 41 topsoil phytolith samples collected from five altitudinal zones in the southern Himalaya as far as, and beyond, the timberline, from tropical forest (up to 1,000 m a.s.l.) to subtropical forest (1,000-2,000 m a.s.l.), to temperate forest (2,000-3,000 m a.s.l.), to subalpine forest (3,000-4,100 m a.s.l.) and finally to alpine scrub (4,100-5,200 m a.s.l.). The statistical results show a good correlation between phytolith assemblages and these five altitudinal vegetation zones the five phytolith assemblages identified effectively differentiated these five altitudinal vegetation zones. In particular, coniferous phytoliths accurately indicated the timberline. Additionally, we tested the phytolith index Ic (a proxy for estimating the percentage of Pooideae vis-à-vis the total grass content) as a quantifier of phytolith variety versus altitude. Ic increased along altitude, as expected. An investigation of phytoliths provided an initial basis for the analysis of the composition of gramineous vegetation. Furthermore, redundancy analysis and discriminant analysis also suggested a significant correlation between phytolith assemblages and altitude. Our research therefore provides an up-to-date analogue for the reconstruction of changes to palaeovegetation and palaeoaltitude in mountainous areas.
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Plants
/
Soil
/
Altitude
Country/Region as subject:
Asia
Language:
En
Journal:
Sci Rep
Year:
2015
Document type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Publication country:
ENGLAND
/
ESCOCIA
/
GB
/
GREAT BRITAIN
/
INGLATERRA
/
REINO UNIDO
/
SCOTLAND
/
UK
/
UNITED KINGDOM