Anthropogenic impacts on Late Holocene land-cover change and floristic biodiversity loss in tropical southeastern Asia.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A
; 118(40)2021 10 05.
Article
en En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-34580205
ABSTRACT
Southern China and Southeast Asia witnessed some of their most significant economic and social changes relevant to human land use during the Late Holocene, including the intensification and spread of rice agriculture. Despite rice growth being associated with a number of earth systems impacts, how these changes transformed tropical vegetation in this region of immense endemic biodiversity remains poorly understood. Here, we compile a pollen dataset incorporating â¼150,000 identifications and 233 pollen taxa to examine past changes in floral biodiversity, together with a compilation of records of forest decline across the region using 14 pollen records spanning lowland to mountain sites. Our results demonstrate that the rise of intensive rice agriculture from approximately 2,000 y ago led not only to extensive deforestation but also to remarkable changes of vegetation composition and a reduction in arboreal diversity. Focusing specifically on the Tertiary relic tree species, the freshwater wetland conifer Glyptostrobus (Glyptostrobus pensilis), we demonstrate how key species that had survived changing environmental conditions across millions of years shrank in the face of paddy rice farming and human disturbance.
Palabras clave
Texto completo:
1
Banco de datos:
MEDLINE
Asunto principal:
Plantas
/
Biodiversidad
/
Ecología
/
Efectos Antropogénicos
Tipo de estudio:
Prognostic_studies
País como asunto:
Asia
Idioma:
En
Año:
2021
Tipo del documento:
Article