Influence of landscape evolution on the distribution of floristic patterns in northern Amazonia revealed by δ13C data |
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| Authors: | H Zani D F Rossetti M L C Cohen L C R Pessenda E H Cremon |
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| Institution: | 1. Divis?o de Sensoriamento Remoto, Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais, 12245‐970‐S?o José dos Campos, SP, Brazil;2. Centro de Geociências, Universidade Federal do Pará, Belém, PA, Brazil;3. Laboratório de 14C, Universidade de S?o Paulo, SP, Brazil |
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| Abstract: | The Amazonian lowlands include large patches of open vegetation which contrast sharply with the rainforest, and the origin of these patches has been debated. This study focuses on a large area of open vegetation in northern Brazil, where δ13C and, in some instances, C/N analyses of the organic matter preserved in late Quaternary sediments were used to achieve floristic reconstructions over time. The main goal was to determine when the modern open vegetation started to develop in this area. The variability in δ13C data derived from nine cores ranges from ?32.2 to ?19.6‰, but with nearly 60% of data above ?26.5‰. The most enriched values were detected only in ecotone and open vegetated areas. The development of open vegetation communities was asynchronous, varying between estimated ages of 6400 and 3000 cal a BP. This suggests that the origin of the studied patches of open vegetation might be linked to sedimentary dynamics of a late Quaternary megafan system. As sedimentation ended, this vegetation type became established over the megafan surface. In addition, the data presented here show that the presence of C4 plants must be used carefully as a proxy to interpret dry paleoclimatic episodes in Amazonian areas. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. |
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| Keywords: | δ 13C isotope climate landscape evolution megafan open vegetation patches |
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