A 22 570 yr record of vegetational and climatic change from Wenhai Lake in the Hengduan Mountains biodiversity hotspot, Yunnan, Southwest China

Abstract. The Hengduan Mountains, with their strong altitudinal vegetation zonation, form a biodiversity hotspot which offers the potential for comparison between sites in order to understand how this zonation arose and how it has responded to climate change and human impacts through time. This paper is one of the studies covering a range of altitudes within this hotspot, and presents a 22 570 yr pollen record of vegetational and climatic change based on a core 320 cm in depth collected from Wenhai Lake on the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain, one of the highest peaks in the Hengduan Mountains region of Yunnan, Southwest China. From 22 570 to 21 140 cal. yr BP, the vegetation was dominated by broad-leaved forest (comprising mainly Quercus, Betula and Castanopsis), accompanied by coniferous Pinus and Abies and the drought-tolerant herb Artemisia, indicating a cool and dry climate. In the period between 21 140 and 19 350 cal. yr BP, the vegetation was still dominated by broad-leaved forest but with a notable increase in pollen of aquatic plants, implying a relatively warm and moderately humid climate. The period 19 350 to 17 930 cal. yr BP was a transition stage from broad-leaved forest to needle-leaved forest, reflecting a warm-humid climate at the beginning and a cold-dry one at the end. Between 17 930 and 9250 cal. yr BP, needle-leaved forest and broad-leaved forest alternated in dominance in the early stages, with the former taking the predominant position by the end of the period, suggesting a climate fluctuating between warm-humid and cold-dry. From 9250 cal. yr BP to present, the vegetation has been dominated by needle-leaved forest (comprising mainly Pinus and Abies), coupled with broad-leaved forest (mainly Quercus and Betula), reflecting a transition in climatic conditions from warm-humid to cold-humid. During this period, human activity increased in this region, with impacts on the vegetation which may be evidenced by the distinct decrease in Pinus and Quercus pollen and an increase in Polygonaceae pollen in the upper 30 cm of the core. The marked decline in Quercus pollen, in particular, in the Wenhai core can be correlated with that observed in the Haligu core (situated about 2 km away) between 2400 cal. yr BP and the present.