Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-rdxmf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-29T01:17:32.988Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Expansion of Magellanic Moorland during the Late Pleistocene: Palynological Evidence from Northern Isla de Chiloé, Chile

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Carolina Villagrán*
Affiliation:
Laboratorio de Sistemática y Ecología Vegetal, Departamento de Biología, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Chile, Casilla 653, Santiago, Chile

Abstract

The late Quaternary vegetation of northern Isla de Chiloé is inferred from palynological analysis of a section in the Río Negro drainage (42°03′S, 73°50′W). At ca. 30,500 yr B.P., maxima of Astelia and Donatia occurred, suggesting wetland development. From that time until ca. 27,000 yr B.P., steppe indicators such as Compositae/Gramineae dominated, suggesting drier conditions. After 27,000 yr B.P., the moorland shrub Dacrydium gradually increased, reaching a maximum by 18,000 yr B.P. At this time Astelia increased again, suggesting development of cushion bog during cold and wet conditions. The glacial-postglacial transition is characterized by a marked change from peaty sediments to clays, a decrease in the cushion bog flora, and the prevalence of Gramineae/ Compositae and swamp taxa. This vegetation prevailed until ca.7000 yr B.P. when forest taxa became dominant. The floristic pattern inferred from the pollen spectra of the Rio Negro section suggests that the late Pleistocene vegetation of Chiloé resembled modern Magellanic Moorland vegetation (52°–56°lat S). Based on climatic conditions presently associated with Magellanic Moorland, its occurrence in Chiloé at low elevations during the late Pleistocene implies a decrease in average temperature of at least 4°C and an increase in annual precipitation of at least 1500 mm.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
University of Washington

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Auer, V., (1948). Las capas volcánicas como nuevo método de cronología postglacial en Fuegopatagonia. Gea. 8, 311-336.Google Scholar
Auer, V., (1958). The Pleistocene of Fuego-Patagonia Part II. The history of the flora and vegetation. Annales Academiae Scientiarum Fennicae. 50, 1-239, A III.Google Scholar
Casassa, I., (1986). Estudio Demográfico de los Bosques de Nothofagus obliqua (Mirb.) Oerst. en Chile Central. Magister Tesis presentada a la Universidad de Chile. Santiago.Google Scholar
di Castri, F., Hajek, E.R., (1976). Bioclimatología de Chile. Editorial de la Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago.Google Scholar
Donat, A., (1933). Sind Drosera uniflora and Pinguicola antarctica bizentrische Typen?. Berichten der Deutschen Botanischen Gesellschaft. 51, 67-77.Google Scholar
Espinosa, M.R., (1917). Los alerzales de Piuchué. Boletín Museo Nacional de Historia Natural. 10, 36-93.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Godley, E.J., (1968). A plant list from the Cordillera de San Pedro, Chiloé. Revista Universitaria. 53, 65-77.Google Scholar
Godley, E.J., Moar, N.T., (1973). Vegetation and pollen analysis of two bogs on Chiloé. New Zealand Journal of Botany. 11, 255-268.Google Scholar
Hajek, E.R., di Castri, F., (1975). Bioclimatografía de Chile. Imprenta editorial de la Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago.Google Scholar
Hays, J.D., Lozano, J.A., Shackleton, N., Irving, G., (1976). Reconstruction of the Atlantic and Western Indian Ocean sectors of the 18,000 B.P. Antarctic Ocean. Memoir of the Geological Society of America. 145, 337-372.Google Scholar
Heusser, C.J., (1966). Late-Pleistocene pollen diagrams from the Province of Llanquihue, Southern Chile. American Philosophical Society Proceedings. 110, 269-305.Google Scholar
Heusser, C.J., 1972a. On the occurrence of Lycopodium fuegianum during late-Pleistocene interestades in the Province of Osorno, Chile. Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club. 99, 178-184.Google Scholar
Heusser, C.J., 1972b. An additional postglacial pollen diagram from Patagonia Occidental. Pollen et Spores. 14, 157-167.Google Scholar
Heusser, C.J., (1974). Vegetation and climate of the Southern Chilean Lake District during and since the last interglaciation. Quaternary Research. 4, 290-315.Google Scholar
Heusser, C.J., (1981). Palynology of the last interglacial-glacial cycle in midlatitudes of Southern Chile. Quaternary Research. 16, 293-321.Google Scholar
Heusser, C.J., (1982). Palynology of Cushion Bogs of the Cordillera Pelada, Province of Valdivia, Chile. Quaternary Research. 17, 71-92.Google Scholar
Heusser, C.J., (1983). Quaternary pollen record from Laguna de Tagua Tagua, Chile. Science. 219, 1429-1432.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Heusser, C.J., Late Quaternary climates of Chile. Vogel, J.C., (1984). Late Cainozoic Paleoclimates of the Southern Hemisphere. Balkema, Rotterdam/Boston, 59-83.Google Scholar
Heusser, C.J., Flint, R.F., (1977). Quaternary glaciations and environments of northern Isla Chiloe, Chile. Geology. 5, 305-308.Google Scholar
Heusser, C.J., Streeter, S.S., Stuiver, M., (1981). Temperature and precipitation record in southern Chile extended 43,000 yr ago. Nature (London). 294, 65-67.Google Scholar
Holdgate, M.W., (1961). Vegetation and soils in the South Chilean islands. Journal of Ecology. 49, 559-580.Google Scholar
Markgraf, V., Bradbury, J.P., Fernandez, J., (1986). Bajada de Rahue, Prov. Neuquen, Argentina: An interstadial deposit in northern Patagonia. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology. 56, 251-258.Google Scholar
Marticorena, C., Quezada, M., (1985). Catálogo de la flora vascular de Chile. Gayana. 42, 1-157.Google Scholar
Mercer, J.H., Late Cainozoic glacial variations in South America south of the equator. Vogel, J.C., (1984). Late Cainozoic Paleoclimates of the Southern Hemisphere. Balkema, Rotterdam/Boston, 45-58.Google Scholar
Moore, D.M., (1983). Flora of Tierra del Fuego. Nelson, England.Google Scholar
Pérez, C., Villagrán, C., (1985). Distribución de abundancias de especies en bosques relictos de la zona mediterránea de Chile. Revista Chilena de Historia Natural. 58, 157-180.Google Scholar
Porter, S.C., (1981). Pleistocene glaciation in the southern lake district of Chile. Quaternary Research. 16, 263-292.Google Scholar
Roig, F.A., Dollenz, O., Méndez, E., Las comunidades vegetales de la transecta botánica de la Patagonia Austral: La vegetación en los Canales. Boelcke, O., Moore, D.M., Roig, F.A., (1985). Transecta Botánica de la Patagonia Austral. Instituto Salesiano de Artes Gráficas, Buenos Aires, 457-519.Google Scholar
Schmithüsen, J., (1956). Die räumliche Ordnung der chilenischen Vegetation. Bonner Geographische Abhandlungen. 17, 1-86.Google Scholar
Sweda, T., (1987). Recent retreat of Soler Glacier, Patagonia as seen from vegetation recovery. Bulletin of Glacier Research. 4, 119-124.Google Scholar
Van Husen, C., (1967). Klimagliederung in Chile auf der Basis von Häufigkeitsverteilungen der Niederschlagssummen. Freiburger Geographische Hefte. 4, 1-113.Google Scholar
Varela, J., (1976). Geología del Cuaternario de Laguna de Taguatagua (Provincia de O'Higgins). Actas del Primer Congreso Geológico Chileno. D81-D113.Google Scholar
Villagrán, C., (1985). Análisis palinológico de los cambios vegetacionales durante el Tardiglacial y Postglacial en Chiloé, Chile. Revista Chilena de Historia Natural. 58, 57-69.Google Scholar
Villagrán, C., (1988). Late quaternary vegetation of southern Isla Grande de Chiloé, Chile. Quaternary Research. 29, 294-306.Google Scholar
Villagrán, C., Armesto, J.J., (1980). Relaciones florísticas entre las comunidades relictuales del Norte Chico y la Zona Central con el bosque del sur de Chile. Boletín Museo Nacional Historia Natural, Chile. 37, 87-101.Google Scholar
Villagrán, C., Armesto, J.J., Leiva, R., (1986). Recolonización postglacial de Chiloé Insular: Evidencias basadas en la distribución geográfica y los modos de dispersión de la flora. Revista Chilena de Historia Natural. 59, 19-39.Google Scholar
Wace, N.M., Vascular Plants. van Mieghem, I., van Oye, P., (1965). Biogeography and Ecology in Antarctica. Junk, The Hague, 201-266.Google Scholar