Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-2plfb Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-25T10:39:36.789Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Vegetation Change in Southwestern Amazonia (Brazil) and Relationship to the Late Pleistocene and Holocene Climate

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 March 2017

Dilce F Rossetti*
Affiliation:
Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais, Observação da Terra. São José dos Campos 12245-970- SP, Brazil
Marcelo C L Cohen
Affiliation:
Universidade Federal do Pará, Centro de Geociências. Belém 66075-900-PA, Brazil
Luiz C R Pessenda
Affiliation:
Universidade de São Paulo, Laboratório de Carbon-14. Piracicaba 13416-000-SP, Brazil
*
*Corresponding author. Email: [email protected].

Abstract

The Late Quaternary climate in Amazonia is an issue still open to debate, with hypotheses varying from alternate dry and wet episodes to stable climate with undisturbed rainforest. We approach this question using δ13C, C/N, and, to a lesser extent, δ15N from deposits derived from four cores, with the results combined with published pollen data from two of these cores. These data were analyzed within the context of radiocarbon dating, which revealed ages ranging from 42.8–41.8 to 2.3–2.2 cal ka BP. Fluvial channel and floodplain deposits with freshwater phytoplankton recorded a trend of wet climate with dry episodes before ~40 cal ka BP, followed by humid and cold climate until the Last Glacial Maximum, with intensified aridity towards the end of the Late Pleistocene. Peaks of increased contributions in C4 land plants in the mid- to late Holocene were not synchronous and have no correspondence with Amazonian Holocene dry episodes, being due to sedimentary processes related to fluvial dynamics during the establishment of herbaceous fields on abandoned depositional sites. Thus, the climate remained wet in the Holocene, which would have favored the expansion of the Amazonian rainforest as we see today.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© 2017 by the Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona 

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

Absy, ML, Cleef, A, Fournier, M, Martin, L, Servant, M, Sifeddine, A, Silva, F, Soubié, F, Suguio, K, Turcq, B, van der Hammen, T. 1991. Mise en évidence de quatre phases d´ ouverture de la forêt dense dans le sud-est de L’Amazonie au tours des 60.000 dernières années. Première comparaison avec d´autres régions tropicales. Comptes Rendus de l´Académie des Sciences Paris (Series II) 312:673678.Google Scholar
Adams, JM, Faure, H, Faure-Denard, L, McGlade, M, Woodward, FI. 1990. Increases in terrestrial carbon storage from the last glacial maximum to the present. Nature 348(6303):711714.Google Scholar
Amorim, MA, Moreira-Turcq, PF, Turcq, BJ, Cordeiro, RC. 2009. Origem e dinâmica da deposição dos sedimentos superficiais na Várzea do Lago Grande de Curuai, Pará, Brasil. Acta Amazonica 39:165172.Google Scholar
Atchley, SC, Nordt, LC, Dworkin, SI. 2004. Eustatic control on alluvial sequence stratigraphy: a possible example from the Cretaceous–Tertiary transition of the Tornillo Basin, Big Bend National Park, west Texas, USA. Journal of Sedimentary Research 74(3):391404.Google Scholar
Behling, H. 1996. First report on new evidence for the occurrence of Podocarpus and possible human presence at the mouth of the Amazon during the late-glacial. Vegetation History and Archaeobotany 5(3):241246.Google Scholar
Behling, H, Costa, ML. 2000. Holocene environmental changes from the Rio Curuá record in the Caxiuanã region, eastern Amazon Basin. Quaternary Research 53(3):369377.Google Scholar
Behling, H, Costa, ML. 2001. Holocene vegetational and coastal environmental changes from the Lago Crispim record in northeastern Pará State, eastern Amazonia. Reviews of Palaeobotany and Palynology 114(3–4):145155.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Behling, H, Hooghiemstra, H. 1999. Environmental history of the Colombian savannas of the Llanos Orientales since the Last Glacial Maximum form lake records El Pinal and Carimagua. Journal of Paleolimnology 21(4):461476.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Behling, H, Keim, G, Irion, G, Junk, W, Mello, JAN. 2001. Holocene environmental changes in the central Amazon Basin inferred from Lago Calado (Brazil). Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 173:87101.Google Scholar
Bibus, E. 1983. Die klimamorphologische Bedeutung von stone-lines und Decksedimenten in mehrgliedrigen Bodenprofilen Brasiliens. Zeitschrift für Geomorphogie 48:7998.Google Scholar
Burbridge, RE, Mayle, FE, Killeen, TJ. 2004. Fifty-thousand year vegetation and climate history of Noel Kempff Mercado National Park, Bolivian Amazon. Quaternary Research 61:215230.Google Scholar
Bush, MB, Weimann, M, Piperno, DR, Liu, KK-B., Colinvaux, PA. 1990. Pleistocene temperature depression and vegetation change in Ecuadorian Amazonia. Quaternary Research 34:330345.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bush, MB, Miller, MC, Oliveira, PE, Colinvaux, PA. 2000. Two histories of environmental change and human disturbance in eastern lowland Amazonia. The Holocene 10:543554.Google Scholar
Bush, MB, Oliveira, PE, Colinvaux, PA, Miller, MC, Moreno, JE. 2004. Amazonian palaeoecological histories: One Hill, Three Watersheds. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 214:359393.Google Scholar
Carneiro Filho, A, Schwartz, D, Tatumi, SH, Rosique, T. 2002. Amazonian paleodunes provide evidence for drier climate phases during the Late Pleistocene–Holocene. Quaternary Research 58:205209.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chen, F, Zhang, L, Yang, Y, Zhang, D. 2008. Chemical and isotopic alteration of organic matter during early diagenesis: evidence from the coastal area off-shore the Pearl River estuary, south China. Journal of Marine Systems 74:372380.Google Scholar
Chikaraishi, Y, Naraoka, H. 2006. Carbon and hydrogen isotope variant of plant biomarkers in a plant-soil system. Chemical Geology 231:190197.Google Scholar
Cloern, JE, Canuel, EA, Harris, D. 2002. Stable carbon and nitrogen isotope composition of aquatic and terrestrial plants of the San Francisco Bay estuarine system. Limnology and Oceanography 47:713729.Google Scholar
Cohen, MCL, Rossetti, DF, Pessenda, LCR, Friaes, YS, Oliveira, PE. 2014. Late Pleistocene glacial forest of Humaitá-western Amazônia. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 415:3747.Google Scholar
Colinvaux, PA, Oliveira, PE, Moreno, JE, Miller, MC, Bush, MB. 1996. A long pollen record from lowland Amazonia: forest and cooling in glacial times. Science 274:8588.Google Scholar
Colinvaux, PA, Oliveira, PE, Bush, MB. 2000. Amazonian and neotropical plant communities on glacial time-scales: the failure of the aridity and refuge hypotheses. Quaternary Science Reviews 19:141169.Google Scholar
Colivaux, PA, Irion, G, Räsänen, ME, Bush, MB, Mello, JASN. 2001. A paradigm to be discarded: geological and paleoecological data falsify the Haffer and Prance refuge hypothesis of Amazonian speciation. Amazoniana 16:609646.Google Scholar
Craine, JM, Brookshire, ENJ, Cramer, MD, Hasselquist, NJ, Koba, K, Marin-Spiotta, E, Wang, L. 2015. Ecological interpretations of nitrogen isotope rations of terrestrial plants and soils. Plant Soil 396:126.Google Scholar
Crowley, TJ, North, GR. 1991. Paleoclimatology. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Cunha, PRC, Gonzaga, FG, Coutinho, LFC, Feijó, FJ. 1994. Bacia do Amazonas. Boletim de Geociências da Petrobras 8:4755.Google Scholar
Deines, P. 1980. The isotopic composition of reduced organic carbon. In: Fritz P, Fontes JC, editors. Handbook of Environmental Isotope Geochemistry. New York: Elsevier. p 329406.Google Scholar
Diefendorf, AF, Freeman, KH, Wing, SL, Graham, HV. 2011. Production of n-alkyl lipids in living plants and implications for the geologic past. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 75:74727485.Google Scholar
Duarte, L. 2003. Paleoflórula. In: Rossetti DF, Góes AM, editors. O Neógeno da Amazônia Oriental. Belém: Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi Press. p 169196.Google Scholar
Emiliani, C. 1955. Pleistocene temperatures. Journal of Geology 63:538578.Google Scholar
Francisquin, MI, Lima, CM, Pessenda, LCR, Rossetti, DF, França, MC, Cohen, MCL. 2014. Relation between carbon isotopes of plants and soils on Marajó Island, a large tropical island: implications for interpretation of modern and past vegetation dynamics in the Amazon region. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 415:91104.Google Scholar
Freitas, HA, Pessenda, LCR, Aravena, R, Gouveia, SEM, Ribeiro, AS, Boulet, R. 2001. Late Quaternary vegetation dynamics in the southern Amazon Basin inferred from carbon isotopes in soil organic matter. Quaternary Research 55:3946.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Garcin, Y, Shcefub, E, Schwab, VF, Garreta, V, Gleixner, G, Vincens, A, Todou, G, Séné, O, Onana, J-M, Achoundong, G, Sachse, D. 2014. Reconstructing C3 and C4 vegetation cover using n-alkane carbon isotope rations in recent lake sediments from Cameroon, Western Central Africa. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 142:482500.Google Scholar
Haffer, J. 1969. Speciation in Amazonian forest birds. Science 165:131137.Google Scholar
Haffer, J. 2001. Hypotheses to explain the origin of species in Amazonia. In: Vieira IC, Silva JMC, Oren DC, D’Incao MA, editors. Diversidade Biológica e Cultural da Amazônia. Belém: Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi Press. p 45118.Google Scholar
Hughen, KA, Southon, JR, Lehman, SJ, Overpeck, JT. 2000. Synchronous radiocarbon and climate shifts during the last deglaciation. Science 290:19511954.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Irion, G, Bush, MB, Mello, JAN, Stüben, D, Neumann, T, Müller, RG, Moraes, JO, Junk, JW. 2006. A multiproxy palaeoecological record of Holocene lake sediments from the Rio Tapajós, eastern Amazonia. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 240:523536.Google Scholar
Keil, RG, Tsamakis, E, Fuh, CB, Giddings, JC, Hedges, JI. 1994. Mineralogical and textural controls on organic composition of coastal marine sediments: hydrodynamic separation using SPLITT fractionation. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 57:879893.Google Scholar
Lamb, AL, Wilson, GP, Leng, MJ. 2006. A review of coastal palaeoclimate and relative sea-level reconstructions using δ13C and C/N ratios in organic material. Earth-Science Reviews 75:2957.Google Scholar
Latrubesse, EM, Franzinelli, E. 2005. The late Quaternary evolution of the Negro River, Amazon, Brazil: implications for island and floodplain formation in large anabranching tropical systems. Geomorphology 70:372397.Google Scholar
Lea, DW, Pak, DK, Spero, HL. 2000. Climate impact of Late Quaternary, equatorial Pacific sea surface temperature variations. Science 289:17191724.Google Scholar
Ledru, M-P. 2002. Late Quaternary history and evolution of the cerrados as revealed by palynological records. In: Oliveira PS, Marquis RJ, editors. The Tropical Cerrados of Brazil: Ecology and Natural History of a Neotropical Savanna. New York: University Press. p 3352.Google Scholar
Ledru, M-P, Ceccantini, G, Gouveia, SEM, López-Sáez, JA, Pessenda, LCR, Riberito, AS. 2006. Millenial-scale climatic and vegetation changes in a northern Cerrado (Northeast, Brazil) since the Last Glacial Maximum. Quaternary Science Reviews 25:11101126.Google Scholar
Lima, CM. 2008. Dinâmica da vegetação e inferências climáticas no Quaternário Tardio na região da Ilha de Marajó (PA), empregando os isótopos do carbono (12C,13C,14C) da matéria orgânica de solos e sedimentos [PhD dissertation]. São Paulo: Universidade de São Paulo.Google Scholar
Liu, KB, Colinvaux, PA. 1985. Forest changes in the Amazon Basin during the last glacial maximum. Nature 318:556557.Google Scholar
Magnusson, WE, Sanaiotti, TM, Lima, AP, Martinelli, LA, Victoria, RL, Araújo, MC, Albernaz, AL. 2002. A comparison of δ13C ratios of surface soils in savannas and forests in Amazonia. Journal of Biogeography 29:857866.Google Scholar
Martin, L, Fournier, M, Mourguiart, P, Sifeddine, A, Turcq, B, Absy, ML, Flexor, J-M. 1993. Southern oscillation signal in South American paleoclimatic data of the last 7000 years. Quaternary Research 39:338346.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Martin, L, Bertaux, J, Correge, T, Ledru, M-P, Mourguiart, P, Sifeddine, A, Soubiès, F, Wirrmann, D, Suguio, K, Turcq, B. 1997. Astronomical forcing of contrasting rainfall changes in tropical South America between 12,400 and 8800 cal yr BP. Quaternary Research 47:117122.Google Scholar
Maslin, MA, Burns, SJ. 2000. Reconstruction of the Amazon Basin effective moisture availability over the past 14,000 years. Science 290:22852287.Google Scholar
Mayle, FE, Power, MJ. 2008. Impact of a drier Early–Mid-Holocene climate upon Amazonian forests. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B 363:18291838.Google Scholar
Mayle, FE, Burbridge, R, Killeen, TJ. 2000. Millennial-scale dynamics of southern Amazonian rain forests. Science 290:22912294.Google Scholar
McLaurin, BT, Steel, RJ. 2007. Architecture and origin of an amalgamated fluvial sheet sand, lower Castlegate Formation, Book Cliffs, Utah. Sedimentary Geology 197:291311.Google Scholar
Meyers, PA. 1994. Preservation of elemental and isotopic source identification of sedimentary organic matter. Chemical Geology 114:289302.Google Scholar
Meyers, PA. 1997. Organic geochemical proxies of paleoceanographic, paleolimnologic, and paleoclimatic processes. Organic Geochemistry 27:213250.Google Scholar
Ogrinc, N, Fontolanb, G, Faganelic, J, Covellib, S. 2005. Carbon and nitrogen isotope compositions of organic matter in coastal marine sediments (the Gulf of Trieste, N Adriatic Sea): indicators of sources and preservation. Marine Chemistry 95:163181.Google Scholar
Ometto, J, Ehleringer, JR, Domingues, TF, Berry, JA, Ishida, FY, Mazzi, E, Higucji, N, Flanagan, LB, Nardoto, GB, Martinelli, LZ. 2006. The stable carbon and nitrogen isotopic composition of vegetation in tropical forests of the Amazon Basin, Brazil. Biogeochemistry 79:251274.Google Scholar
Pessenda, LCR, Gomes, BM, Aravena, R, Ribeiro, AS, Boulet, R, Gouveia, SEM. 1998. The carbon isotope record in soils along a forest-cerrado ecosystem transect: implications for vegetation changes in the Rondônia State, southwestern Brazilian Amazon region. The Holocene 8:599603.Google Scholar
Pessenda, LCR, Boulet, R, Aravena, R, Rosolen, V, Gouveia, SEM, Ribeiro, AS, Lamotte, M. 2001. Origin and dynamics of soil organic matter and vegetation changes during the Holocene in a forest-savanna transition zone, Brazilian Amazon Region. The Holocene 11:250254.Google Scholar
Pessenda, LCR, Ribeiro, AS, Gouveia, SE, Aravena, R, Boulet, R, Bendassoli, . 2004. Vegetation dynamics during the late Pleistocene in the Barreirinhas region, Maranhão State, Northeastern Brazil, based on carbon isotopes in soil organic matter. Quaternary Research 62:183193.Google Scholar
Pessenda, LCR, Ledru, MP, Gouveia, SEM, Aravena, R, Ribeiro, AS, Bendassolli, JA, Boulet, R. 2005. Holocene palaeoenvironmental reconstruction in northeastern Brazil inferred from pollen, charcoal and carbon isotope records. The Holocene 15:814822.Google Scholar
Premuzic, ET, Benkovitz, CM, Gaffney, JS, Walsh, JJ. 1982. The nature and distribution of organic matter in the surface sediments of world oceans and seas. Organic Geochemistry 4:6377.Google Scholar
Radambrasil, . 1978. Folha SB.20 Purus-Geologia. Departamento Nacional de Pesquisas Minerais 17:19128.Google Scholar
Reimer, PJ, Bard, E, Bayliss, A, Beck, JW, Blackwell, PG, Ramsey, CB, Buck, CE, Cheng, H, Edwards, RL, Friedrich, M, Grootes, PM, Guilderson, TP, Haflidason, H, Hajdas, I, Hatté, C, Heaton, TJ, Hoffmann, DL, Hogg, AG, Hughen, KA, Kaiser, KF, Kromer, B, Manning, SW, Reimer, MRW, Richards, DA, Scott, EM, Southon, JR, Staff, RA, Turney, CSM, van der Plicht, J. 2013. IntCal13 and Marine13 radiocarbon age calibration curves 0–50,000 years cal BP. Radiocarbon 55(4):18691887.Google Scholar
Rommerskiechen, F, Eglinton, G, Dupont, L, Rullkötter, J. 2006. Glacial/interglacial changes in southern Africa: compound-specific δ13C land plant biomarker and pollen records from southeast Atlantic continental margin sediments. Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems 6:QO8010.Google Scholar
Rossetti, DF, Toledo, PM, Moraes–Santos, HM, Santos, AEA Jr. 2004. Reconstructing habitats in Central Amazonia using megafauna, sedimentology, radiocarbon and isotope analysis. Quaternary Research 61:289300.Google Scholar
Rossetti, DF, Toledo, PM, Góes, AM. 2005. New geological framework for Western Amazonia (Brazil) and implications for biogeography and evolution. Quaternary Research 63:7889.Google Scholar
Rossetti, DF, Cohen, MCL, Bertani, TC, Hayakawa, EH, Paz, JDS, Castro, DF, Friaes, Y. 2014. Late Quaternary fluvial terrace evolution in the main southern Amazonian tributary. Catena 116:1937.Google Scholar
Sandweiss, DH, Richardson, JBI, Reitz, EJ, Rollins, HB, Maasch, KA. 1996. Geoarchaeological evidence from Peru for a 5000 years BP. Onset of El Nino. Science 273:15311533.Google Scholar
Sandweiss, DH, Maasch, KA, Anderson, DG. 1999. Climate and culture: transitions in the Mid-Holocene. Science 283:499500.Google Scholar
Schwab, VF, Garcin, Y, Sachse, D, Todou, G, Séné, O, Onana, J-M, Achoundong, G, Gleixner, G. 2015. Effect of aridity on δ13C and δD values of C3 plant- and C4 graminoid-derived leaf wax lipids from soils along an environmental gradient in Cameroon (Western Central Africa). Organic Geochemistry 78:99109.Google Scholar
Servant, M, Fontes, J-C, Rieu, M, Saliège, X. 1981. Phases climatiques arides holocènes dans le sud-ouest de l’Amazonie (Bolivie). Comptes Rendus de l´Académie des Sciences Paris Series II 292:12951297.Google Scholar
Shackleton, NJ. 1969. The last interglacial in the marine and terrestrial records. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B 174:135154.Google Scholar
Sinninghe Damsté, JS, Vershuren, D, Ossebaar, J, Blokker, J, van Houten, R, van der Meer, MT, Plessen, B, Schouten, S. 2011. A 25,000-year record of climate-induced changes in lowland vegetation of eastern equatorial Africa revealed by the stable carbon-isotopic composition of fossil plant leaf waxes. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 302:236246.Google Scholar
Sifeddine, A, Bertand, P, Founier, L, Servant, M, Soubies, F, Suguio, K, Turcq, B. 1994. The lacustrine organic sedimentation in tropical humid environment (Carajás, eastern Amazonia, Brazil)—relationship with climatic changes during the last 60,000 years BP. Bulletin de la Société Géologique de France 165:613621.Google Scholar
Sifeddine, A, Marint, L, Turcq, B, Volkmer–Ribeiro, C, Soubiès, F, Cordeiro, RC, Suguio, K. 2001. Variations of the Amazonian rainforest environment: a sedimentological record covering 30,000 years. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 168:221235.Google Scholar
Stuiver, M, Polach, HA. 1977. Discussion: reporting of 14C data. Radiocarbon 19(3):355363.Google Scholar
Teeuw, RM, Rhodes, EJ. 2004. Aeolian activity in northern Amazonia: optical dating of Late Pleistocene and Holocene paleodunes. Journal of Quaternary Science 19:4954.Google Scholar
Thornton, SF, McManus, J. 1994. Applications of organic carbon and nitrogen stable isotope and C/N ratios as source indicators of organic matter provenance in estuarine systems: evidence from the Tay Estuary, Scotland. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science 38:219233.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Toledo, MB, Bush, MB. 2008. A Holocene pollen record of savanna establishment in coastal Amapá. Anais da Academia Brasileira de Ciências 80:341351.Google Scholar
van der Hammen, T. 2001. Paleoecology of Amazônia. In: Vieira IC, Silva JMC, Oren DC, D´Incao MA, editors. Diversidade Biológica e Cultural da Amazônia. Belém: Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi Press. p 1944.Google Scholar
van der Hammen, T, Absy, ML. 1994. Amazonia during the last glacial. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 109:247261.Google Scholar
van der Hammen, T, Hooghiemstra, H. 2000. Neogene and Quaternary history of vegetation, climate and plant diversity in Amazonia. Quaternary Science Reviews 19:725742.Google Scholar
Victoria, RL, Martinelli, LA, Trivelin, PCO, Matsui, E, Forsberg, BR, Richey, JE, Devol, AL. 1992. The use of stable isotopes in studies of nutrient cycling: carbon isotope composition of Amazon varzea sediments. Biotropica 24:240249.Google Scholar
Vitousek, PM, Menge, DN, Reed, SC, Cleveland, CC. 2013. Biological nitrogen fixation: rates, patterns and ecological controls in terrestrial ecosystems. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Science 368:2013.Google Scholar
Vivo, M, Carmignotto, AP. 2004. Holocene vegetation change and the mammal faunas of South America and Africa. Journal of Biogeography 31:943957.Google Scholar
Wang, L, Macko, SA. 2011. Constrained preferences I nitrogen uptake across plant species and environments. Plan, Cell & Environment 34:525534.Google Scholar
Webb, SD, Rancy, A. 1996. Late Cenozoic Evolution of Neotropical Mammal Fauna. In: Jackson JBC, Budd AB, Coates AG, editors. Evolution and Environment in Tropical America. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. p 335358.Google Scholar
Weng, C, Bush, MB, Athens, JS. 2002. Two histories of climate change and hydrarch succession in Ecuadorian Amazonia. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology 120:7390.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wilson, GP, Lamb, AL, Leng, MJ, Gonzalez, S, Huddart, D. 2005. Variability of organic δ13C and C/N in the Mersey Estuary, U.K. and its implications for sea-level reconstruction studies. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science 64:685698.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Supplementary material: File

Rossetti supplementary material

Rossetti supplementary material 1

Download Rossetti supplementary material(File)
File 44.4 KB