Spatiotemporal variation of rainy season span and precipitation recorded by lacustrine laminated pollen in the Tibetan Plateau during the past two millennia

The quantitative reconstruction of the length of the rainy season and precipitation on the Tibetan Plateau(TP) is crucial for revealing the spatiotemporal evolution of the Westerlies and Asian summer monsoon, as well as its ecological and environmental effects. Accurately determining the start and end times of the rainy season on the Plateau remains challenging.This study determined the start and end times of the rainy season in different locations on the Plateau by identifying precipitation inflection points. We calculated the duration and precipitation amount of the rainy season and established a transfer function between the modern pollen assemblages and them. Then, we reconstructed the rainy season variations in Kusai Lake(northern TP) and Jiang Co(central TP) during the past two millennia. The results showed that, the rainy season precipitation in Kusai Lake recorded five periods of high precipitation: AD 580–680, 1000–1100, 1200–1450, 1550–1780, and 1920–present, corresponding to the stages with long rainy season. The rainy season precipitation sequence in Jiang Co recorded four periods of high precipitation: AD 80–500, 800–950, 1250–1450, and 1780–present, which is consistent with the long rainy season before AD 1000 but unclear afterward. Spatially, rainy season precipitation on the Plateau exhibited four patterns: “wet in both north and south” may be related to abnormally strong summer monsoons;“dry in both north and south” likely associated with weak Westerly wind and weak summer monsoon;“wet in the south and dry in the north” linked to strong summer monsoon and weak Westerly wind;and “dry in the south and wet in the north” connected to weak summer monsoon and strong Westerly wind. This study revealed the spatiotemporal evolution pattern of the rainy season onset and end, duration, and precipitation amount on the Plateau over the past two millennia. It provides natural background support for further understanding the coupling between Westerly wind and Asian summer monsoon.

The spatial pattern of farming and factors influencing it during the Peiligang culture period in the middle Yellow River valley, China

The Peiligang culture(ca.7000–5000 cal BC)is the earliest Neolithic culture in the middle Yellow River valley and represents the emergence of cereal farming in the region[1].It has long been considered representative of millet farming[2],which requires a dry field,a certain amount of rainfall,and minimal crop management,but new records reveal that mixed farming of millet and rice(Oryza sp.)took place during this period[3].Therefore,it is possible

Fifty years of Quaternary palynology in the Tibetan Plateau

Quaternary palynology in the Tibetan Plateau(TP)was initiated in the 1960s to meet the needs of economic development in western China.Pollen analysis was conducted for the first time on a 200-m long core of Quaternary lacustrine sediments taken from the main body of the TP in order to study pollen assemblages as well as vegetation and climate changes of glacial(cold)/interglacial(warm)periods.Pollen analysis of alpine snow and ice began at the first scientific expedition to the TP in the 1970s.After the 1980s,a series of international collaborative programs were carried out under Sino-French,Sino-German,Sino-Australian,and Sino-American cooperation,marking the integration of Chinese Quaternary palynology society with the international community.New methods for Quaternary palynology were gradually promoted and applied,changing the vegetational and climatic interpretation of Quaternary palynology from qualitative to quantitative.Since the 1990s,many palynologists have carried out extensive Quaternary palynological studies on fossil pollen sites of more than 60 lakes/sections and alpine glaciers in the TP to discuss the spatiotemporal vegetation changes and climatic and environmental evolution of the TP since the Pleistocene.Over the past half-century,Quaternary palynology in the TP has contributed to the establishment of the Chinese Quaternary pollen database and the study of vegetation and climate evolution since the Last Glacial Maximum(LGM)in the TP.Currently available pollen records revealed the spatial and temporal distribution of vegetation in the TP since the LGM,exhibiting expansions and shrinkages of forest,meadow,grassland and desert in different periods such as the LGM,the last deglaciation,and Holocene optimum period.The paleomonsoon reflected by paleovegetation since the LGM has undergone the changes of weak-strengthening-strong-weakening but still active-shrinking,which is mainly affected by solar insolation.

Multi-proxy evidence of environmental change related to collapse of the Liangzhu Culture in the Yangtze Delta,China

The Liangzhu Culture(5300–4300 cal.a BP)has been regarded as the culmination of the Neolithic Age in the Yangtze Delta and as an archaic state.However,the reason behind the collapse of the Liangzhu Culture remains controversial.Some scholars attributed it to social conflicts or foreign invasions,while others suggested that environmental deterioration,such as cold episodes,inundation and palaeo-typhoon events,disrupted the civilization.Notably,the yellowish silty sediments widely overlying the Liangzhu group sites have been presumed to be one of the vital clues to resolving these issues.The process and cause of their formation are key to understanding the decline in the Liangzhu Culture.In this study,two typical profiles composed of the Liangzhu cultural layer and yellowish silty sediments were collected in Liangzhu Ancient City.Multiple proxies,including pollen,phytoliths and diatoms,along with radiocarbon and optically stimulated luminescence dating and synthesized geochemical evidence from different sediments,were applied to reconstruct ecological and hydrological changes and discuss their linkage to cultural collapse.The regional ecology was typical freshwater wetlands during 4800–4400 cal.a BP,which facilitated rice farming and large-scale architectural engineering in Liangzhu Ancient City.Evidence from microfossils and dating of the yellowish silty sediments indicated that Liangzhu Ancient City was significantly affected by seawater after abandonment during 4300–3400 cal.a BP.Furthermore,geochemical evidence,including trace element and Sr-Nd isotopic compositions,suggested that the primary provenance of the yellowish silt was a mixture of sediments from the Qiantang River,East China Sea,Yangtze River and Yellow River,which had been transported to Liangzhu Ancient City by the Yellow Sea Coastal Current and a marine transgression.Therefore,based on evidence from archaeological sites and numerical simulation in the Yangtze Delta,it was supposed that the short-term accelerated relative sea-level rise at approximately 4400 cal.a BP caused a marine transgression around Taihu Lake,formed a large range of yellowish silty sediments,destroyed rice farming production,and ultimately led to the collapse of the Liangzhu Culture.

Advance of research on modern soil phytolith

Phytolith study is a new branch of micropaleontology with an increasingly important role in geology, archaeology,and plant taxonomy. Phytoliths have several advantages considering their characteristics of small particle size, high production,wide distribution, anti-decomposition, in situ deposition, distinctive morphologies, and element sequestrating capacity. Phytolith assemblages in modern soil have been found to be closely related to modern vegetation types and climate conditions, which forms the basis for the quantitative study of paleoecology, paleoclimate, and bio-geochemical cycles. At present, phytolith studies generally focus on the following four aspects:(1) Morphology: about 260 unduplicated types of phytoliths have been identified in modern soil, of which 110 types are from grasses, 50 types from ferns, woody plants and other angiosperms,whereas the origin plants of the remaining 100 types are still under investigation.(2) Soil phytolith assemblages and vegetation:phytolith assemblages from the topsoil have been used to distinguish surface vegetation types including different forests and grasslands over a typical region. This model has been applied to restore past vegetation conditions and monitor the dynamic evolution of specific vegetation types at different temporal and spatial scales.(3) Soil phytolith assemblages and climate:quantitative and semi-quantitative relationships between phytolith assemblages and a series of climate parameters, such as annual mean temperature, annual mean precipitation and altitude, have been established through mathematical analysis. In this manner, quantitative reconstruction of paleoclimatic parameters has been achieved through the phytolith-climate transfer function model.(4) Soil phytolith and its sequestered elements: in this topic, the content of soil Phyt OC(Phytolith-occluded Organic Carbon) and the importance of Phyt OC in the bio-geochemical cycle have been the focus. The study of modern soil phytoliths has provided new approaches and many successful cases for solving specific problems in various fields, such as Earth science and archaeology. This study analyzed existing issues in addition to the abovementioned significant progresses, and provides directions for future research on modern soil phytoliths.

Morphological characteristics of homozygous wild rice phytoliths and their significance in the study of rice origins

The analysis of wild rice cell structures,tissues,organs,and other morphological characteristics and the development of identification markers for wild rice are the basis for identifying the origins and evolution of prehistorical rice agriculture.However,contemporary wild rice strains are often subject to gene introgression from domesticated rice cultivated by humans during the evolutionary process,which may affect the accuracy of wild rice identification markers.This means that how to eliminate the effects of gene introgression from domesticated rice and other plants on the identification of origin markers,and the purification of the morphological characteristics of wild rice have become critical in research to identify the origin of rice.In this study,we compared and analysed the phytolith morphologies of three common wild rice species(Oryza rufipogon Griff.)from various habitats and one species of ectopically preserved homozygous common wild rice after six consecutive generations of self-crossing.We found that the morphology of the bulliform phytolith in the homozygous wild rice with reduced domestication gene introgression had three significant differences compared with native wild rice:(1)an overall reduction in size(body length decreased from 41.9μm in VLnativeto 38.6μm in VLhomozygous);(2)an increase in the proportion of the long-stalked phenotype,with the ratio of B/A decreasing from 1.22±0.47 in B/Anativeto 0.92±0.30 in B/Ahomozygous;and(3)a decrease in the number of fish-scale decorations,with the proportion of bulliform phytoliths with≥9 fish-scale decorations reduced from 53.4%in native wild rice to 37.2%in homozygous wild rice.Thus,this study provides a reliable reference for the identification of rice origins using rice phytolith morphology.

Eco-environmental changes in the Chinese Loess Plateau during low-eccentricity interglacial Marine Isotope Stage 19

Eco-environmental changes during interglacials with an astronomical background similar to that of the Holocene are potentially helpful for understanding the future climatic evolution.Marine oxygen isotope stage(MIS)19 is similar to the Holocene in astronomical background,both being characterized by a low eccentricity of the Earth’s orbit.However,MIS 19 has attracted research attention only recently and therefore less is known about eco-environmental changes during this interval,especially based on terrestrial records.In the Chinese Loess Plateau(CLP),the S7 paleosol can provide valuable terrestrial paleoclimatic and paleoenvironmental record for MIS 19.Here,high-resolution terrestrial snail records from the L8–L7 strata of the Huining,Xifeng and Luochuan sequences in the CLP were analyzed in order to characterize spatio-temporal changes in climate and eco-environment during MIS 20–18.The results show that in all three sections the late part of MIS 20 was dominated by abundant cold-aridiphilous mollusc species,indicating that cold and dry climatic conditions prevailed across the entire CLP,under the strong influence of the winter monsoon.The mollusc fauna of MIS 19 were dominated by warmth-loving and thermohumidiphilous species that enable the definition of two climatic stages.The early part of MIS 19(~790–778 ka)was marked by warm and humid conditions,as evidenced by high abundances of warmth-loving and thermo-humidiphilous species.This interval was slightly warmer than today and it lasted for^12 kyr.The climate of the later part of MIS 19(~778–761 ka)was more moderate,and increased proportions of cold-aridiphilous and warmth-loving species were recorded.The warmth of this period was similar to that of today,but the climatic fluctuations were stronger.During the early part of MIS 18(~761–745 ka),the Xifeng and Luochuan sections in the eastern CLP still maintained high abundances of warmth-loving and thermo-humidiphilous species,indicating that the moderate climatic conditions during late MIS 19 continued during early MIS 18,lasting for another^15 kyr,and that the influence of the summer monsoon remained strong in the eastern CLP during early MIS 18.However,in the western CLP,cold-aridiphilous species in the Huining section became dominant during early MIS 18,reflecting the prevalence of a cold and dry glacial climate,with the strong influence of the winter monsoon.These findings indicate that a steeper climatic gradient and a pronounced regional environmental difference existed between the eastern and western CLP during the early part of MIS 18.Comparison of our mollusc results with the variation of Earth orbital parameters suggested that climate changes in the CLP during MIS 20–18 were likely controlled mainly by insolation changes forced by the configuration of Earth orbital parameters.The unique orbital configuration during the low eccentricity interglacial-to-glacial transition could have strengthened the East Asian summer monsoon which favored the amelioration of the eco-environment in the CLP,especially in the eastern CLP where the summer monsoon exerted a strong influence.Thus we speculate that,under natural climatic conditions,the climate of the CLP may remain in a warm,humid state for another 30 kyr,although climatic instability and the seasonal differences between winter and summer could strengthen.