Biome- and timescale-dependence of Holocene vegetation variability in the Northern Hemisphere.

ABSTRACT: Global climatic changes expected in the next centuries are likely to cause unparalleled vegetation disturbances, which in turn impact ecosystem services. To assess the significance of disturbances, it is necessary to characterize and understand typical natural vegetation variability on multi-decadal timescales and longer. We investigate this in the Holocene vegetation by examining a taxonomically harmonized and temporally standardized global fossil pollen dataset. Using principal component analysis, we characterize the variability in pollen assemblages, which are a proxy for vegetation composition, and derive timescale-dependent estimates of variability using the first-order Haar structure function. We find, on average, increasing fluctuations in vegetation composition from centennial to m

SUBMITTER: Hebert R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10598260 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature