Abstract
The historical development of the Pantanal vegetation is still poorly understood due to limited paleobotanical records. In this chapter, we review the few pollen records available that tell the vegetation and climatic history of the area for the last ca. 42,000 years. Older findings have not been reported yet. Full-glacial (>19,500 years) and late-glacial (19,500–12,200 years) records are only available in the northern Paraguay River plain. Pollen data show an open landscape during the full glacial, with abundant herbaceous vegetation adapted to a drier and colder climatic setting (especially during the Last Glacial Maximum ~21,000 years). Seasonally flooded and seasonally dry forests established in the late glacial responding to increased humidity and warming. From the latest glacial (>12,000 years) to the middle Holocene (~6,000 years), vegetation in northern and central parts of the Paraguay River was nearly as modern, with further similarity after 3–4 thousand years, which coincides with preserved pollen sequences in outer parts of the basin in the Cuiabá and Taquari fans, in concert with increased humidity in the late Holocene. The Pantanal paleoecological history is still largely fragmentary in time and space; we highlight considerable work has to be done and the potential of palynology for such endeavour.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Ab’Sáber AN (1988) O Pantanal Mato-Grossense e a teoria dos refúgios. Rev Bras Geogr 50:9–57
Absy ML, Cleef AM, D’Apolito C, Silva MFF (2014) Palynological differentiation of savanna types in Carajás, Brazil (southeastern Amazonia). Palynology 38(1):78–89. https://doi.org/10.1080/01916122.2013.842189
Alho CJR (2005) The Pantanal. In: Fraser LH, Keddy PA (eds) The World’s largest wetlands: ecology and conservation. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp 203–271
Almeida FFM (1959) Traços gerais da geomorfologia do centro-oeste brasileiro. In: Almeida FFM, Lima MA (eds) Planalto centro-ocidental e Pantanal matogrossense, Guia de Excursão, XVIII Congresso Internacional de Geografia, Rio de Janeiro, pp 7–65
Almeida FFM, Carneiro CDR (1998) Origem e evolução da Serra do Mar. Revista Bras Geociências 28:135–150
Alvares CA, Stape JL, Sentelhas PC, Gonçalves JLM, Sparovek G (2014) Köppen’s climate classification map for Brazil. Meteorol Z 22(6):711–728. https://doi.org/10.1127/0941-2948/2013/0507
Assine ML (2003) Sedimentação na Bacia do Pantanal Mato-Grossense, Centro-Oeste do Brasil. Tese de Livre-Docência, Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP)
Assine ML (2005) River avulsions on the Taquari megafan, Pantanal wetland, Brazil. Geomorphology 70:357–371. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geomorph.2005.02.013
Assine ML (2015) Brazilian Pantanal: a large pristine tropical wetland. In: Vieira BC, Salgado AAR, dos Santos LJC (eds) Landscapes and landforms of Brazil. Springer, Dordrecht, pp 135–146
Assine ML, Soares PC (2004) Quaternary of the Pantanal, west-central Brazil. Quat Int 114:23–34. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1040-6182(03)00039-9
Assine ML, Merino ER, Pupim FN, Macedo HA, Santos MGM (2015) The Quaternary alluvial systems tract of the Pantanal Basin, Brazil. Braz J Geol 45(3):475–489. https://doi.org/10.1590/2317-4889201520150014
Assine ML, Macedo HA, Stevaux JC, Bergier I, Padovani CR, Silva A (2016) Avulsive rivers in the hydrology of the Pantanal wetland. In: Bergier I. Assine ML (eds.) Dynamics of the Pantanal wetland in South America, Springer, pp 83–110
Barbiéro L, Queiroz-Neto JP, Ciornei G, Sakamoto AY, Capellari B, Fernandes E, Valles V (2002) Geochemistry of water and ground water In the Nhecolândia, Pantanal of Mato Grosso, Brazil: variability and associated processes. Wetlands 22:528–540
Becker BF, Silva-Caminha SAF, Guerreiro RL, Oliveira EJ, D’Apolito C, Assine ML (2018) Late Holocene palynology of a saline lake in the Pantanal of Nhecolândia, Brazil. Palynology. https://doi.org/10.1080/01916122.2017.1386843
Baker PA, Seltzer GO, Fritz SC, Dunbar RB, Grove MJ, Tapia PM, Cross SL, Rowe HD, Broda JP (2001) The history of South American tropical precipitation for the past 25,000 years. Science 291:640–643
Bezerra MAO (1999) Uso de multi-traçadores na reconstrução do Holoceno no Pantanal Mato-grossense, Corumbá, MS. Universidade Federal de São Carlos, Tese de Doutorado
Bezerra MAO, Mozeto AA (2008) Deposição de carbono orgânico na planície de inundação do Rio Paraguai durante o Holoceno médio. Oecologia Brasiliensis 12(1):155–171
Bonaccorso E, Koch I, Peterson AT (2006) Pleistocene fragmentation of Amazon species’ ranges. Divers Distrib 12:157–164
Bortolotto IM, Damasceno-Júnior GA, Isquierdo SWG (1999) Caracterização das unidades fitofisionômicas da bacia da lagoa Negra – Ladário – MS. In: Anais do II simpósio sobre recursos naturais e sócio-econômicos do Pantanal - Manejo e Consevação. CPAP Embrapa & UFMS, Corumbá, pp 283–289
Box EO, Fujiwara K (2005) Vegetation types and their broad-scale distribution. In: van der Maarel E (ed) Vegetation ecology. Blackwell Science, pp 107–128
Brandão LG, Aantas PTZ, Oliveira LFB, Jorge-Pádua MT, Pereira NC, Valutky WW (2011) Plano de Manejo da Reserva Particular de Patrimônio Natural do SESC Pantanal, vol 3. SESC Departamento Nacional, Rio de Janeiro, 148 p
Burbridge RE, Mayle FE, Killeen T (2004) Fifty-thousand-year vegetation and climate history of Noel Kempff Mercado National Park, Bolivian Amazon. Quat Res 61:215–230. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.yqres.2003.12.004
Burn MJ, Mayle FE (2008) Palynological differentiation between genera of the Moraceae family and implications for Amazonian palaeoecology. Rev Palaeobot Palynol 149:187–201. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.revpalbo.2007.12.003
Bush MB (2002) On the interpretation of fossil Poaceae pollen in the lowland humid neotropics. Palaeogeogr Palaeoclimatol Palaeoecol 177:5–17. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0031-0182(01)00348-0
Cassino RF, Martinho CT, Silva-Caminha SAF (2015) Modern pollen spectra of the Cerrado vegetation in two national parks of Central Brazil, and implications for interpreting fossil pollen records. Rev Palaeobot Palynol 223:71–86. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.revpalbo.2015.09.002
Clapperton C (1993) Quaternary geology and geomorphology of South America. Elsevier, Dordrecht
Cruz FW, Burns SJ, Karmann I, Sharp WD, Vuille M, Cardoso AO, Ferrari JA, Dias PLS, Viana O (2005) Insolation-driven changes in atmospheric circulation over the past 116,000 years in subtropical Brazil. Nature 434:63–66
Cruz FW, Vuille M, Burns SJ, Wang XF, Cheng H, Werner M, Edwards RL, Karmann I, Auler AS, Nguyen H (2009) Orbitally driven east-west antiphasing of South American precipitation. Nature Geoscience 2:210–214
Cunha NL, Delatorre N, Rodrigues RB, Vidotto C, Gonçalvez F, Scremin-Dias E, Damasceno-Júnior GA, Pott VJ, Pott A (2012) Structure of aquatic vegetation of a large lake, western border of the Brazilian Pantanal. Braz J Biol 72(3):519–531
D’Apolito C, Latrubesse EM, Absy ML (2018) Results confirm a relatively dry setting during the last glacial (MIS 3 and LGM) in Carajás, Amazonia: a comment on Guimarães et al. The Holocene 28(2):330–331
Damasceno-Junior GA, Semir J, Santos FAM, Leitão-Filho HF (2005) Structure, distribution of species and inundation in a riparian forest of Rio Paraguai, Pantanal, Brazil. Flora 200:119–135. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.flora.2004.09.002
De Oliveira PE, Bezerra MAO, Mozeto A, Aravena R (1999) Vegetação e clima do Quaternário Tardio do Pantanal Sul-Matogrossense: Palinologia da Lagoa Negra, Corumbá, MS. In: Anais do 7° Congresso da Abequa, Porto Seguro, Bahia
De Oliveira PE, Behling H, Ledru M-P, Barberi M, Bush M, Salgado-Labouriau ML, Garcia MJ, Medeanic S, Barth OM, Barros MA, Sheel-Ybert R (2005) Paleovegetação e Paleoclimas do Quaternário do Brasil. In: Souza CRG, Suguio K, Oliveira AMS, De Oliveira PE (eds) Quaternário do Brasil. Holos Editora, Ribeirão Preto, pp 52–69
Ferraz-Vicentini KR, Salgado-Labouriau ML (1996) Palynological analysis of a palm swamp in central Brazil. J S Am Earth Sci 9(3-4):207–219. https://doi.org/10.1016/0895-9811(96)00007-7
Flora do Brasil 2020 under construction. Jardim Botânico do Rio de Janeiro. Available at: http://floradobrasil.jbrj.gov.br/. Accessed on 16 Aug 2018
Fontes D, Cordeiro RC, Martins GS, Behling H, Turcq B, Sifeddine A, Seoane JCS, Moreira LS, Rodrigues RA (2017) Paleoenvironmental dynamics in South Amazonia, Brazil, during the last 35,000 years inferred from pollen and geochemical records of Lago do Saci. Quat Sci Rev 173:161–180. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2017.08.021
Fornace KL, Whitney BS, Galy V, Hughen KA, Mayle FE (2016) Late Quaternary environmental change in the interior South American tropics: new insight from leaf wax stable isotopes. Earth Planet Sci 438:75–85
GBIF.org (2018) GBIF Occurrence Download. https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.fpwlzt
Gosling WD, Mayle FE, Tate NJ, Killeen TJ (2009) Differentiation between Neotropical rainforest, dry forest, and savannah ecosystems by their modern pollen spectra and implications for the fossil pollen record. Rev Palaeobot Palynol 153:70–85. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.revpalbo.2008.06.007
Hogg A, Hua Q, Blackwell PG, Niu M, Buck CE, Guilderson TP, Heaton TJ, Palmer JG, Reimer PJ, Reimer RW (2013) SHCal13 Southern Hemisphere calibration, 0–50,000 years cal BP. Radiocarbon 55(4):1889–1903. https://doi.org/10.2458/azu_js_rc.55.16783
Horton BK, DeCelles PG (1997) The modern foreland basin system adjacent to the Central Andes. Geology 25:895–898
Jardim A, Killeen TJ, Fuentes A (2003) Guía de los Árboles y Arbustos del Bosque Seco Chiquitano, Bolivia, Fundacíon Amigos de la Naturaleza Noel Kempff (FAN), Santa Cruz
Jones HT, Mayle FE, Pennington RT et al (2011) Characterisation of Bolivian savanna ecosystems by their modern pollen rain and implications for fossil pollen records. Rev Palaeobot Palynol 164:223–237
Juggins S (2015) Rioja: Analysis of Quaternary Science Data, R package version (0.9-9). http://cran.r-project.org/package=rioja
Latrubesse EM, Stevaux JC, Cremon EH, May J-H, Tatumi SH, Hurtado MA, Bezada M, Argollo JB (2012) Late Quaternary megafans, fans and fluvio-aeolian interactions in the Bolivian Chaco, Tropical South America. Palaeogeogr Palaeoclimatol Palaeoecol 356–357:75–88. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.palaeo.2012.04.003
Ledru M-P (2002) Late quaternary history and evolution of the cerrados as revealed by palynological records. In: Oliveria PS, Marquis RJ (eds) The Cerrados of Brazil. Columbia University Press, New York, pp 33–51
Leite YLR, Costa LP, Loss AN, Rocha RG, Batalha-Filho H, Bastos AC, Quaresma VS, Fagundes V, Paresque R, Passamani M, Pardini R (2016) Neotropical forest expansion during the last glacial period challenges refuge hypothesis. Proc Natl Acad Sci 113(4):1008–1013
Mayle FE, Burbridge R, Killeen TJ (2000) Millennial-scale dynamics of Southern Amazonian rain forests. Science 290:2291–2294. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.290.5500.2291
McGlue MM, Guerreiro RL, Bergier I, Silva A, Pupim FN, Oberc V, Assine ML (2017) Holocene stratigraphic evolution of saline lakes in Nhecolândia, southern Pantanal wetlands (Brazil). Quat Res 88(3):472–490. https://doi.org/10.1017/qua.2017.57
Melo E (2015) Polygonaceae in Lista de Espécies da Flora do Brasil. Jardim Botânico do Rio de Janeiro. Available at http://floradobrasil.jbrj.gov.br/jabot/floradobrasil/FB24337
Novello VF, Cruz FW, Vuille M, Stríkis NM, Edwards RL, Cheng H, Emerick S, de Paula MS, Li X, Barreto ES, Karmann I, Santos RV (2017) A high-resolution history of the South American monsoon from last glacial maximum to the holocene. Sci Rep 7:44267. https://doi.org/10.1038/srep44267
Nunes da Cunha C, Junk W (2001) Distribution of wood plant communities along the flood gradient in the Pantanal of Poconé, Mato Grosso, Brazil. Int J Ecol Environ Sci 27:63–70
Nunes da Cunha C, Junk W, Leitão-Filho JHF (2007) Woody vegetation in the Pantanal of Mato Grosso, Brazil: a preliminary typology. Amazoniana 19:159–184
Nunes da Cunha C, Rebellato L, Costa CP (2010) Vegetação e Flora: experiência pantaneira no sistema de grade. In: Fernandes IM, Signor CA, Penha J (eds) Biodiversidade no Pantanal de Poconé. Cuiabá, Centro de Pesquisa do Pantanal, pp 37–57
Oliveira-Filho AT, Budke JC, Jarenkow JA, Eisenlohr PV, Neves DRM (2015) Delving into the variations in tree species composition and richness across south American subtropical Atlantic and Pampean forests. J Plant Ecol 8(3):242–260. https://doi.org/10.1093/jpe/rtt058
Parnell A (2016) Bchron: radiocarbon dating, age-depth modelling, relative sea level rate estimation, and non-parametric phase modelling. R package version 4.2.6. https://CRAN.R-project.org/package=Bchron
Pivari MOD, Pott VJ, POTT A (2008) Macrófitas aquáticas de ilhas flutuantes (baceiros) nas sub-regiões do Abobral e Miranda, Pantanal, MS, Brasil. Acta Bot Bras 22(2):563–571
Pott VJ, Pott A (1997) Plants of Pantanal. Embrapa, Centro de Pesquisa Agropecuária do Pantanal. Embrapa, Corumbá
Pott VJ, Pott A (2000) Plantas aquáticas do Pantanal. Embrapa, Centro de Pesquisa Agropecuária do Pantanal. Embrapa, Corumbá
Pott A, Oliveira AKM, Damasceno-Junior GA, Silva JSV (2011). Plant diversity of the Pantanal wetland. Braz J Biol 71(1):265–273
Pott A, Silva JSV (2016) Terrestrial and aquatic vegetation diversity of the Pantanal wetland. In: Bergier I. Assine ML (eds) Dynamics of the Pantanal wetland in South America, Springer, pp 111–131.
Power MJ, Whitney BS, Mayle FE, Neves DM, de Boer EJ, Maclean KS (2016) Fire, climate and vegetation linkages in the Bolivian Chiquitano seasonally dry tropical forest. Philos Trans R Soc B 371:20150165. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2015.0165
Prado DE, Gibbs PE (1993) Patterns of species distributions in the dry seasonal forests of South America. Ann Mo Bot Gard 80(4):902–927
Prentice IC (1985) Pollen representation, source area and basin size: towards a unified theory of pollen analysis. Quat Res 23:76–86
Punyasena SW (2008) Estimating Neotropical palaeotemperature and palaeoprecipitation using plant family climatic optima. Palaeogeogr Palaeoclimatol Palaeoecol 265:226–237. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.palaeo.2008.04.025
Punyasena SW, Mayle FE, McElwain JC (2008) Quantitative estimates of glacial and Holocene temperature and precipitation change in lowland Amazonian Bolivia. Geology 36:667–670. https://doi.org/10.1130/G24784A.1
Pupim FN, Assine ML, Sawakuchi AO (2017) Late Quaternary Cuiabá megafan, Brazilian Pantanal: channel patterns and paleoenvironmental changes. Quat Int 438:108–125
Sapium in Flora do Brasil 2020 under construction. Jardim Botânico do Rio de Janeiro. Available at: http://floradobrasil.jbrj.gov.br/reflora/floradobrasil/FB17662. Accessed 21 Feb 2018
Shiraiwa S (1994) Flexura da litosfera continental sob os Andes Centrais e a origem da Bacia do Pantanal. PhD thesis, Universidade de São Paulo
Sugita S (1994) Pollen representation of vegetation in quaternary sediments: Theory and method in patchy vegetation. J Ecol 82(4):881–897
Ussami N, Shiraiwa S, Dominguez JML (1999) Basement reactivation in a sub-Andean foreland flexural bulge: the Pantanal wetland, SW Brazil. Tectonics 18:25–39
Wang X, Edwards RL, Auler AS, Cheng H, Kong X, Wang Y, Cruz FW, Dorale JA, Chiang H-W (2017) Hydroclimate changes across the Amazon lowlands over the past 45,000 years. Nature 541:204–207. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature20787
Whitney BS, Mayle FE (2012) Pediastrum species as potential indicators of lake-level change in tropical South America. J Paleolimnol 47(4):601–615. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10933-012-9583-8
Whitney BS, Mayle FE, Punyasena SW, Fitzpatrick KA, Burn MJ, Guillen R, Chavez E, Mann D, Pennington RT, Metcalfe SE (2011) A 45 kyr palaeoclimate record from the lowland interior of tropical South America. Palaeogeogr Palaeoclimatol Palaeoecol 307:177–192. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.palaeo.2011.05.012
Whitney BS, Mayle FE, Burn MJ, Guillen R, Chavez E, Pennington RT, Metcalfe SE (2014) Sensitivity of Bolivian seasonally-dry tropical forest to precipitation and temperature changes over glacial–interglacial timescales. Veg Hist Archaeobotany 23(1):1–14. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00334-013-0395-1
Zhou JY, Lau KM (1998) Does a monsoon climate exist over South America? J Clim 11:1020–1040
Acknowledgements
This chapter benefited from reviews by Danilo Neves and two anonymous reviewers to whom the authors are thankful. We also thank Arnildo Pott and Geraldo A. Damasceno Júnior for comments on an earlier version of this work and Bruno Scudeiro for making photomicrographs. The authors are grateful for funding from Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) and Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de Mato Grosso (FAPEMAT) [DCR grant number 568838/2017 to C.D.; FAPEMAT grant number 401809/2010-2 to S.S.C.; and CNPq grant number 476020/2013-1 to S.S.C.].
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2021 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
D’Apolito, C., Rodrigues, M.G., Becker, B.F., Silva-Caminha, S.A.F. (2021). Paleovegetation Inferences and Landscape Evolution in the Pantanal Basin. In: Damasceno-Junior, G.A., Pott, A. (eds) Flora and Vegetation of the Pantanal Wetland. Plant and Vegetation, vol 18. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-83375-6_12
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-83375-6_12
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-83374-9
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-83375-6
eBook Packages: Biomedical and Life SciencesBiomedical and Life Sciences (R0)