Abstract
Investigation of 78 surface pollen samples from warm temperate hilly areas of eastern China shows that pollen assemblages in areas of different land use are significantly different. Pollen concentrations in wastelands are higher than in plantations; these, in turn, are higher than in farmlands; implying that pollen concentration decreases with increasing human impact. Arboreal pollen dominated by Pinus and Quercus is common in all samples. Herbaceous pollen percentages are higher while shrub pollen, fern spores and fern allies are lower in farmlands than in wastelands. Crop pollen is only detectable in and near farmlands; its percentages and concentrations decrease in wastelands. Cereal and Cruciferae pollen percentages average 16.7% and 6.7% in farmland respectively, but Cereal reduces to less than 3% and Cruciferae to less than 0.5% in nearby wastelands. Principle coordinates analysis and clustering analysis indicate that pollen assemblages from farmlands are distinguishable from those under other vegetation types. Occurrence of Poaceae, Chenopodiaceae, Artemisia, and Compositae pollen and Selaginella sinensis spores are closely related to human activities, and their types and frequencies indicate intensity of human impact. The spatial distribution of crops, Chenopodiaceae, and Artemisia reflects changes in both natural environments and human activities. Percentages of cereal and Cruciferae pollen, for example, increase with decreasing altitude, but decrease with increasing latitude. Understanding pollen assemblages under artificial and human-disturbed vegetation in hilly areas may aid understanding of human impacts on the plains during the early-middle Holocene.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
Sun X J, Wang F Y, Song C Q. Pollen climate response surfaces of selected taxa from Northern China. Sci China Ser D-Earth Sci, 1996, 39: 486–492
Song C Q, Lü H Y, Sun X J. Boreal pollen climatic factor transfer function and its application in paleoclimate reconstruction. Chinese Sci Bull, 1997, 42: 2183–2186
Song C Q, Sun X J, Advances in studies of quaternary palynology in china (in Chinese). Adv Earth Sci, 1999, 14: 401–405
Zheng Z, Cour P, Zhou H P, et al. Modern pollen rain in Hainan Island, southern China: Altitudinal pollen distribution in the tropical rain forest (in Chinese). Acta Palaeontol Sin, 2002, 41: 487–496
Lü H Y, Wang S Y, Shen C M, et al. Spatial pattern of modern Abies and Picea pollen in the Qinghai-Xizang Plateau (in Chinese). Quat Sci, 2004, 24: 39–49
Xu Q H, Li Y C, Yang X L et al. Study on surface pollen of major steppe communities in Northern China (in Chinese). Geogr Res, 2005, 24: 394–402
Xu Q H, Li Y C, Yang X L et al. Surface pollen assemblages of some major forest types in northern china (in Chinese). Quat Sci, 2005, 47: 585–597
Xu Q H, Li Y C, Li Y, et al. Modern pollen process and several issues concerning the study of Quaternary environment (in Chinese). Prog Nat Sci, 2006, 16: 647–653
Li Y C, Xu Q H, Yang X L, et al. Pollen assemblages of major steppe communities in China (in Chinese). Acta Ecol Sin, 2005, 25: 555–564
Li Y C, Xu Q H, Xiao J L, et al. Indication of some major pollen taxa in surface samples to their parent plants of forest in Northern China (in Chinese). Quat Sci, 2005, 25: 598–608
Li Y C, Xu Q H, Xiao J L, et al. Relationship between surface pollen and vegetation in some shrub communities of northern China (in Chinese). Sci Geogr Sin, 2007, 27: 205–210
Hjelle L K. 1997. Relationships between pollen and plants in human-influenced vegetation types using presence-absence data in western Norway. Rev Palaeobot Palynol, 99: 1–16
Court-Picon M, Alexandre B, Beaulieu J L. Modern pollen-vegetation relationships in the Champsaur valley (French Alps) and their potential in the interpretation of fossil pollen records of past cultural landscapes. Rev Palaeobot Palynol, 2005, 135: 13–39
Court-Picon M, Alexandre B, Beaulieu J L. Modern pollen/vegetation/land-use relationships in mountain environments: An example from the Champsaur valley (French Alps). Veget Hist Archaeobot, 2005, 15: 151–168
Buttler A, Mazier F, Galop D. Modern pollen assemblages from grazed vegetation in the western Pyrenees, France: A numerical tool for more precise reconstruction of past cultural landscapes. Holocene, 2006, 16: 91–103
Liu H Y, Wang Y, Tian Y H, et al. Climatic and anthropogenic control of surface pollen assemblages in East Asian steppes. Rev Palaeobot Palynol, 2006, 138: 281–289
Deng Y, Zheng Z, Cour P, et al. Relation between pollen ratios and climate in east and an attempt of paleoclimate reconstruction (in Chinese). Acta Palaeontol Sin, 2002, 41: 508–516
Qin X S, Liu Y Q, Xin F W. Species diversity in undergrowth of artificial forest on lower hilly land (in Chinese). J Trop Subtrop Bot, 2003, 11: 223–228
Yang S X, Zheng Z, Huang K Y, et al. Surface pollen analysis in subtropical double-cropping rice areas and its archaeological application (in Chinese). Quat Sci, 2010, 30: 262–272
Zhang J H, Kong Z C. Significance on ecological indication of Selaginella sinensis in reconstructing past environment (in Chinese). Acta Bot Boreal-Occident Sin, 1999, 19: 530–537
Du X J, Jiang F Q, Jiao Z H. Vegetation restoration in western Liaoning hilly region: A study based on succession theory and degradation degree of ecosystem (in Chinese). Chin J Appl Eco. 2004, 15: 1507–1511
Wang X L, Li Y C, Xu Q H, et al. Pollen assemblages from different agricultural units and their spatial distribution in Anyang area. Chinese Sci Bull, 2010, 55: 544–554
Jiao B C. Atlas of Physical Geography in China (in Chinese). Beijing: SinoMaps Press, 1984. 59–60
Zhang X S. Vegetation Map of China and Its Geographic Pattern (in Chinese). Beijing: The Geological publishing House, 2007. 538–608
Faegri K, Viersen J. Textbook of Pollen Analysis (3rd). Oxford: Blackwell, 1989. 295
Grimm E C. TILIA and TILIA GRAPH PC spreadsheet and graphics software for pollen data. INQUA, Working Group on Data-Handling Methods. Newslett, 1990, 4: 5–7
Ma Y L, Xu Q H, Huang X Z, et al. Pollen assemblage characters of human disturbed vegetation in arid area in northwestern China (in Chinese). J Palaeogeogr, 2009, 11: 542–550
Zheng Z H, Tian F, Cao X Y, et al. A Study on surface pollen assemblage and relationship with vegetation from some vegetation types in central North China (in Chinese). Geogr Geo-Inf Sci, 2008, 4: 92–97
Wang F Y, Song C Q, Sun X J. Study on surface pollen in middle Inner Mongolia, China (in Chinese). Acta Bot Sin, 1996, 38: 902–9091
San Y L, Ma Y Z, Gao S Y, et al. Pollen assemblages and numberical analysis of surface samples from Xinlongshan National Reserve, Gansu (in Chinese). Acta Palaeontol Sin, 2008, 47: 457–467
Yang X D, Shen J, Richard T J, et al. Pollen evidence of early human activities in the Erhai basin, Yunnan Province. Chinese Sci Bull, 2005, 50: 569–577
Li W Y, Yao Z J. A study on the quantitative relationship between Pinus pollen in surface sample and Pinus vegetation (in Chinese). Acta Bot Sin, 1990, 32: 943–950
Li Y C, Xu Q H, Cao X Y, et al. Pollen influx and surface pollen assemblage on the northern slope of Taibai Mountain (in Chinese). Geogr Res, 2008, 27: 536–546
Li Y Y, Zhou L P, Cui H T. Pollen indicators of human activity. Chinese Sci Bull, 2008, 53: 991–1002
Xu Q H, Cao X Y, Wang X L, et al. Generation of Yinxu culture: Environmental background and impacts of human activities (in Chinese). Quat Sci, 2010, 30: 273–286
Poska A, Saarse L, Veski S. Reflections of pre- and early-agrarian human impact in the pollen diagrams of Estonia. Palaeogeogr Palaeoclimatol Palaeoecol, 2004, 209: 37–50
Ren G Y. Influence of Human activities on the late holocene vegetation changes at Maili, northeast China (in Chinese). Sci Geogr Sin, 1999, 19: 42–48
Liu H Y, Li Y Y. Pollen indicators of climate change and human activities in the semiarid region (in Chinese). Acta Palaeontol Sin, 2009, 48: 211–221
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
This article is published with open access at Springerlink.com
Electronic supplementary material
Rights and permissions
This article is published under an open access license. Please check the 'Copyright Information' section either on this page or in the PDF for details of this license and what re-use is permitted. If your intended use exceeds what is permitted by the license or if you are unable to locate the licence and re-use information, please contact the Rights and Permissions team.
About this article
Cite this article
Ding, W., Pang, R., Xu, Q. et al. Surface pollen assemblages as indicators of human impact in the warm temperate hilly areas of eastern China. Chin. Sci. Bull. 56, 996–1004 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11434-011-4350-1
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11434-011-4350-1