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Late Holocene paleoenvironmental changes in subtropical Taiwan inferred from pollen and diatoms in lake sediments

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Abstract

We analyzed pollen, spores, diatoms, organic carbon, nitrogen, and δ13C of organic matter in lake sediments to infer climate changes and reconstruct the paleo-environment of subtropical Taiwan over the past ∼1300 years. A 31.5-cm sediment core that represents deposition from 650 AD to present was taken from a mountain lake, Duck Pond, located 760 m a.s.l. We differentiated five zones using cluster analysis on pollen and spore assemblages. Fluctuations in the relative abundances of arboreal taxa, herbaceous plants, and ferns reflect changes in the relative amounts of woody versus grassland vegetation. Such shifts are associated with changes in temperature and humidity and are consistent with climatic periods reported for the temperate region of central China. Climate changes inferred from the pollen assemblages are also correlated well with changes in the ratios of fern spores to pollen, with organic carbon to nitrogen, and with the δ13C values in the sediments. Fluctuations in these data throughout the entire core were in good agreement with the changes in pH inferred from diatom assemblages. This study provides evidence of climate change in northern Taiwan over the past 1.3 millennia, assuming that climate can be inferred from the ratio of arboreal to non-arboreal pollen and from the pH of the aquatic environment.

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Acknowledgements

The authors appreciated the financial support provided by National Science Council (NSC 86-2311-B001-005 & NSC 88-2311-B002-008-B27). Professor Yue-Gau Chen in the Department of Geosciences, National Taiwan University was thanked for the permission to use the facilities for stable isotope analysis. The anonymous reviewers were acknowledged for the valuable comments on the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Life Sciences, National Taiwan University, Taipei, 106, Taiwan

    Su-Hwa Chen & Shu-Yue Huang

  2. Institute of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, National Taiwan University, Taipei, 106, Taiwan

    Su-Hwa Chen & Jiunn-Tzong Wu

  3. Biodiversity Research Center, Academia Sinica, Nankang, Taipei, 115, Taiwan

    Jiunn-Tzong Wu, Pei-Pei Chuang & Yun-Sen Wang

  4. Research Center for Environmental Change, Academia Sinica, Nankang, Taipei, 115, Taiwan

    Tien-Nan Yang

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  1. Su-Hwa Chen
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Correspondence to Jiunn-Tzong Wu.

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Chen, SH., Wu, JT., Yang, TN. et al. Late Holocene paleoenvironmental changes in subtropical Taiwan inferred from pollen and diatoms in lake sediments. J Paleolimnol 41, 315–327 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10933-008-9227-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10933-008-9227-1

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