Restricted accessResearch articleFirst published online 2020-7
Decadal high-resolution multi-proxy analysis to reconstruct natural and human-induced environmental changes over the last 1350 cal. yr BP in the Altai Tavan Bogd National Park,western Mongolia
The ‘Altai Tavan Bogd’ National Park in the north-western part of the Mongolian Altai, Central Asia, is located in a forest-steppe ecosystem. It occurs under the influence of extreme continental and montane climate and is sensitive to natural and anthropogenic impacts. High-resolution (<20 years per sample) multi-proxy data of pollen, non-pollen palynomorphs (NPPs), macro-charcoal, diatoms, and XRF scanning from radiocarbon-dated lacustrine sediments reveal various environmental changes and the impact of different settlement periods for the late-Holocene. From 1350 to 820 cal. yr BP (AD 600–1130), the distribution of grass steppe indicates a climate similar to present-day conditions. Rapid improvements of climatic conditions (e.g. increased rainfall events) possibly favored a recovery of forest-steppe encouraging nomadic movements into alpine areas. In the period from 820 to 400 cal. yr BP (AD 1130–1550), the decline of forested areas suggests an increasingly drier and possibly colder climate. Some political shifts during the Mongol Empire (744–582 cal. yr BP; AD 1206–1368) favored variations in nomadic grazing habits. After 400 cal. yr BP (AD 1550), moisture and temperature increased slightly, and from ca. 40 cal. yr BP (AD 1910) to present, annual temperature continued to increase more markedly favoring an additional water availability due to permafrost degradation. Diatom data suggest several intervals of increased water availability in all periods which might have caused erosion due to heavier rainfall events or increased snow melt. Immediately after most of these high-water intervals, NPP data reveal periods of increased grazing activities in the area.
AndreevAAPierauRKaluginIA, et al. (2007) Environmental changes in the northern Altai during the last millennium documented in Lake Teletskoye pollen record. Quaternary Research67: 394–399.
3.
BeketU (2009) The Vegetation of the Mongolian Altai: Problems of sustainable land use and nature conservation. Bfn-Skripten257: 1–318.
4.
BeugHJ (2004) Leitfaden der Pollenbestimmung für Mitteleuropa und angrenzende Gebiete. München: Pfeil (in German).
5.
BhateriaRJainD (2016) Water quality assessment of lake water: A review. Sustainable Water Resources Management2: 161–173.
6.
BlaauwMChristenJA (2011) Flexible paleoclimate age-depth models using an autoregressive gamma process. Bayesian Analysis6: 457–474.
7.
BrueggerSOGobetESiglM, et al. (2018) Ice records provide new insights into climatic vulnerability of Central Asian forest and steppe communities. Global and Planetary Change169: 188–201.
8.
BurneyDARobinsonGSBurneyLP (2003) Sporormiella and the late-Holocene extinctions in Madagascar. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences100: 10800–10805.
9.
ChlachulaJ (2018) Environmental context and adaptations of prehistoric and early historical occupation in the Southern Altai (SW Siberia – East Kazakhstan). Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences11: 2215–2236.
10.
CroudaceIWRindbyARothwellRG (2006) ITRAX: Description and evaluation of a new multi-function X-ray core scanner. In: RothwellRG (ed.) New Techniques in sediment core analysis. London: Geological Society of London (Geological Science Special Publications), pp. 51–63.
11.
D’ArrigoRJacobyGPedersonN, et al. (2000) Mongolian tree-rings, temperature sensitivity and reconstructions of Northern Hemisphere temperature. The Holocene106: 669–672.
12.
DemskeDTarasovPENakagawaT, et al. (2013) Atlas of pollen, spores and further non-pollen palynomorphs recorded in the glacial-interglacial late Quaternary sediments of Lake Suigetsu, central Japan. Quaternary International290–291: 164–238.
13.
DirksenVGvan GeelBKoulkovaMA, et al. (2007) Chronology of Holocene climate and vegetation changes and their connection to cultural dynamics in Southern Siberia. Radiocarbon49(2): 1103–1121.
14.
DoveriF (2004) Fungi Fimicoli italici: A Guide to the Recognition of Basidiomycetes and Ascomycetes Living on Feacal Material. Trento: Associazione micologica Bresadola.
15.
EichlerATinnerWBrütschS, et al. (2011) An ice-core based history of Siberian forest fires since AD 1250. Quaternary Science Reviews30: 1027–1034.
16.
FaegriKIversenJ (1989) Textbook of Pollen Analysis. New York: John Wiley & Sons.
17.
Fernández-GiménezME (1999) Sustaining the steppes: A geographical history of pastoral land use in Mongolia. The Geographical Review89(3): 315–342.
18.
Fernández-GiménezMEVenableNHAngererJ, et al. (2017) Exploring linked ecological and cultural tipping points in Mongolia. Anthropocene17: 46–69.
19.
FrachettiMD (2012) Multiregional emergence of mobile pastoralism and nonuniform institutional complexity across Eurasia. Current Anthropology53(1): 2–38.
20.
GrimmE (1987) CONISS: A FORTRAN 77 program for stratigraphically constrained cluster analysis by the methods of incremental sum of squares. Computers & Geosciences13: 13–15.
21.
GrimmE (1991) TILIA and TILIAGRAPH. Springfield, IL: Illinois State Museum.
22.
GuninPDVostokovaEADorofeyukNI, et al. (1999) Vegetation Dynamics of Mongolia (Geobotany 26). Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers.
23.
HauckMJavkhlanSLkhagvadorjD, et al. (2012) Edge and land-use effects on epiphytic lichen diversity in the forest-steppe ecotone of the Mongolian Altai. Flora207: 450–458.
24.
HerzschuhU (2007) Reliability of pollen ratios for environmental reconstructions on the Tibetan Plateau. Journal of Biogeography34: 1265–1273.
25.
HerzschuhUKramerAMischkeS, et al. (2009) Quantitative climate and vegetation trends since the late glacial on the northeastern Tibetan Plateau deduced from Koucha Lake pollen spectra. Quaternary Research71: 162–171.
26.
HilbigW (1995) The Vegetation of Mongolia. Amsterdam: SPB Academic Publishing.
27.
HiranoABatbilegB (2013) Identifying trends in the distribution of vegetation in Mongolia in the decade after its transition to a market economy. Japan Agricultural Research Quarterly47(2): 203–208.
28.
HolcombeC (2014) The Xianbei in Chinese history. Early Medieval China19: 1–38.
29.
HuangXPengWRudayaN, et al. (2018) Holocene vegetation and climate dynamics in the Altai Mountains and surrounding areas. Geophysical Research Letters45: 6628–6636.
30.
JohnsonDASheehyDPMillerD, et al. (2006) Mongolian rangelands in transition. Sécheresse17(1–2): 133–141.
31.
KaluginIDarinARogozinD, et al. (2013) Seasonal and centennial cycles of carbonate mineralisation during the past 2500 years from varved sediment in Lake Shira, South Siberia. Quaternary International290–291: 245–252.
32.
KaluginISelegeiVGoldbergE, et al. (2005) Rhythmic fine-grained sediment deposition in Lake Teletskoye, Altai, Siberia, in relation to regional climate change. Quaternary International136(1): 5–13.
33.
KhishigjargalMDulamsurenCLkhagvadorjD, et al. (2013) Contrasting responses of seedling and sampling densities to livestock density in the Mongolian forest-steppe. Journal of Plant Ecology214: 1391–1403.
34.
KlingeMSauerD (2019) Spatial pattern of Late Glacial and Holocene climatic and environmental development in Western Mongolia – A critical review and synthesis. Quaternary Science Reviews210: 26–50.
35.
KlingeMLehmkuhlFSchulteP, et al. (2017) Implications of (reworked) aeolian sediments and paleosols for Holocene environmental change in Western Mongolia. Geomorphology292: 59–71.
36.
KovalevAAErdenebaatarD (2009) Discovery of new cultures of the Bronze Age in Mongolia according to the data obtained by the international Central Asian Archaeological Expedition. In: BemmannJParzingerHPohlE, et al. (eds) Current Archeological Research in Mongolia. Bonn: University of Bonn, pp. 149–170.
37.
KradinNN (2005) From tribal confederation to empire: The evolution of the Rouran Society. Acta Orientalia Academiae Scientiarum Hung58(2): 149–169.
38.
KrammerKLange-BertalotH (1986) Bacillariophyceae: Naviculaceae. In: EttleHGartnerGGerloffJ, et al. (eds) Süsswasserflora von Mitteleuropa, vol. 2/1. Stuttgart: Fisher, pp. 1–876.
39.
KrammerKLange-BertalotH (1988) Bacillariophyceae: Bacillariaceae, Epithemiaceae, Surirellaceae. Surirellaceae. In: EttleHGartnerGGerloffJ, et al. (eds) Süsswasserflora von Mitteleuropa, vol. 2/2. Stuttgart: Fisher, pp. 1–596.
40.
KrammerKLange-BertalotH (1991a) Bacillariophyceae: Achnanthaceae. In: EttleHGartnerGGerloffJ, et al. (eds) Süsswasserflora von Mitteleuropa, vol. 2/4. Stuttgart: Fisher, pp. 1–437.
41.
KrammerKLange-BertalotH (1991b) Bacillariophyceae: Centrales, Fragilariaceae, Eunotiaceae. In: EttleHGartnerGGerloffJ, et al (eds) Süsswasserflora von Mitteleuropa, vol. 2/3. Stuttgart: Fisher, pp. 1–576.
42.
KylanderMAmpelLWohlfarthB, et al. (2011) High-resolution X-ray fluorescence core scanning analysis of Les Echets (France) sedimentary sequence: New insights from chemical proxies. Journal of Quaternary Science26: 109–117.
43.
LehmkuhlFHilgersAFriesS, et al. (2011) Holocene geomorphological processes and soil development as indicator for environmental change around Karakorum, Upper Orkhon Valley (Central Mongolia). Catena87: 31–44.
44.
LehmkuhlFKlingeMRotherH, et al. (2016) Distribution and timing of Holocene and late Pleistocene glacier fluctuations in western Mongolia. Annals of Glaciology57(71): 169–178.
45.
LkhagvadorjDHauckMDulamsurenC, et al. (2013) Pastoral nomadism in the forest-steppe of the Mongolian Altai under a changing economy and a warming climate. Journal of Arid Environments88: 82–89.
46.
MieheGMieheSKaiserK, et al. (2009) How old is pastoralism in Tibet? An ecological approach to the making of a Tibetan landscape. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology276: 130–147.
47.
MieheGSchlützFMieheS, et al. (2007) Mountain forest islands and Holocene environmental changes in Central Asia: A case study from the southern Gobi Altay, Mongolia. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology250: 150–166.
48.
ParkJDiimaajavEGelegdorjE (2017) Evolution of Mongolian bronze technology with the rise of the Xiongnu State. Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences9: 789–798.
49.
PedersonNHesslAEBaatarbilegN, et al. (2014) Pluvials, droughts, the Mongol Empire, and modern Mongolia. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences111(12): 4375–4379.
50.
RaperDBushM (2009) A test of Sporormiella representation as a predictor of megaherbivore presence and abundance. Quaternary Research71: 490–496.
51.
ReimerPJBardEBaylissA, et al. (2013) IntCal13 and Marine13 radiocarbon age calibration curves 0-50,000 yr cal yr BP. Radiocarbon55(4): 1869–1887.
52.
RStudio Team (2019) RStudio: Integrated Development for R. Boston, MA: RStudio. Available at: http://www.rstudio.com/ (accessed 30 January 2019).
53.
RudayaNNazarovaLNovenkoE, et al. (2016) Quantitative reconstructions of mid-to late-Holocene climate and vegetation in the north-eastern Altai Mountains recorded in Lake Teletskoye. Global Planetary Change141: 12–24.
54.
RudayaNTarasovPDorofeyukN, et al. (2009) Holocene environments and climate in the Mongolian Altai reconstructed from the Hoton-Nur pollen and diatom records: A step towards better understanding climate dynamics in Central Asia. Quaternary Science Reviews28: 540–554.
55.
RudayaNTarasovPEDorofeyukNI, et al. (2008) Environmental changes in the Mongolian Altai during the Holocene. Archaeology Ethnology and Anthropology of Eurasia36(4): 2–14.
56.
SchmidtRWSeguchiN (2016) Craniofacial variation of the Xiongnu Iron Age nomads of Mongolia reveals their possible origins and population history. Quaternary International405: 110–121.
57.
ShumilovskikhLS (2018) Non-Pollen Palynomorphs . . .“extra fossils” in pollen slides. Available at: http://nonpollenpalynomorphs.tsu.ru/ (accessed 11 October 2018).
58.
ShumilovskikhLSSchlützFAchterbergI, et al. (2015) Non-pollen palynomorphs from Mid-Holocene peat of the raised bog Borsteler Moor (Lower Saxony, Germany). Studia Quaternaria32: 5–18.
59.
StevensonJHaberleS (2005) Macro charcoal analysis: A modified technique used by the Department of Archaeology and Natural History. Palaeoworks Technical Papers5: 1–12.
60.
StivrinsNCerinaAGałkaM, et al. (2019) Large herbivore population and vegetation dynamics 14,600-8300 years ago in central Latvia, northeastern Europe. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology266: 42–51.
61.
TarasovPEDorofeyukNMetel’tsevaE (2000) Holocene vegetation and climate changes in Hoton-Nur basin, northwest Mongolia. Boreas29: 117–126.
62.
TarasovPEMüllerSZechM, et al. (2013) Last glacial vegetation reconstructions in the extreme-continental eastern Asia: Potentials of pollen and n-alkane biomarker analyses. Quaternary International290–291: 253–263.
63.
TumenD (2006) Paleoanthropology of ancient populations of Mongolia. Mongolian Journal of Anthropology, Archaeology and Ethnology2(254): 90–108.
64.
UmbanhowarCEShinnemanALCTserenkhandG, et al. (2009) Regional fire history based on charcoal analysis of sediments from nine lakes in western Mongolia. The Holocene194: 611–624.
65.
UnkelISchimmelmannAShrinerC, et al. (2014) The environmental history of the last 6500 years in the Asea Valley (Peloponnese, Greece) and its linkage to the local archaeological record. Zeitschrift für Geomorphologie58(Suppl. 2): 89–107.
66.
UnkelbachJDulamsurenCPunsalpaamuuG, et al. (2018) Late-Holocene vegetation, climate, human and fire history of the forest-steppe-ecosystem inferred from core G2-A in the ‘Altai Tavan Bogd’ conservation area in Mongolia. Vegetation History and Archaeobotany27(5): 665–677.
67.
UnkelbachJKashimaKEntersD, et al. (2019) Mid- and late-Holocene environmental changes inferred from multi-proxy-studies of lacustrine sediments from the Dayan Nuur region in the Altai Mountains, Mongolia. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology530: 1–14.
68.
VadetskayaEB (1986) Arkeologicheskie Pamyatniki v stepyakh srednevo Yeniseya. Leningrad: Akademiya Nauk CCCP (in Russian).
69.
Van DamHMertensASinkeldamJ (1994) A coded checklist and ecological indicator values of freshwater diatoms from the Netherlands. Netherlands Journal of Aquatic Ecology28(1): 117–133.
70.
Van GeelB (1978) A palaeoecological study of Holocene peat bog sections in Germany and the Netherlands. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology25: 1–120.
71.
Van GeelB (2001) Non-pollen palynomorphs. In: SmolJPBirksHJBLastWM (eds) Tracking Environmental Change Using Lake Sediments, Volume 3: Terrestrial, Algal, and Siliceous Indicators. Boston, MA: Kluwer Academic Publishers.
72.
Van GeelBGeloriniVLyaruuA, et al. (2011) Diversity and ecology of tropical African fungal spores from a 25,000-year palaeoenvironmental record in southeastern Kenya. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology164: 174–190.
73.
WatanabeT (2005) Picture Book and Ecology of the Freshwater Diatoms. Tokyo, Japan: Uchida Rokakuho Publishing (in Japanese).
74.
WhitmoreTJ (1989) Florida diatom assemblages as indicators of trophic state and pH. Limnology and Oceanography34(5): 882–895.
75.
YkhanbaiHBulganEBeketU, et al. (2004) Reversing grassland degradation and improving herders‘ livelihoods in the Altai Mountains of Mongolia. Mountain Research and Development24(2): 96–100.
76.
ZhangDFengZ (2018) Holocene climate variations in the Altai Mountains and the surrounding areas: A synthesis of pollen records. Earth Science Reviews185: 847–869.
77.
ZhaoYLiuHLiF, et al. (2012) Application and limitations of the Artemisia/Chenopodiaceae pollen ratio in arid and semi-arid China. The Holocene22: 1385–1392.
Supplementary Material
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
