6 - Holocene vegetation and climate change from central India: An updated and a detailed pollen-based review

Abstract

Understanding vegetation dynamics and its response to climate change and the Indian Summer Monsoon (ISM) variability is imperative as vegetation plays a key role in the global climate system through modification of the water and energy balance. The present communication reviews the pollen-based studies on vegetation dynamics, associated climate change, and the ISM variability during the Holocene from central India, which has tropical dry and moist deciduous forest types and experiences Tropical savannah-type climate (Aw) and Mesothermal climate–Gangetic Plain-type climate (Cwg). The ISM variability influences the socioeconomic well-being of one-third of the human population in the Indian subcontinent through affecting the agricultural output and Gross Domestic Product of the country and is driven by both external (solar forcing) and internal forcing factors (ocean-atmospheric teleconnections, El-Niño-Southern Oscillation). The seasonal latitudinal migration of the Inter Tropical Convergence Zone controls the strength of the ISM. Further, the knowledge and understanding of the ISM variability is useful for a better understanding of its past variability, which could be important both to understand the present climatic conditions and also for future climatic predictions. Signatures of global climatic events, manifested in vegetation composition around the study areas, have been discussed in the present review.