Significant anthropogenic impact on the mountain vegetation of Southeast China commenced ∼1 kyr BP, lagged behind similar changes in the lower Yangtze River basin and coastal plains by 2000–4000 years

Abstract

Human impact on the coastal plain of Southeast China has been well studied over late Holocene timescales; however, an understanding of anthropogenic impact in mountainous regions is still lacking. In this paper, we present records of vegetation, fire, and human impact, spanning the past 4000 years, with a resolution of ∼40 years, obtained from an upland peatland in Southeast China. The results reveal that climate change (dominated by the evolution of the East Asia Monsoon) was the most critical factor controlling vegetation before 1.0 cal kyr BP, while human impact gradually emerged as the primary driver after 1.0 cal kyr BP in the mountains of Southeast China. As such, the record of anthropic impact in mountainous regions lagged behind the signal from the coastal plains by some 2000–4000 years. As the population migrating from northern China dispersed into the mountainous regions of Southeast China, demand for agricultural land promoted slash-and-burn cultivation and the destruction of broad-leaf forest.