Studies of vegetation, fire and climate dynamics during the late Quaternary as contribution towards conservation and management of the biodiversity hotspot Mata Atlântica in southern Brazil

Abstract

Nowadays, a fascinating landscape from mosaics of forest and grassland (Campos) vegetation can be seen in the highlands of southern Brazil. The different ecosystems of Campos, Araucaria forest and Atlantic rainforest belong to the Atlantic Forest biome, which represents the most devastated vegetation of Brazil. Palaeoenvironmental and palaeoclimatic studies provide important information for the understanding of the development, the stability and the dynamics of these biodiverse ecosystems in the present and for the future. By the means of pollen analysis, vegetation and climate changes can be reconstructed for the past. Palynological studies can also be used as a link between palaeoenvironmental information and the development of conservation and management strategies. Here, palaeoenvironmental changes from subtropical southern Brazil highlands were interpreted for the late Quaternary from three pollen and charcoal records. Two sediment archives of the Serra Geral in Rio Grande do Sul state and one of the Serra do Tabuleiro in Santa Catarina state were studied by the means of pollen, charcoal and multivariate data analyses. The palaeoecological results for the subtropical southern Brazilian highlands showed strong relationships between vegetation composition and their dynamics and future global climate change.