Vegetation pattern of Northeast China during the special periods since the Last Glacial Maximum

Abstract

Since the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), the global climate has experienced several stages, such as cold and warming events, which provide an ideal model for evaluating climate change in the future. Based on the pollen records in Northeast (NE) China, the vegetation pattern during special periods since the LGM was reconstructed in this work. During the LGM (approximately 18,000 cal yr BP), the steppes expanded rapidly in NE China, and a cold-dry meadow-steppe developed on the Songnen Plain. The Liaohe Plain and the Hulun Buir Plateau were occupied by a steppe-desert, with forest-steppe vegetation grown in the central and southern plains; there were cold-dry coniferous forests and mixed conifer-broadleaf forests in mountainous areas. In the early Holocene (10,000–9,000 cal yr BP), Changbai mountain (CBM) forests thrived in the eastern hilly area and the Sanjiang Plain, while the central region was dominated by steppes, and warm-temperate broadleaf forests developed northward. During the Holocene warm period (approximately 6,000 cal yr BP), CBM forests and cold-temperate coniferous forests developed in the north, while spruce-fir forests developed in the eastern Xiao Hinggan Mountains and the Sanjiang Plain. The distribution centre of deciduous broadleaf forests migrated to the south of the Changbai Mountains and the Liaodong Peninsula. The isolated woodlands increased on the Songnen Plain and the meadow-steppes expanded to the Liaohe Plain. Therefore, the increase in temperature leads to the increase of monsoon precipitation in NE China, which is beneficial to the development of warm-temperate forest vegetation. The increase of summer monsoons and precipitation caused by climate warming may be the main reason for the improved plant load.