Biome reconstruction from pollen and plant macrofossil data for Africa and the Arabian peninsula at 0 and 6000 years

Dominique Jolly (1) , I. Colin Prentice (1) , Raymonde Bonnefille (2) , Aziz Ballouche (3) , Martin Bengo (4) , Patrice Brenac (4) , Guillaume Buchet (2) , David Burney (5) , Jean-Piere Cazet (6) , Rachid Cheddadi (7) , Thérèse Edorh (8) , Hilaire Elenga (2) , Saïda Elmoutaki (2) , Joel Guiot (7) , Fouzia Laarif (1) , Henry Lamb (9) , Am Lezine (6) , Jean Maley (4) , Muaka Mbenza (10) , Odile Peyron (7) , Maurice Reille (7) , Isabelle Reynaud-Farrera (4) , Guy Riollet (2) , Jim C. Ritchie , Emile Roche (11) , Louis Scott , Immaculate Ssemmanda (12) , Herbert Straka , Mohammed Umer (13) , Élise van Campo (14) , Sikiminywa Vilimumbalo (15) , Annie Vincens (2) , Martyn Waller

1 Skane University Hospital [Lund]
2 CEREGE - Centre européen de recherche et d'enseignement des géosciences de l'environnement
3 UA - Université d'Angers
4 Laboratoire de paléoenvironnements et palynologie
5 Fordham University [New York]
6 UPMC - Département de Géologie Sédimentaire
7 U.E.R. de Sciences Naturelles - Laboratoire de Botanique historique et Palynologie
8 Département de botanique
9 University of Wales
10 UNILU - Université de Lubumbashi
11 Musée royal de l'Afrique centrale
12 MAK - Makerere University [Kampala, Ouganda]
13 AAU - Addis Ababa University
14 LET - Laboratoire d'Ecologie Terrestre
15 Université de Liège

Biome reconstruction from pollen and plant macrofossil data provides an objective method to reconstruct past vegetation. Biomes for Africa and the Arabian peninsula have been mapped for 6000 years sp and provide a new standard for the evaluation of simulated palaeovegetation distributions. A test using modern pollen data shows the robustness of the biomization method, which is able to predict the major vegetation types with a high confidence level. The application of the procedure to the 6000 years data set (pollen and plant macrofossil analyses) shows systematic differences from the present that are consistent with the numerous previous regional and continental interpretations, while providing a more extensive and more objective basis for such interpretations. Madagascar, eastern, southern and central Africa show only minor changes in terms of biomes, compared to present. Major changes in biome distributions occur north of 15 degrees N, with steppe in many low-elevation sites that are now desert, and temperate xerophytic woods/scrub and warm mixed forest in the Saharan mountains. These shifts in biome distributions, imply significant changes in climate, especially precipitation, between 6000 years and present, reflecting a change in monsoon extent combined with a southward expansion of Mediterranean influence.

Domaines: Milieux et Changements globaux

Dominique Jolly, I. Colin Prentice, Raymonde Bonnefille, Aziz Ballouche, Martin Bengo, et al.. Biome reconstruction from pollen and plant macrofossil data for Africa and the Arabian peninsula at 0 and 6000 years. Journal of Biogeography, 1998, 25 (6), pp.1007-1027. ⟨10.1046/j.1365-2699.1998.00238.x⟩. ⟨hal-01457644⟩