Environmental history of the Colombian savannas of the Llanos Orientales since the Last Glacial Maximum from lake records El Pinal and Carimagua

Late Quaternary environments have been studied by pollen analysis of lake s ediments from the savannas of the Colombian Llanos Orientales at 180 m elev ation. The pollen record form Laguna El Pinal (4 degrees 08'N, 70 degrees 2 3'W), dated by 6 AMS radiocarbon dates, starts at 18,290 C-14 yr B.P. The r ecord from Laguna Carimagua (4 degrees 04'N, 70 degrees 14'W), also dated b y 6 AMS dates, starts at 8270 C-14 yr B.P. Both records show a landscape do minated by grassland savanna with only few woody savanna taxa, such as Cura tella and Byrsonima, frequent fires, and little occurrence of forest and/or gallery forest along the rivers. The savanna ecosystem at the studied site s was relatively stable during the last 18,000 yrs, but minor changes in fl oral composition, and in the proportion of savanna/forest, have been record ed. Very little gallery forest and the non permanent lake conditions of Lag una El Pinal reflect the driest period, interpreted to reflect low rainfall rates and long dry seasons during the Last Glacial Maximum until 10,690 C- 14 yr B.P. During the Late Glacial, Laguna El Pinal was a permanent shallow lake, and changed into a lake with higher water levels during the Holocene , indicating wetter conditions. Expansion of regional gallery forest also s tarted at around 10,690 C-14 yr B.P. Little vegetational change observed in Laguna Carimagua at 5570 C-14 yr B.P., in combination with a simultaneous decrease of savanna observed in previously studied lakes, suggest a change to regional wetter conditions. Thus, the Holocene before 5500 C-14 yr B.P. was somewhat drier than the following period until about 3850 C-14 yr B.P. In both records, Late Holocene lake deposits are incomplete. Shore vegetati on of Laguna Carimagua always included a minor contribution of the palms Ma uritia and Mauritiella. The marked increase of palms during the last c. 380 0 yrs points to increased human impact on the vegetation under the wettest Holocene climate regime.