Palaeovegetation of China: a pollen data-based synthesis for the mid-Holocene and last glacial maximum

Pollen data from China for 6000 and 18,000 C-14 yr BP Were compiled and use d to reconstruct palaeovegetation patterns, using complete taxon lists wher e possible and a biomization procedure that entailed the assignment of 645 pollen taxa to plant functional types. A set of 658 modern pollen samples s panning all biomes and regions provided a comprehensive test for this proce dure and showed convincing agreement between reconstructed biomes and prese nt natural vegetation types, both geographically and in terms of the elevat ion gradients in mountain regions of north-eastern and south-western China. The 6000 C-14 yr BP map confirms earlier studies in showing that the forest biomes in eastern China were systematically shifted northwards and extende d westwards during the mid-Holocene. Tropical rain forest occurred on mainl and China at sites characterized today by either tropical seasonal or broad leaved evergreen/warm mixed forest. Broadleaved evergreen/warm mixed forest occurred further north than today, and at higher elevation sites within th e modern latitudinal range of this biome. The northern limit of temperate d eciduous forest was shifted c. 800 km north relative to today. The 18,000 C-14 yr BP map shows that steppe and even desert vegetation exte nded to the modem coast of eastern China at the last glacial maximum, repla cing today's temperate deciduous forest. Tropical forests were excluded fro m China and broadleaved evergreen/warm mixed forest had retreated to tropic al latitudes, while taiga extended southwards to c. 43 degreesN.