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Phytolith Assemblages as a Promising Tool for Quantitative Canopy Coverage Reconstruction in Subtropical Forests, China

This study investigates the reliability of phytolith assemblage analysis for characterizing subtropical vegetation and explores the potential for using these modern phytolith–vegetation relationships for paleoenvironmental interpretation in southeastern China. The samples were collected from five co...

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Autores principales: Li, Nannan, Yu, Fengling, Sack, Dorothy, Huang, Zhaoquan, Tian, Ganghua, Liu, Shengtao
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9251495/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35795347
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2022.912627
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author Li, Nannan
Yu, Fengling
Sack, Dorothy
Huang, Zhaoquan
Tian, Ganghua
Liu, Shengtao
author_facet Li, Nannan
Yu, Fengling
Sack, Dorothy
Huang, Zhaoquan
Tian, Ganghua
Liu, Shengtao
author_sort Li, Nannan
collection PubMed
description This study investigates the reliability of phytolith assemblage analysis for characterizing subtropical vegetation and explores the potential for using these modern phytolith–vegetation relationships for paleoenvironmental interpretation in southeastern China. The samples were collected from five common subtropical vegetation communities in the Daiyun Mountains, southeastern China, with the above-ground vegetation recorded at each plot. Constrained ordination analysis was used to determine the most important factor governing the variations in phytolith assemblages that could be quantitatively reconstructed with weighted averaging partial least squares regression (WAPLS). The relationship between modern phytolith assemblages and the parent vegetation, as well as production, dispersal, and taphonomic processes, was discussed. Results demonstrated that the main subtropical biomes in southeastern China could be well distinguished by soil phytolith assemblages. In particular, the overall amount of tree coverage was well represented by topsoil phytolith assemblages. Grass silica short cell phytoliths (GSSCP) tended to occur in higher proportions in open habitats (shrub-meadow) at higher elevations, whereas non-grass phytolith morphotypes attained higher frequencies under mixed and broadleaf forests at lower elevations. Human-induced deforestation might increase the frequency of GSSCP within the bulk phytolith assemblage. Our results constitute the primary phytolith reference data for the subtropical zone in southeastern Asia where vegetation change during the Holocene period, particularly forest shifts, anthropogenic deforestation, and early agriculture are poorly documented.
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spelling pubmed-92514952022-07-05 Phytolith Assemblages as a Promising Tool for Quantitative Canopy Coverage Reconstruction in Subtropical Forests, China Li, Nannan Yu, Fengling Sack, Dorothy Huang, Zhaoquan Tian, Ganghua Liu, Shengtao Front Plant Sci Plant Science This study investigates the reliability of phytolith assemblage analysis for characterizing subtropical vegetation and explores the potential for using these modern phytolith–vegetation relationships for paleoenvironmental interpretation in southeastern China. The samples were collected from five common subtropical vegetation communities in the Daiyun Mountains, southeastern China, with the above-ground vegetation recorded at each plot. Constrained ordination analysis was used to determine the most important factor governing the variations in phytolith assemblages that could be quantitatively reconstructed with weighted averaging partial least squares regression (WAPLS). The relationship between modern phytolith assemblages and the parent vegetation, as well as production, dispersal, and taphonomic processes, was discussed. Results demonstrated that the main subtropical biomes in southeastern China could be well distinguished by soil phytolith assemblages. In particular, the overall amount of tree coverage was well represented by topsoil phytolith assemblages. Grass silica short cell phytoliths (GSSCP) tended to occur in higher proportions in open habitats (shrub-meadow) at higher elevations, whereas non-grass phytolith morphotypes attained higher frequencies under mixed and broadleaf forests at lower elevations. Human-induced deforestation might increase the frequency of GSSCP within the bulk phytolith assemblage. Our results constitute the primary phytolith reference data for the subtropical zone in southeastern Asia where vegetation change during the Holocene period, particularly forest shifts, anthropogenic deforestation, and early agriculture are poorly documented. Frontiers Media S.A. 2022-06-20 /pmc/articles/PMC9251495/ /pubmed/35795347 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2022.912627 Text en Copyright © 2022 Li, Yu, Sack, Huang, Tian and Liu. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Plant Science
Li, Nannan
Yu, Fengling
Sack, Dorothy
Huang, Zhaoquan
Tian, Ganghua
Liu, Shengtao
Phytolith Assemblages as a Promising Tool for Quantitative Canopy Coverage Reconstruction in Subtropical Forests, China
title Phytolith Assemblages as a Promising Tool for Quantitative Canopy Coverage Reconstruction in Subtropical Forests, China
title_full Phytolith Assemblages as a Promising Tool for Quantitative Canopy Coverage Reconstruction in Subtropical Forests, China
title_fullStr Phytolith Assemblages as a Promising Tool for Quantitative Canopy Coverage Reconstruction in Subtropical Forests, China
title_full_unstemmed Phytolith Assemblages as a Promising Tool for Quantitative Canopy Coverage Reconstruction in Subtropical Forests, China
title_short Phytolith Assemblages as a Promising Tool for Quantitative Canopy Coverage Reconstruction in Subtropical Forests, China
title_sort phytolith assemblages as a promising tool for quantitative canopy coverage reconstruction in subtropical forests, china
topic Plant Science
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9251495/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35795347
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2022.912627
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