Ecological responses of the Atlantic Forest biodiversity hotspot to Holocene climate change: Insights from the Lagoa Canto Grande pollen record, Espirito Santo, coastal Brazil

ABSTRACT This study presents the modern pollen signature and Holocene vegetation and climate history of the evergreen forest and associated ecosystems in the Bahia Coastal Forest ecoregion of Brazil's Atlantic Forest biodiversity hotspot. Artificial pollen traps provided the modern pollen signature of the evergreen forest, which is marked by Urticaceae/Moraceae, Simarouba , Crepidospermum / Protium , Sloanea , Sapotaceae and Diploon , and presence of rare forest tree pollen types. The pollen signature of the wooded mussununga , an associated ecosystem, is characterized by Byrsonima , Doliocarpus , Lundia and Araliaceae. Fossil pollen from Lagoa Canto Grande shows that the early to middle Holocene (11 154–7731 cal a bp ) vegetation was characterized by regional dominance of semi‐deciduous forest, under a less humid and cooler climate than today, as well as coastal vegetation on sandy soils ( restinga ), mangrove and patches of alluvial forests. Relative sea‐level rise during the middle Holocene caused regional changes in the distribution of alluvial forests, restingas and mangroves. A change to warmer and more humid climatic conditions during the middle to late Holocene (7731–434 cal a bp ) led to forest community changes, with the establishment of the modern evergreen forest.