Human-accelerated Holocene vegetation change is greater than expected on the Tibetan Plateau
We compiled 61 fossil pollen records on the Tibetan Plateau in the past 17 000 years to show that human-contributed acceleration in vegetation compositional change began ranging from 0.9 to 1.2 ka BP, although with a smaller magnitude than climate-driven changes during the deglacial period. We suggested that widespread human disturbance of Tibetan ecosystems occurred earlier than expected, aligning with global trends and forming a clear, datable marker of human footprint in stratigraphic records.
Authors
- Xiaoyi Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8136-6642)
- Pengchao Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7851-2976)
- Yi Luo (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9558-8876)
- Yingyu Jin (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0191-4464)
- Xiuyun Cao (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2034-7744)
- Tao Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3322-7554)
Institutions
- Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN)
- Lanzhou City University (CN)
- Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research (CN)
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN)
- Lanzhou University (CN)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Journal of Plant Ecology
- Published
- 2025-08-22
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1093/jpe/rtaf139
- Citations
- 1
- Primary Topic
- Geology and Paleoclimatology Research
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 1.30
Funders
- National Natural Science Foundation of China