Studies of vegetation, fire and climate dynamics during the late Quaternary as contribution towards conservation and management of the biodiversity hotspot „Mata Atlântica“ in southern Brazil PhD Thesis submitted at the Georg August University Göttingen, Faculty of Biology for the degree “Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) /Dr. rer. nat.” in the Georg-August-University School of Science (GAUSS) Program by Vivian Luciana Jeske-Pieruschka born in Curitiba, Brazil Göttingen 2011 Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Hermann Behling Albrecht-von-Haller-Institute for Plant Sciences Department of Palynology and Climate Dynamics University of Göttingen Untere Karspüle 2 37073 Göttingen – Germany Co-supervisor: Prof. Dr. Erwin Bergmeier Albrecht-von-Haller-Institute for Plant Sciences Department of Vegetation & Phytodiversity Analysis University of Göttingen Untere Karspüle 2 37073 Göttingen – Germany Date of oral exam: 20/01/2011 To my lovely partner Marius and My dear parents Fredo and Erica Table of Content Acknowledgments ………………………………………………………………………………………… iv Preface …………………………………………………………………………………………………….. v Chapter One – Introduction ……………………………………………………………………………… 1 1.1. The Atlantic Forest Biome ………………………………………………………………… 2 1.2. Previous studies on the ecosystems of the Atlantic Forest Biome in southern Brazil during the late Quaternary ………………………………………………… 4 1.3. Aims of the work ……………………………………………………………………………. 5 1.4. Study region ………………………………………………………………………………… 7 1.4.1. Location of the study sites …………………………………………………….. 7 1.4.2. Geomorphology and soil ………………………………………………………. 9 1.4.3. Climate ………………………………………………………………………….. 10 1.4.4. Current distribution of the vegetation ………………………………………… 11 1.5. Methods ….………………………………………………………………………………… 13 1.5.1. Fieldwork ……………………………………………………...…………………. 13 1.5.2. Analyzed sediment cores …….…………………………………………...…… 14 1.5.3. Laboratory techniques ………………………...……………………………….. 17 1.5.4. Identification of pollen and spores ……………………………………………. 18 1.5.5. Calculation and data presentation …………………………………………..... 19 References ……………………………………………………………………………………….. 20 Chapter Two - Araucaria forest dynamics in relation to fire frequency in southern Brazil based on fossil and modern pollen data ……………………………………………………………….. 26 2.1. Abstract …………………………………………………………………………………….. 27 2.2. Introduction …………………………………………………………………………………. 27 2.3. Environmental setting ……………………………………………………………………… 29 2.4. Material and Methods ……………………………………………………………………… 31 2.5. Results ………………………………………………………………………………………. 32 2.6. Interpretation and Discussion …………………………………………………………….. 45 2.7. Conclusion ………………………………………………………………………………….. 49 2.8. References ………………………………………………………………………………….. 50 i Contents Chapter Three - Palaeoenvironmental history of the São Francisco de Paula region in southern Brazil during the late Quaternary inferred from the Rincão das Cabritas core …………. 54 3.1. Abstract ……………………………………………………………………………………… 55 3.2. Introduction …………………………………………………………………………………. 55 3.3. Environmental setting ……………………………………………………………………… 57 3.4. Methods ……………………………………………………………………………………... 60 3.5. Results ………………………………………………………………………………………. 60 3.6. Interpretation and Discussion …………………………………………………………... 67 3.7. Conclusions …………………………………………………………………………………. 75 3.8. References ………………………………………………………………………………….. 76 Chapter Four - New insights into vegetation, climate and fire history of southern Brazil revealed by a 40,000 years-old environmental record from the State Park Serra do Tabuleiro …………………. 80 4.1. Abstract ……………………………………………………………………………………… 81 4.2. Introduction …………………………………………………………………………………. 81 4.3. Regional setting …………………………………………………………………………….. 82 4.4. Material and Methods ……………………………………………………………………… 85 4.5. Results ………………………………………………………………………………………. 87 4.6. Interpretation and Discussion …………………………………………………………….. 97 4.7. Conclusions …………………………………………………………………………………. 103 4.8. References ………………………………………………………………………………….. 104 Chapter Five – Synthesis ………………………………………………………………………………… 108 5.1. Late Pleistocene period ……………………………………………………………………. 109 5.1.1. Pre-Last Glacial Maximum …………………..………………………………… 109 5.1.2. Last Glacial Maximum …………………………………………………………. 110 5.1.3. Late Glacial ……………………………………………………………………… 111 5.2. Holocene period ……………………………………………………………………………. 112 5.2.1. Early Holocene ………………………………………………………………….. 112 5.2.2. Mid-Holocene ……….…………………………………………………………... 113 5.2.3. Late Holocene …………………………………………………………………... 114 5.3. Conservation …………….…………………………………………………………………. 115 5.3.1. Human impact on the grassland and forest ecosystems during the last centuries ………………………………………………………………. 115 ii Contents 5.3.2. Campos-Araucaria forest mosaics and its sharp borderline ………………. 116 5.3.3. Impact of climate changes on forest ecosystems …………………………… 117 Summary …………………………………………………………………………………………………... 119 Zusammenfassung ……………………………………………………………………………………….. 121 Resumo ……………………………………………………………………………………………………. 123 Appendices A. Complete list of identified pollen and spore types of the São José dos Ausentes (SdA), Rincão das Cabritas (RdC) and Ciama 2 records as well as of the surface soil samples (soil SdA) ………………………………………………………………… 125 B. Complete list of pollen and spore types counted in the sedimentary records and soil samples grouped into different ecological groups ………………………... 134 C. Photo gallery: Illustration of some pollen and spores types ......................................... 139 D. Complete pollen diagrams of the studied records ……….………………………………. 152 E. Upper Pleistocene to Holocene Peatland Evolution in Southern Brazilian Highlands as Depicted by Radar Stratigraphy, Sedimentology and Palynology …...…………………... 179 iii Acknowledgements Acknowledgements The time writing this thesis has been hard but it was a great phase of intensive learning. I have to thank all people who contributed to and were involved in the successful completion of the thesis. Funding was provided by Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) project BE 2116/9-1. First, I wish to thank my leading supervisor, Prof. Dr. Hermann Behling for giving me the opportunity to work in his department and for introducing me to the subject of Palynology. Further, I would like to thank my co-supervisor Prof. Dr. Erwin Bergmeier for his co-operation and help, as well as for his interest in the project. I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Sonia Fontana, Thomas Giesecke, Sander van der Kaars, Ellyn Cook, Gerald Islebe and Frank Schlütz for scientific discussions, critical comments about the work and productive collaboration while writing this thesis. Special thanks to all members of the department, especially to Ursula Grothmann for helping me with administrative issues and Jörg Christiansen for solving computer problems. At this point, I would like to thank Nele Jantz for the taking of pollen and spore pictures and Martin Zweigert for sample preparation in the laboratory. Nicht zuletzt möchte ich den „Villa Hexen“ (Corinna Brunschön, Barbara Hermanowski, Lisa Schüler, Isabelle Matthias und Nele Jantz) für all die Unterstützung in den schwierigen Momenten, den Motivationsnachschub und die unendliche Hilfe bei meiner Arbeit danken. Agradeço ao meu pai por toda a ajuda em campo, como motorista e principalmente como guia. Aos meus colegas palinólogos Gisele L. de Lima, Renato B. Macedo, Rodrigo R. Cancelli, Andréia C. P. Evaldt e Prof. Soraia G. Bauermann, assim como à Renata I. Duzzioni, seu Weber e José Pedro P. Trindade pela grande ajuda durante os trabalhos de campo na Serra Geral e na Serra do Tabuleiro. Em especial, agradeço à minha família pela força e apoio emocional, principalmente meus pais, grandes incentivadores, que sempre me encorajaram e ajudaram. Ao meu querido marido e companheiro Marius pelo carinho e paciência, bem como pela ajuda nas situações mais difíceis. Muito obrigada! iv Preface Preface This PhD thesis, written as a cumulative work, has been accomplished at the Department of Palynology and Climate Dynamics at the University of Göttingen between March 2007 and December 2010. The thesis is composed of three different parts: a general introduction in Chapter 1, three independent articles presented in Chapter 2 to 4, and a synthesis in Chapter 5 integrating conclusions of the previous chapters together with a discussion. A fourth article in which the co-author Vivian Jeske-Pieruschka has written the palynological part on basis of data presented in Chapter 4 is attached in Appendix E. Tables and figures are inserted directly in the text following his statement on the text and enumerated separately for each chapter. Each article has been submitted separately for publication in international scientific journals and is arranged according to the layout of the journal. The reference style also follows the formatting rules of the designated journal except for Chapter 1. A summary of the thesis in English, German and Portuguese is given at the end. A complete list and some illustrations of identified pollen and spore types as well as complete pollen diagrams of the studied sediment records are included in the appendices. v CHAPTER 1 General Introduction 1 Chapter 1: Introduction 1.1. The Atlantic Forest Biome The mega-diverse country of Brazil encompasses six major biomes: Amazon, Cerrado, Caatinga, Atlantic Forest, Pantanal and Pampa (IBGE, 2004). The Atlantic Forest biome, considered one of the 25 global biodiversity hotspots (e.g. Myers et al., 2000; Tabarelli et al., 2005), comprises one of the most important tropical forests world-wide. It extends along the Brazilian Atlantic coast from