This dataset is the biome change data of the Tibetan Plateau since the last glacial maximum which was reconstructed by using a new method. Firstly, a random forest algorithm was applied to establish a pollen-biome classification model for reconstructing past vegetation changes of the Tibetan Plateau, and 1802 modern pollen assemblages from 17 vegetation zones in and around the Tibetan Plateau were used as the training set for the model development. The random forest model showed a reliable performance (accuracy > 76%) in predicting modern biomes from modern pollen assemblages based on a comparison with the observed biomes. Moreover, the random forest model had a significantly higher accuracy than the traditional biomization method. Then, the newly established random forest model is applied to the paleovegetation reconstruction of 51 fossil pollen sequences of the Tibetan Plateau. New age-depth models were developed for these fossil pollen records using the Bayesian method, and all fossil pollen records were linearly interpolated to 500-year time slices. Finally, the spatiotemporal changes of biomes on the Tibetan plateau over the past 22,000 years at an interval of 500 years were reconstructed by using the random forest model. This dataset can provide evidence for understanding the past variation of alpine vegetation and its mechanism; provide the basis for studying the impact of past climate change on vegetation on the Tibetan Plateau; and provide boundary conditions for climate simulation.
QIN Feng , ZHAO Yan, CAO Xianyong
Relationship between modern pollen and climate, and its representative to vegetation are the important references in explaining and reconstructing past climate and vegetation qualitatively or quantitatively. To extrct past climate and vegetation signals from fossil pollen spectrum of a lacustrine sediment, a corresponding modern pollen dataset collected from lake-sediment surface is necessary. At present, there are a few modern pollen datasets extracted from lake sediment-surface established on the Tibetan Plateau, however, the geographic gaps (e.g. the central and east Tibetan Plateau) of available sampled lakes influence the correct understanding. To ensure the even distribution of the representative lakes, we collected lake sediment-surface samples (n=117) covering the alpine meadow evenly on the east and central Tibetan Plateau, in July and August 2018. For pollen extraction, approximately 10 g (wet original sediment) per sample were sub-sampled. Pollen sample was processed by the standard acid-alkali-acid procedures followed by 7-μm-mesh sieving. More than 500 terrestrial pollen grains were counted for each sample. Pollen assemblages of the dataset from alpine meadow are dominated by Cyperaceae (mean is 68.4%, maximum is 95.9%), with other herbaceous pollen taxa as commen taxa including Poaceae (mean is 10.3%, maximum is 87.7%), Ranunculaceae (mean is 4.8%, maximum is 33.6%), Artemisia (mean is 3.7%, maximum is 24.5%), Asteraceae (mean is 2.1%, maximum is 33.6%), etc. Salix (mean is 0.4%, maximum is 5.3%) is the major shrub taxon in these pollen assemblages, while arboreal taxa occur with low percentages generally (mean of total arboreal percentages is 0.9% (maximum is 5.8%), including mainly Pinus (mean is 0.3%, maximum is 1.8%), Betula (mean is 0.1%, maximum is 0.9%) and Alnus (mean is 0.1%, maximum is 0.7%). These pollen assemblages represent the plant components well in the alpine meadow communities, although they are influenced slightly by long-distance pollen grain transported by wind or river (such as these arboreal pollen taxa). Together with pollen counts and percentages, we also provided the modern climatic data for the sampled lakes. The China Meteorological Forcing Dataset (CMFD; gridded near-surface meteorological dataset) with a temporal resolution of three hours and a spatial resolution of 0.1° was employed, and the climatic data of the nearest pixel of one sampled lake was defined to represent climatic conditions of the lake. Finally, the mean annual precipitation (Pann), mean annual temperature (Tann) and mean temperature of the coldest month (Mtco) and warmest month (Mtwa) are calculated for each sampled lake.
CAO Xianyong, TIAN Fang, LI Kai, NI Jian
The source of the data is paper: Zhang, J.F., Xu, B.Q., Turner, F., Zhou, L.P., Gao, P., Lü, X.M., & Nesje, A. (2017). Long-term glacier melt fluctuations over the past 2500 yr in monsoonal high asia revealed by radiocarbon-dated lacustrine pollen concentrates. Geology, 45(4), 359-362. In this paper, the researcher of Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences and CAS Center for Excellence in Tibetan Plateau Earth Sciences, Baiqing Xu, with his postdoctoral fellow, Jifeng Zhang, and collaborators from Peking University and other institutions, propose that the OPE (“old pollen effect”, the offset between the calibrated 14C ages of pollen in lake sediments and the sediment depositional age) as a new indicator of glacier melt intensity and fluctuations by measuring the radiocarbon ages of the sediments of the proglacial lake of Qiangyong Glacier on the southern Tibetan Plateau with multi-methods (bulk organic matter, pollen concentrates and plant residues). This research suggests that hemispheric-scale temperature variations and mid-latitude Westerlies may be the main controllers of the late Holocene glacier variability in monsoonal High Asia. It also shows that the 20th-century glacier melt intensity exceeded that of two historical warm epochs (the Medieval Warm Period, and the Iron/Roman Age Optimum) and is unprecedented at least for the past 2.5 k.y. This data is provided by the author of the paper, it contains long-term glacier melt fluctuations of Qiangyong Glacier over the past 2500 yr reconstructed by the OPE. A 3.06-m-long core (QYL09-4) and a 1.06-m-long parallel gravity core (QY-3) were retrieved by the researchers from the depositional center of Qiangyong Co. Using a new composite extraction procedure, they obtained relatively pure pollen concentrates and plant residue concentrates (PRC; >125 μm) from the finely laminated sediments. Bulk organic matter and the PRC and pollen fractions were used for 14C dating independently. All 14C ages were calibrated with IntCal13 (Reimer et al., 2013). The age-depth model is based on 210Pb and 137Cs ages and five 14C ages of PRC. Only the youngest PRC ages were used for the age-depth model, whereas older ages that produce a stratigraphic reversal and are apparently influenced by redeposited or aquatic plant material were rejected. The deposition model was constructed using the P_Sequence algorithm in Oxcal 4.2 (Bronk Ramsey, 2008). For the calculation of the offset between the calibrated pollen 14C ages and the sediment depositional age, 2σ intervals for interpolated ages according to the deposition model were subtracted from calibrated pollen ages (2σ span), resulting in the age offset between pollen and estimated sediment ages (ΔAgepollen). This data is radiocarbon ages and the calculated ΔAgepollen of core QYL09-4 from a proglacial lake of Qiangyong Glacier. The data contains fields as follows: Lab No. Dating Material Depth (cm) 14C age (yr BP) ∆Agepollen (≥95.4 % yrs) Sediment Age (CE) See attachments for data details: ZhangJF et al. 2017 GEOLOGY_Long-term glacier melt fluctuations over the past 2500 yr on the Tibetan Plateau.pdf.
ZHANG Jifeng
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