download - Fakultät für Biologie - Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg

Behling - Vortrag
10
The Amazon rainforest in space and time
– Late Quaternary vegetation and plant diversity dynamics
in neotropical lowlands
HERMANN BEHLING
Department of Palynology and Climate Dynamics
Albrecht-von-Haller-Institute of Plant Sciences, University of Göttingen
Untere Karspüle 2, 37073 Göttingen, Germany
Hermann.Behling@bio.uni-goettingen.de
The Amazon rainforest is because of its size, biodiversity, its role for the regional and global climate,
and its significance for the global carbon cycle one of the most important ecosystems on earth. Despite
its importance, there is still little known about the Amazon rainforest history during the late
Quaternary. Due to the lack of data, there are different views on its history such as the “Ice Age
Refuge Theory”.
In respect to the issue of global change the question is raised how stable the Amazon rainforest
ecosystems are and how far they react on climate change and human impact. Important is also to
understand how biodiversity changes in view of environmental changes.
Palaeoecological studies based on pollen analysis in different ecosystems of Amazonia and
neighbouring regions provide inside on past vegetation dynamics and biodiversity changes. A new
long pollen record from eastern Amazonia, covering several glacial and interglacial periods, document
marked changes between Amazon rainforest and savanna vegetation. The Amazon rain forest must
have been markedly reduced during glacial periods. There is evidence of lower pollen and spore
diversity reflecting lower plant diversity during periods of dry climatic conditions and high diversity
during wetter periods.