Mid- and late Holocene vegetation and environmental dynamics in the Llanganates National Park, Anteojos Valley, central Ecuadorian Andes

Abstract

The last ca. 4100 cal yr BP of palaeoenviromental conditions in the Llanganates National Park, central Ecuadorian Andes, has been reconstructed from the pollen record ‘Anteojos Valley’ (3984 m elevation). The pollen record, dated with four radiocarbon dates, indicates that the local páramo vegetation was relatively stable with only minor fluctuations since the mid-Holocene. The páramo vegetation was characterised mainly by Asteraceae, Cyperaceae and Poaceae. The regional lower mountain rainforest vegetation is mainly represented by Moraceae/Urticaceae, and the upper mountain rainforest by Melastomataceae, Polylepis and Weinmannia. Between ca. 4100 to 2100 cal yr BP, páramo was the main vegetation type with a low presence of mountain rainforest, probably reflecting cool conditions. Between ca. 2100 cal yr BP and the present, the proportion of páramo vegetation increased with a decreased occurrence of mountain rainforest, suggesting cooler and moister conditions. Low frequencies of fires were evidenced since the mid-Holocene. However, there is a slight increase of regional fire between ca. 4100 and 3100 cal yr BP. The low abundance of larger carbonised particles since the beginning of the record suggests a low occurrence of local fire in the study area.

Keywords:

• palaeoecology
• mid-Holocene
• páramo
• vegetation dynamic
• central Ecuadorian Andes

Acknowledgements

Alejandra Moscoso, Jorge Castillo and Santiago Yerovi are thanked for their assistance with the fieldwork.

Additional information

Funding

We thank the PUCE-Project ‘Estudios ecológicos y paleoecológicos de los páramos del Ecuador’ (K13067) and the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) research unit FOR 816 (BE 2116/8-2) for financial support.

Notes on contributors

Andrea Villota

ANDREA VILLOTA works on the Late Quaternary, specifically on palaeoecology, vegetational history and palaeoenvironmental changes using palynology as a proxy. Most of the material studied is from peat bogs in the Ecuadorian Andes.

Susana León-Yánez

SUSANA LEÓN-YÁNEZ works at Pontificia Catholic University in Quito, Ecuador. Her main research interests are palaeobotany and Andean floras. She is leading a research project on palaeoecology in the Ecuadorian Andes, especially in the páramo of Ecuador.

Hermann Behling

HERMANN BEHLING is a professor of botany at the University of Göttingen in Germany, and has been the head of the Department of Palynology and Climate Dynamics there since October 2005. Hermann's major research interests include terrestrial and marine palynology, palaeoecology, biodiversity dynamics, palaeoclimatology, fire history and human settlement history. His research focusses on Late Quaternary palaeoenvironmental studies in tropical and subtropical South America, Asia and Africa, land-ocean interactions, and palaeoecology in different ecosystems such as rainforests, savannas, mangroves and mountain vegetation.