Biota and Environment of Natural Areas

Bondarenko O.V., Evstigneeva T.A., Allaguvatova R.Z., Zhmerenetsky A.A., Utescher Т.

Reconstruction of zonal vegetation of East Asia in the early Eocene

Year: 2024, Number: 1, Pages: 5-21

For the fi rst time, unifi ed types of zonal vegetation are established for the early Eocene in east of Asia and their changes in space are traced. The reconstruction is based on the analysis of 48 palynofl oras from the early Eocene localities situated from 75 to 19° N using Integrated Plant Record (IPR) vegetation analysis. In the results, quantitative parameters of the relative proportions of vegetation components are obtained. According to our data, along the latitudinal gradient from north to south, there is an increase in evergreen plants and herbs, but a decrease in conifers and deciduous plants, and no changes in the proportions of xerophytic plants. Mixed mesophytic forest is a widespread and dominant type of zonal vegetation. In general, the main changes in plant biomes show a very shallow and weakly pronounced diff erentiation into two plant zones: mixed mesophytic forest, north of ~50° paleolatitude, and warmer types of zonal vegetation (broadleaved evergreen forest and an ecotone between mixed mesophytic and broadleaved evergreen forests), in addition to mixed mesophytic forest, south of ~50° paleolatitude. The resulting spatial patterns of vegetation are consistent with climatic inferences.

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