Palaeoecologists using pollen to map vegetation since the last ice age have noted numerous changes – which they feel increasingly obliged to blame on humans. These changes, such as deforestation or the dominance of certain plants, may happen suddenly or take place over thousands of years. The authors study the pollen record in Colombia, identify plants diagnostic of cultivation or disturbed ground (“degraded vegetation”) and use them to map human activities by proxy. They show how the people move and the landscape changes between 5000 BP and the present day, from the coast inland, and from the lowlands up into the Andes.

Colombian vegetation, at the ecological level of the biome, is reconstructed at the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) using two methods. A reconstruction of modern biomes shows that, for the majority of the sites, the pollen data accurately reflect the potential vegetation, even though much of the original vegetation has been transformed by agricultural practices. At 18 000 C-14 yr BP a generally cool and dry environment is reflected in biome assignments of cold mixed forests, cool evergreen forests and cool grassland/shrub, the latter extending to lower altitudes than presently recorded. Differential responses of the vegetation to climatic shifts are related to changes in moisture sources and the importance of edaphic control on the vegetation. Secondly, biomes at the LGM are also investigated by applying a vegetation model (BIOME-3) set to operate at CO2 levels of 200 ppmV and with climatic data from 12 meteorological stations that encompass a range of environments within Colombia. At lower altitudes it is apparent that moisture is the dominant control on driving vegetation change whereas temperature becomes more important at higher altitudes. The combined reconstruction of biome-scale vegetation dynamics in Colombia allows all understanding of the environmental controls on these to be developed that demonstrates the need to invoke different factors to explain the vegetation change rather than a uniform reduction in temperature or moisture. Copyright (C) 2004 John Wiley Sons, Ltd.

Colombian biomes are reconstructed at 45 sites From the modern period extending to the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). The basis for our reconstruction is pollen data assigned to plant functional types and biomes at six 3000-yr intervals. A reconstruction of modern biomes is used to check the treatment of the modern pollen data set against a map of potential vegetation. This allows the biomes reconstructed at past periods to be assessed relative to the modern situation. This process also provides a check on the a priori assignment of pollen taxa to plant functional types and biomes. For the majority of the sites, the pollen data accurately reflect the potential vegetation, even though much of the original vegetation has been transformed by agricultural practices. At 18 000 C-14 yr BP, a generally cool and dry environment is reflected in biome, assignments of cold mixed forests, cool evergreen forests and cool grassland-shrub; the latter extending to lower altitudes than presently recorded. This signal is strongly recorded at 15 000 and 12 000 C-14 yr BP, the vegetation at these times also reflecting a relatively cool and dry environment. At 9000 C-14 yr BP there is a shift to biomes thought to result from slightly cooler environmental conditions. This trend is reversed by 6000 C-14 yr BP; most sites, within a range of different environmental settings, recording a shift to more xeric biome types. There is an expansion of steppe and cool mixed-forest biomes, replacing tropical dry forest and cool grassland-shrub biomes, respectively. These changes in biome assignments from the modern situation can be interpreted as a biotic response to mid-Holocene climatic aridity. At 3000 C-14 yr BP the shift is mainly to biomes characteristic of slightly more mesic environmental conditions. There are a number of sites that do not change biome assignment relative to the modern reconstruction, although the affinities that these sites have to a specific biome do change. These 'anomalies' are interpreted on a site-by-site basis. Spatially constant, but differential response of the vegetation to climatic shifts are related to changes in moisture sources and the importance of edaphic controls on the vegetation. The Late Quaternary reconstruction of large-scale vegetation dynamics in Colombia allows an understanding of the environmental controls on these to be developed. In particular, shifts in the character of the main climatic systems that influence Colombian vegetation are described. Copyright (C) 2002 John Wiley Sons, Ltd.

Biomes are reconstructed in Colombia from modern (core-top) pollen data derived from 22 sites along an altitudinal gradient (2000–4100m) that encompasses the tree line. The ‘biomization’ methodology is described in a stepwise manner that details the reconstruction of vegetation along an altitudinal gradient. In the majority of the cases, the results are comparable to site-specific descriptions of the vegetation. At altitudes between 2000 and 3000m, cool mixed forest and cool evergreen forest biomes are important. Between 3000 and 3700m the cool grassland/shrub biome is dominant. Above 3700m, the affinity score to arboreal biomes is low with a concomitant increased affinity to the cool grassland biome that co-dominates along with the cool grassland/shrub biome. Hence, the technique is shown successful at reconstructing modern vegetation, this is particularly so when affinity scores to the range of biomes, rather the single most dominant biome, are used to describe vegetation composition. The results are able to delimit the altitudinally-induced changes in vegetation, from Andean forest associations, open forest and shrub grassland complex through to high altitude grasslands. However, this ability of the modern pollen data to predict the potential vegetation, via the biomization technique, is complicated by several site-specific factors that impact on the vegetation. Of particular importance are localised environmental conditions, particularly moisture regime. An additional area of interest is the impact that human activity has had on the vegetation. By manipulation of the input matrices, which are assigned a priori, and consultation of the range of biome affinity scores, it is possible to identify which sites reflect an anthropogenic signal and how this is manifested within the pollen data. By investigating the range of affinity scores, these factors can be identified and the relatively subtle changes in reconstructed vegetation determined, in particular, how the composition and quantity of the arboreal component changes about the tree line. The results are discussed in the context of using tree line position, and altitudinally-induced floristic changes, for palaeoclimatic reconstruction.

The assignment of Colombian pollen data to biomes allows the data to be synthesised at 10 'time windows' from the present-day to 6000 radiocarbon years before present (BP). The modern reconstructed biomes are compared to a map of modern potential vegetation to check the applicability of the method and the a priori assignment of pollen taxa to plant functional types and ultimately biomes. The reconstructed modern biomes are successful in describing the composition and distribution of modern vegetation. In particular, altitudinal variations in vegetation within the northern Andean Cordilleras are well described. At 6000 BP the biomes are mainly characteristic of warmer environmental conditions relative to those of the present-day. This trend continues until between 4000 and 3000 BP when there is a shift to more mesic vegetation that is thought to equate to an increase in precipitation levels. The period between 2500 and 1000 BP represents little or no change in biome assignment and is interpreted as a period of environmental stability. The influence attributed to human-induced impact on the vegetation is recorded from 5000 BP, but is particularly important from 2000 BP. The extent of this impact increases over the Late-Holocene period, and is recorded at increasingly high altitudes. Despite these changes, a number of sites do not change their biome assignment throughout the analysis. This asynchronous vegetation response is discussed within the context of site location, non-linear response of vegetation to Late-Holocene environmental change, regionally differential signals, localised human impact and methodological artefacts.