Impact of Holocene land use and climate change upon Brazil's Atlantic Forest biodiversity hotspot

全新世土地利用和气候变化对巴西大西洋森林生物多样性热点的影响

• 批准号: 2890053
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: University of Reading
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Studentship
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2023 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=studentship-2890053
• 关键词: Impact; Holocene; land; use; climate

Brazil's tropical Atlantic Forest (AF) is exceptionally biodiverse and critically endangered due to centuries of deforestation, with less than 20% of its original forest cover remaining. Although less famous than its Amazon cousin, its designation as a global 'Biodiversity Hotspot' highlights its global importance and conservation priority. A key challenge for conservationists is how best to maintain AF ecosystem functioning and biodiversity in the future, in the face of increasing fire, drought, and deforestation (Wilson et al. 2019, 2021). This project can help address this challenge by providing insights into long-term resilience, tipping points, and environmental sustainability via palaeoecology coupled with modelling. It focuses on the southern portion of the AF, spanning coastal tropical rainforest and upland forest dominated by 'Parana pine'. This iconic pine is a 'living fossil' which has been a key food source - both for dinosaurs during the Jurassic as well as humans over recent millennia. The overarching aim of this PhD project is to determine how ancient human societies and climate change have shaped the biodiversity, land cover, and fire regime of the southern AF through the Holocene - the last 12,000 years. To achieve this aim, a novel inter-disciplinary approach will be undertaken: 1. Lab-based analysis of fossil pollen and charcoal from bog sediments to reconstruct Holocene vegetation and fire history; 2. Agent-based modelling (ABM) to quantify pre-Columbian land-use impacts; 3. Correlation with existing palaeoclimate and archaeological data to determine Holocene human-climate-environment relationships.

巴西的热带大西洋森林 (AF) 生物多样性异常丰富，但由于数百年的森林砍伐，该森林已极度濒危，原始森林覆盖率仅剩不到 20%。尽管不如亚马逊表弟出名，但它被指定为全球“生物多样性热点”凸显了其全球重要性和保护优先事项。自然资源保护主义者面临的一个关键挑战是，面对日益严重的火灾、干旱和森林砍伐，如何在未来最好地维持 AF 生态系统功能和生物多样性（Wilson 等人，2019 年，2021 年）。该项目可以通过古生态学与建模相结合，提供对长期恢复力、临界点和环境可持续性的见解，从而帮助应对这一挑战。它的重点是AF的南部地区，横跨沿海热带雨林和以“巴拉那松”为主的高地森林。这种标志性的松树是“活化石”，一直是侏罗纪恐龙和近千年人类的重要食物来源。该博士项目的总体目标是确定古代人类社会和气候变化如何影响全新世（过去 12,000 年）AF 南部的生物多样性、土地覆盖和火灾状况。为了实现这一目标，将采取一种新颖的跨学科方法： 1. 对沼泽沉积物中的化石花粉和木炭进行实验室分析，以重建全新世植被和火灾历史； 2. 基于代理的建模（ABM），用于量化前哥伦布时期的土地利用影响； 3. 与现有古气候和考古数据进行关联，以确定全新世人类-气候-环境关系。