Our research focuses on the villages of Wenhai, Shuanghaizi and Haligu on the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain in Yunnan Province, Southwest China.

We carry out analyses of fossil pollen and spores in sediment cores in the area, providing an in-depth assessment of the effect of time and space upon vegetation and climate. By studying the effect of past climate and human activity upon vegetation, we can then begin to predict the impact of future climatic change upon the biodiversity and human population of the area. This work is part of a collaborative programme with scientists from the Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Publications

Trivedi, A., Tang, Y.-N., Qin, F., Farooqui, A., Wortley, A.H., Wang, Y.-F., Blackmore, S., Li, C.-S. & Yao, Y.F. 2020. Holocene vegetation dynamics and climatic fluctuations from Shuanghaizi Lake in the Hengduan Mountains, southwestern China. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 560: 110035. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.palaeo.2020.110035

Yao, Y.-F., Wang, X., Qin, F., Wortley, A.H., Li, S.-P., Blackmore, S., Li, C.-S. & Wang, Y.-F. 2020. Evidence for climate instability during the Younger Dryas interval in the Hengduan Mountains, Yunnan, southwestern China. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 554: 109798. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.palaeo.2020.109798

Wang, X., Yao, Y.-F., Wortley, A.H., Qiao, H.-J., Blackmore, S., Wang, Y.-F. & Li, C.S. 2018. Vegetation responses to the warming at the Younger Dryas-Holocene transition in the Hengduan Mountains, southwestern China. Quaternary Science Reviews 192: 236-248. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2018.06.007

Yao Y-F, et al. 2017. Pollen-based reconstruction of vegetational and climatic change over the past ~30 ka at Shudu Lake in the Hengduan Mountains of Yunnan, southwestern China. PLoS ONE 12(2): e0171967.

Li, C. S., et al. 2014. A 22 570 yr record of vegetational and climatic change from Wenhai Lake in the Hengduan Mountains biodiversity hotspot, Yunnan, Southwest China. Biogeosciences Discussions 11(1): 13433-13453.

Fore more information contact Alexandra Davey