Indication of paleoecological evidence on the evolution of alpine vegetation productivity and soil erosion in central China since the mid-Holocene

International audienceAlthough alpine ecosystems have been commonly recognized as sensitive to recent climate change, few studies haveexamined its impact on the long-term productivity of vegetation and soil erosion. Using paleoecological records, these twoaspects were examined in the alpine zone of the Taibai Mountains (elevation, 3767 m) in monsoon-dominated East Asia since themiddle Holocene. Proxies for the productivity of vegetation and severity of soil erosion from high-resolution alpine lacustrinerecords show that the productivity and soil erosion were closely related to mean annual temperature and summer precipitationfrom the East Asian Summer Monsoon (EASM), respectively. Specifically, when the mean annual temperature was low andprecipitation was abundant, during 5800–4000 calendar years before the present (cal. yr BP), the alpine ecosystem was characterized by low vegetation productivity and severe soil erosion. However, the productivity increased and soil erosion decreasedfrom 4000 cal. yr BP onwards. These results highlight the role of paleoecological evidence in studying ecosystem services onlonger time scales, which is significant in making policies for sustainable development under climate change in regions for whichsuch long-term monitoring data are not available