Orographic evolution of northern Tibet shaped vegetation and plant diversity in eastern Asia

Li, Shu-Feng; Valdes, Paul J.; Farnsworth, Alex; Davies-Barnard, T.; Su, Tao; Lunt, Daniel J.; Spicer, Robert A.; Liu, Jia; Deng, Wei-Yu-Dong; Huang, Jian; Tang, He; Ridgwell, Andy; Chen, Lin-Lin and Zhou, Zhe-Kun (2021). Orographic evolution of northern Tibet shaped vegetation and plant diversity in eastern Asia. Science Advances, 7(5), article no. eabc7741.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abc7741

Abstract

The growth of the Tibetan Plateau throughout the past 66 million years has profoundly affected the Asian climate, but how this unparalleled orogenesis might have driven vegetation and plant diversity changes in eastern Asia is poorly understood. We approach this question by integrating modeling results and fossil data. We show that growth of north and northeastern Tibet affects vegetation and, crucially, plant diversity in eastern Asia by altering the monsoon system. This northern Tibetan orographic change induces a precipitation increase, especially in the dry (winter) season, resulting in a transition from deciduous broadleaf vegetation to evergreen broadleaf vegetation and plant diversity increases across southeastern Asia. Further quantifying the complexity of Tibetan orographic change is critical for understanding the finer details of Asian vegetation and plant diversity evolution.

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• Item ORO ID
• 75128
• Item Type
• Journal Item
• ISSN
• 2375-2548
• Project Funding Details

• Funded Project Name	Project ID	Funding Body
  NSFC-RCUK NERC joint project	41661134049	NERC (Natural Environment Research Council)
  NSFC-RCUK NERC joint project	41661134049	RCUK (Research Councils UK)
  Not Set	NE/P013805/1	NERC (Natural Environment Research Council)
  Not Set	2019FB061	Yunnan Province Natural Science Foundation
  International Fellowship for Visiting Scientists	Not Set	XTBG
  Key Research Program of Frontier Sciences	Not Set	Not Set

• Academic Unit or School
• Faculty of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) > Environment, Earth and Ecosystem Sciences
  Faculty of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM)
• Copyright Holders
• © 2021 Shu-Feng Li, et al.
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• Depositing User
• Jisc Publications-Router