Vegetational dynamics in the last 40,000 years in minerotrophic peat bog in the Mata Preta Ecological Station, Subtropical Plateau with Araucarias – western Santa Catarina, Brazil

Abstract

This work presents the results obtained through a palynological analysis of a sedimentary core from a minerotrophic peat bog in the Mata Preta Ecological Station, Araucaria Subtropical Plateau in western Santa Catarina State, Brazil. The identification of palynomorphs and cluster analysis allowed the division of the core into three environmental phases and two subphases. The basal age of the core is 39,647 years BP, corresponding to the Middle Pleistocene, a period characterized by a cold and humid climate. Forest regeneration was observed after the Last Glacial Maximum (approximately 18,000 to 20,000 years BP). The vegetation is characterized by a grassland-forest mosaic, and the beginning of forest expansion in the center of the Araucaria Subtropical Plateau occurs earlier than that observed on its eastern edge. These results corroborate those of other studies already conducted in the Araucaria Subtropical Plateau.

 Keywords: palynology, late Quaternary, paleoenvironment.