View article

The aims of this paper are to review previously published palaeovegetation and independent palaeoclimatic datasets together with new results we present from dynamic vegetation model simulations and modern pollen rain studies to: (i) determine the responses of Amazonian ecosystems to changes in temperature, precipitation and atmospheric CO₂ concentrations that occurred since the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), ca. 21 000 years ago; and (ii) use this long–term perspective to predict the likely vegetation responses to future climate change. Amazonia remained predominantly forested at the LGM, although the combination of reduced temperatures, precipitation and atmospheric CO₂ concentrations resulted in forests structurally and floristically quite different from those of today. Cold–adapted Andean taxa mixed with rainforest taxa in central areas, while dry forest species and lianas probably became important …