Data from: Global vegetation patterns of the past 140,000 years

Aim Insight into global biome responses to climatic and other
environmental changes is essential to address key questions about past and
future impacts of such changes. By simulating global biome patterns 140 ka
to present we aimed to address important questions about biome changes
during this interval. Location Global. Taxon  Plantae.
Methods Using the LPJ-GUESS dynamic global vegetation model, we made 89
simulations driven using ice-core atmospheric CO2 concentrations, Earth’s
obliquity, and outputs from a pre-industrial and 88 palaeoclimate
experiments run using HadCM3. Experiments were run for 81 time slices
between 1 ka and 140 ka, seven ‘hosing’ experiments also being run, using
a 1 Sv freshwater flux to the North Atlantic, for time slices
corresponding to Heinrich Events H0 – H7. Using a rule-based approach,
based on carbon mass and leaf area index of the LPJ-GUESS plant functional
types, the biome was inferred for each grid cell. Biomes were mapped, and
the extent and total vegetation biomass of each biome, and total global
vegetation biomass, estimated. Results Substantial changes in biome
extents and locations were found on all vegetated continents. Although the
largest-magnitude changes were in Eurasia, important changes were seen in
tropical latitudes and the Southern Hemisphere. Total global extent of
most biomes varied on multi-millennial (orbital) time scales, although
some (e.g. Tropical Raingreen Forest) responded principally to the
ca. 100 kyr glacial–interglacial cycle and others (e.g. Temperate
Broad-leaved Evergreen Forest) mainly to the ca. 20 kyr precession
cycle. Many also responded to millennial contrasts between stadial
(‘hosing’) and interstadial climates, with some (e.g. Tropical Evergreen
Forest) showing stronger responses than to the multi-millennial changes.
Main conclusions No two time slices had identical biome patterns. Even
equivalent Holocene and last interglacial time slices, and the last and
penultimate glacial maxima, showed important differences. Only a small
proportion of global land area experienced no biome change since
140 ka; many places experienced multiple biome changes. These modelling
experiments provided little evidence for long-term biome stability.