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Publication Details
AFRICAN RESEARCH NEXUS
SHINING A SPOTLIGHT ON AFRICAN RESEARCH
arts and humanities
Seasonality change and the third millennium BP rainforest crisis in southern Cameroon (Central Africa)
Quaternary Research, Volume 71, No. 3, Year 2009
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Description
The third millennium BP crisis of the central African rainforest is not sufficiently understood. The low resolution of most pollen profiles and a large plateau of the calibration curve aggravate the exact dating of the event, and its causal climatic parameters are debated. We present a high-resolution pollen profile from the swamp site Nyabessan in the southern Cameroonian rainforest, covering the period 3100-2300 cal yr BP. Between 3100 and 2500 cal yr BP, the climate was favourable for a regional evergreen forest with Caesalpiniaceae and Lophira and a local Raphia swamp forest. Around 2500/2400 cal yr BP, a significant decrease of mature forest and swamp forest taxa and an increase of pioneers indicate that the rain forest was seriously disturbed and replaced by secondary formations. The dominance of Trema orientalis, a pioneer well adapted to seasonal desiccation, points to a much more accentuated seasonality after 2500 cal yr BP, which seems to be linked to a southwards shift of the ITCZ during the northern hemisphere winter months. We propose that the rain forest crisis between 2500 and 2200 cal BP created favourable conditions for farming and paved the way for a major expansion of Bantu speaking populations. © 2009 University of Washington.
Authors & Co-Authors
Ngomanda, Alfred
Germany, Frankfurt am Main
Goethe-universität Frankfurt am Main
Gabon
Institut de Recherche en Ecologie Tropicale
Neumann, Katharina
Germany, Frankfurt am Main
Goethe-universität Frankfurt am Main
Schweizer, Astrid
Germany, Frankfurt am Main
Goethe-universität Frankfurt am Main
Maley, Jean
France, Montpellier
Institut Des Sciences de L’evolution de Montpellier
Statistics
Citations: 140
Authors: 4
Affiliations: 3
Identifiers
Doi:
10.1016/j.yqres.2008.12.002
ISSN:
00335894
e-ISSN:
10960287
Research Areas
Environmental
Study Locations
Cameroon