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Origin of mound-field landscapes: a multi-proxy approach combining contemporary vegetation, carbon stable isotopes and phytoliths

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Abstract

Background and aims

Seasonally flooded South American savannas harbor different kinds of mound-field landscapes of largely unknown origin. A recent study used soil carbon-isotope depth profiles and other proxies to infer vegetation history in murundu landscapes in Brazil. Results suggested that differential erosion, not building-up processes (e.g., termite mounds), produced mounds. We tested this approach to inferring mound origin in a mound-field landscape in French Guiana.

Methods

We examined carbon-isotope depth profiles of soil organic matter, phytolith profiles and contemporary vegetation composition in mounds and inter-mounds.

Results

Relative abundance of C3 and C4 plants across habitats was very different from that in murundu landscapes; C3 plants were better represented in inter-mounds than on mounds. Habitat differences in C3/C4 distribution were subtler than in murundu landscapes, limiting inference of vegetation history based on carbon isotopes. Still, carbon-isotope and phytolith depth profiles gave similar pictures of vegetation history, both favoring a building-up hypothesis, corroborating other evidence that these mounds are vestiges of ancient agricultural raised fields.

Conclusions

Carbon-isotope depth profiles are unlikely to be adequate for deciphering origin of mound-field landscapes from vegetation history in seasonally flooded savannas. Including data on current vegetation and phytoliths makes inferences more robust.

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Abbreviations

NMDS:

Non-metric multidimensional distance scaling analysis

MANOVA:

Non-parametric multivariate analysis of variance

SD:

Standard deviation

SOM:

Soil organic matter

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Acknowledgements

This study was funded by two interdisciplinary programs of the CNRS (INEE, Institut National Ecologie et Environnement) “Amazonie” and “Ingénièrie Ecologique”. Personnel of the laboratory EcoFog (UMR L3MA, CNRS) in Kourou provided logistical assistance. Marie-Françoise Prévost is thanked for her help with plant determinations at CAY. Bruno Roux (L’AvionJaune, Montpellier) taught DR how to use Pixy™. We thank Dr. J. Römbke (ECT Oekotoxikologie, Flörsheim, Germany) for permission to use the photo of earthworm towers (sartenejales) reproduced in Fig. 1e. Stable isotopes were measured at Bayreuth Center of Ecology and Environmental Research (BayCEER) in the Laboratory of Isotope Biogeochemistry. We thank Finn Kjellberg (CNRS, Montpellier), Marc-André Selosse (University of Montpellier), Leonel Sternberg (University of Miami) and two anonymous reviewers for their critical comments on drafts of the manuscript.

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  1. Bruno Glaser

    Present address: Terrestrial Biogeochemistry, Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg, von-Seckendorff-Platz 3, 06120, Halle, Germany

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Université Montpellier II and Centre d’Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive, UMR 5175 CNRS, 1919 route de Mende, 34293, Montpellier cedex 5, France

    Delphine Renard, Gilles Grisard & Doyle McKey

  2. Soil Physics Group, University of Bayreuth, Universitätsstr. 30, Bayreuth, 95447, Germany

    Jago Jonathan Birk, Bruno Glaser & Johannes Karl

  3. Department of Archaeology, College of Humanities, University of Exeter, Laver Building, North Park Rd., Exeter, EX4 4QE, UK

    José Iriarte

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  1. Delphine Renard
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Correspondence to Delphine Renard.

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Renard, D., Birk, J.J., Glaser, B. et al. Origin of mound-field landscapes: a multi-proxy approach combining contemporary vegetation, carbon stable isotopes and phytoliths. Plant Soil 351, 337–353 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-011-0967-8

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