abstract
- Oceanic island flora is vulnerable to future climate warming, which is likely to promote changes in vegetation composition, and invasion of non-native species. Sub-Antarctic islands are predicted to experience rapid warming during the next century; therefore, establishing trajectories of change in vegetation communities is essential for developing conservation strategies to preserve biological diversity. We present a Late-glacial-early Holocene (16 500–6450 cal a bp) palaeoecological record from Hooker's Point, Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas), South Atlantic. This period spans the Pleistocene-Holocene transition, providing insight into biological responses to abrupt climate change. Pollen and plant macrofossil records appear insensitive to climatic cooling during the Late-glacial, but undergo rapid turnover in response to regional warming. The absence of trees throughout the Late-glacial-early Holocene enables the recognition of far-travelled pollen from southern South America. The first occurrence of Nothofagus (southern beech) may reflect changes in the strength and/or position of the Southern Westerly Wind Belt during the Late-glacial period. Peat inception and accumulation at Hooker's Point is likely to be promoted by the recalcitrant litter of wind-adapted flora. This recalcitrant litter helps to explain widespread peatland development in a comparatively dry environment, and suggests that wind-adapted peatlands can remain carbon sinks even under low precipitation regimes.