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Pleistocene drivers of Northwest African hydroclimate and vegetation

Author(s)
O’Mara, Nicholas A; Skonieczny, Charlotte; Winckler, Gisela; Bory, Aloys J-M; Bradtmiller, Louisa I; Malaizé, Bruno; Polissar, Pratigya J; Mcgee, David; ... Show more Show less
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Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
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Abstract
<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:p>Savanna ecosystems were the landscapes for human evolution and are vital to modern Sub-Saharan African food security, yet the fundamental drivers of climate and ecology in these ecosystems remain unclear. Here we generate plant-wax isotope and dust flux records to explore the mechanistic drivers of the Northwest African monsoon, and to assess ecosystem responses to changes in monsoon rainfall and atmospheric pCO<jats:sub>2</jats:sub>. We show that monsoon rainfall is controlled by low-latitude insolation gradients and that while increases in precipitation are associated with expansion of grasslands into desert landscapes, changes in pCO<jats:sub>2</jats:sub> predominantly drive the C<jats:sub>3</jats:sub>/C<jats:sub>4</jats:sub> composition of savanna ecosystems.</jats:p>
Date issued
2022
URI
https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/148110
Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences
Journal
Nature Communications
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Citation
O’Mara, Nicholas A, Skonieczny, Charlotte, McGee, David, Winckler, Gisela, Bory, Aloys J-M et al. 2022. "Pleistocene drivers of Northwest African hydroclimate and vegetation." Nature Communications, 13 (1).
Version: Final published version

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