A 19.5 kyr vegetation history from the central Cederberg Mountains, South Africa: Palynological evidence from rock hyrax middens

In arid and semi-arid areas such as southern Africa, rock hyrax (Procavia capensis) middens represent an exceptionally valuable source of late Quaternary palaeoenvironmental information. Pollen and stable isotope data derived from two rock hyrax middens extracted from De Rif in the Cederberg Mountains of the southwestern Cape, casts new light on climatic changes that occurred across the Last Glacial–Interglacial Transition (LGIT) and the Holocene (19.5–0.7 cal kBP) and how the region's vegetation responded to these changes. Significant changes in vegetation community composition would be expected in response to environmental changes characteristic of the contrast between ‘glacial’ and ‘interglacial’ climates. However, the pollen assemblages in general indicate that mountain fynbos remained dominant throughout the record and that most of the pollen taxa exhibited only muted frequency variations. This finding could be considered to be inconsistent with indications of marked climatic variations recorded in the stable isotope records for the same midden. An analysis of the geological setting and the bioclimatic affinities of the taxa suggest that the explanation for this inconsistency may lie in the dominating influence of sandstone substrates and the relative resilience of mountain fynbos vegetation to climate change.

Research highlights
► Pollen from hyrax middens casts new light on palaeoenvironments in the Cederberg.
► Stable isotope data from the same middens reveals marked climatic variations.
► Mountain fynbos remained dominant at the site throughout the LGIT and Holocene.
► Some differences between glacial and interglacial vegetation structures were evident.