scholarly journals Collapse of the Liangzhu and other Neolithic cultures in the lower Yangtze region in response to climate change

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (48) ◽  
Author(s):  
Haiwei Zhang ◽  
Hai Cheng ◽  
Ashish Sinha ◽  
Christoph Spötl ◽  
Yanjun Cai ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Lower Yangtze Region ◽  
Lower Yangtze ◽  
Neolithic Cultures

scholarly journals Phytolith records of flourishing early Holocene Pooideae linked to an 8.2 ka cold event in subtropical China

Elem Sci Anth ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Xinxin Zuo ◽  
Houyuan Lu ◽  
Zhen Li ◽  
Bing Song ◽  
Deke Xu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Climate Changes ◽  
Asian Monsoon ◽  
Early Holocene ◽  
Subtropical China ◽  
Cold Event ◽  
Ecological Zones ◽  
Lower Yangtze Region ◽  
Dry Conditions ◽  
Lower Yangtze

The grass subfamily Pooideae originated in a temperate niche during the late Cretaceous; it is the largest Poaceae subfamily, consisting of almost 4,000 species, which are distributed worldwide. Pooideae responses to climate changes at different time scales, and different ecological zones are thus important in understanding Poaceae evolutionary processes and their relationship with climate change. In the study described in this article, we reconstructed Pooideae variability during the early Holocene, as inferred by a phytolith sequence from the Lower Yangtze in subtropical China. The phytolith assemblage was marked by three increases in Pooideae phytoliths, dated to ca 8.4–8.0, 7.8–7.6, and 7.4–7.2 ka BP (before present, 1950 AD), with each representing pronounced increases in Pooideae extent and distribution. All these increases were within age ranges that agreed well with the timing of weak Asian Monsoon events, at 8.2, 7.7, and 7.3 ka BP. The first Pooideae flourishing period in subtropical China was the most significant, lasting for approximately four centuries and being characterized by a double peak, which equated with an event at 8.2 ka. This suggested that cold and/or dry conditions—which occurred over a period of several hundred years and were linked to weakening of the Asian monsoon—probably caused Pooideae to flourish in the Lower Yangtze region. Comparison of two diagnostic trapezoid phytolith types—namely wavy and wavy narrow—which showed different changes between ca 8.4 and 8.0 ka BP, suggested that they responded differently to the climate change represented by the 8.2 ka event. Our phytolith records have provided not only new data clarifying the detailed Pooideae response to the 8.2 ka event but also a reliable index for past cold climates in subtropical China.

scholarly journals Using expert elicitation to strengthen future regional climate information for climate services

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sam Grainger ◽  
Suraje Dessai ◽  
Joseph Daron ◽  
Andrea Taylor ◽  
Yim Ling Siu
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Regional Climate ◽  
Expert Elicitation ◽  
Future Climate ◽  
Future Climate Change ◽  
Climate Services ◽  
Couple Model Intercomparison Project ◽  
Lower Yangtze Region ◽  
Lower Yangtze ◽  
Lines Of Evidence

<p>Climate change knowledge can inform regional and local adaptation decisions. However, estimates of future climate are uncertain and methods for assessing uncertainties typically rely on the results of climate model simulations, which are constrained by the quality of assumptions used in model experiments and the limitations of available models. To strengthen knowledge for adaptation decisions, we use structured expert elicitation to assess future climate change in the Lower Yangtze region in China. We elicit judgements on future changes in temperature and precipitation as well as uncertainty sources, comparing elicited judgements and model outputs from phase 5 of the Couple Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP5). We find high consensus amongst experts that the Lower Yangtze region will be warmer in the coming decades, albeit with differences in the magnitude of change. There is less consensus around the direction and magnitude of change for future precipitation change in the region. When compared with CMIP5 model outputs, experts provide similar or narrower uncertainty ranges for temperature change and diverse ranges for precipitation. Experts considered additional factors (e.g. model credibility, observations, theory and paleo-climatic evidence) and uncertainties not usually represented in conventional modelling approaches. We explore the value in bringing together multiple lines of evidence in the context of climate services, arguing that while decision makers should not rely solely on expert judgements, this information can complement model information to strengthen regional climate change knowledge. These multiple lines of evidence can help in building dialogue between climate experts and regional stakeholders, contributing to the development of climate services. </p>

scholarly journals Quantitative Holocene climatic reconstructions for the lower Yangtze region of China

2017 ◽  
Vol 50 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 1101-1113 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jianyong Li ◽  
John Dodson ◽  
Hong Yan ◽  
Weiming Wang ◽  
James B. Innes ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Lower Yangtze Region ◽  
Lower Yangtze

Lexicography of the Entrenched Empire

2019 ◽  
pp. 218-235
Author(s):  
Mårten Söderblom Saarela
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Social Change ◽  
Qing Dynasty ◽  
Qing Empire ◽  
Lower Yangtze Region ◽  
Lower Yangtze

Lexicography in China under the rule of the Manchu Qing dynasty (1644–1911) was intimately tied up with empire. The Qing Empire was plurilingual; with the support of the Chinese elite, dominated by scholar-officials from the lower Yangtze region, the Manchu khans ruled as Confucian emperors, at the same time safeguarding a place for their own language in the polity. In this context, the bilingual elite undertook various lexicographical projects aspiring to greater integration of the empire’s main languages: Manchu and Chinese. Within this context, Mårten Söderblom Saarela addresses Banihûn’s and Pu-gong’s Qing-Han wenhai (Manchu–Chinese Literary Ocean), a reworking of an eighteenth-century poetic Chinese dictionary. He compares this bilingual project to an unfinished Chinese–French dictionary inspired by the same source. At a time of linguistic and social change in China, Banihûn and Pu-gong aspired to further integrate the empire’s two literary languages and thereby to provide a resource for lettered bannermen such as themselves and to maintain what they knew to be the fragile equilibrium of relations between these languages.

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