Abstract
The question of forest refugia in Africa is briefly presented from a historical and evolutionary point of view. Main pollen evidence, which goes back to about 25–28,000 yr BP, is presented for two lakes situated in African lowland rain forest.
The pollen data from Lake Bosumtwi (Ghana) show the disappearance of rain forest from ca. 28,000 to ca. 9000 yr BP. During this time interval the vegetation was a grassland of the montane type with sparse clumps of trees. There is synchronism between montane vegetation disappearance and rain forest reappearance. This phenomenon occurred abruptly between about 9000 and 8500 yr BP.
In Lake Barombi Mbo (West Cameroon) the pollen data show clearly that from ca. 24,000 yr BP until recent time, rain forest persisted with limited variations, and thus, this area represents a refuge area. One also notes an extension of montane vegetation to low elevation which disappears near the beginning of Holocene time.
After a short synthesis of the palaeobiogeography of Afromontane vegetation, one discusses the palaeoclimatology. In the light of the present-day annual climate anomalies which relate mainly to sea surface temperature variations and upwelling of cold water in the Guinea Gulf, one points out the drying and cooling role of stratiform cloud cover, particularly during the time of fragmentation of the forest area. For the Ghanean rain forest one also discusses on the weather types responsible for the forest extension after 9000 yr BP and during the major transgression of Bosumtwi lake during mid-Holocene time. One relates these two phenomena to the disappearance of the present-day summer “little dry season”. The reappearance of this “little dry season” in late Holocene time, linked to the deterioration of the water budget, is probably responsible for the abrupt lacustrine regressions and also for the opening of the “Dahomey Gap”.
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Maley, J. (1989). Late Quaternary Climatic Changes in the African Rain Forest : Forest Refugia and the Major Role of Sea Surface Temperature Variations. In: Leinen, M., Sarnthein, M. (eds) Paleoclimatology and Paleometeorology: Modern and Past Patterns of Global Atmospheric Transport. NATO ASI Series, vol 282. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-0995-3_25
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