Effects of the Younger Dryas Cooling Event on Late Quaternary Montane Oak Forest in Costa Rica

Abstract

Past climate change has profoundly impacted the montane oak forests in Central America, as illustrated by this example from fossil pollen studies carried out in Costa Rica. In fact, montane oak forests were significantly affected by glacial conditions, and the upper forest line shifted over 1,000 m during the Holocene. The forest-bog study site of La Chonta was located within paramo vegetation during the Pleniglacial. Cooling may have ranged from 6 to even 9 °C. In this time period, a sudden cooling event during the last stage of the Pleistocene — known as the Younger Dryas Chron — has been reported for the Costa Rican highlands.