Fig. 2: Pollen diagrams showing the relative abundances of the most dominant pollen taxa from two deep-sea sediment cores spanning MIS 6 to MIS 3. | Communications Earth & Environment

Fig. 2: Pollen diagrams showing the relative abundances of the most dominant pollen taxa from two deep-sea sediment cores spanning MIS 6 to MIS 3.

From: Climatic variability, vegetation dynamics, and cultural innovation in Southern Africa during the Middle Stone Age

Fig. 2

A MD96-2048 (eastern Southern Africa); B MD96-2098 (western Southern Africa). Both panels also display precession (red curve) and δ¹⁸O values (blue line) as climatic context proxies. Marine Isotope Stages (MIS) and substages are indicated at the top. Taxa are grouped by ecological preference: Podocarpaceae and Cyperaceae are associated with more humid, forested or high-altitude environments; Poaceae with open, grassy, and drier habitats; Asteraceae and Restionaceae with Fynbos and transitional shrubland environments. Arrows indicate moisture preference inferred for each taxon. These sequences illustrate vegetation responses to orbital-scale climatic shifts, highlighting contrasts and synchronies between the eastern and western parts of South Africa (see Supplementary Data 1).

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