Successional Patterns of the Gran Sabana (Southeastern Venezuela) Vegetation During the Last 5000 Years, and Its Responses to Climatic Fluctuations and Fire

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Abstract
Three Holocene palynological records from the Gran Sabana region were studied from an ecological perspective, in order to examine and to compare the responses of plant communities to external disturbances, i.e. climatic changes and fire. Attraction domains were defined using modem surface samples to build a multidimensional space, in which successional trends (deduced from palaeoecological data) were plotted. Both dryness and tire produced the substitution of forest by open savanna, but at different time scales. Forests did not recuperate at any time interval of this study, though a humid climate returned. In its place, morichales (swamp communities dominated by Mauritia flexuosa [Palmae]) developed in a general landscape of open savanna. More detailed palaeoecological studies using fine resolution techniques, with emphasis on transitional phases, are recommended.