Abstract Tropical dry islands are currently facing major challenges derived from anthropogenic and climatic pressures. However, their trajectories of environmental change, which could provide relevant information applicable to biodiversity conservation, remain understudied. This is mainly due to poor micro-fossil preservation and irregular sediment deposition. Multi-proxy palaeoecological analyses spanning decades to 1000s of years can add perspective as to how vegetation, fungal communities, and the fauna responded to previous natural and anthropogenic disturbances. In Sao Nicolau, Cabo Verde, we used palaeoecological methods to analyse a highland soil profile (1000 m asl) dated to 5900 cal yr BP. We analysed how vegetation (abundances in pollen of native and introduced species, and leaf wax n-alkanes), ferns and fungal communities (abundance of non-pollen palynomorphs) varied over time in relation to fire (charcoal concentration) and erosion regimes (grain sizes and elemental composition). Between 5000 and 400 cal yr BP the highlands held native woody taxa such as Euphorbia tuckeyana, Dracaena draco subsp. caboverdeana, and Ficus, taxa that can be used for future reforestation programmes. From 400 cal yr BP to the present day, replacement of native taxa by introduced and cultivated taxa (Pinus, Eucalyptus, Asystasia, Opuntia) has occurred. Vegetation burning and grazing caused loss of vegetation and erosion, acting as conjoined drivers of scrubland degradation. This dataset helps to set historically contextualised restoration goals such as the re-introduction of native species, monitoring of recently introduced species and control of free grazing. This can serve as a model system for the conservation of tropical dry islands' biodiversity.

中文翻译：

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使用多种古生态指标指导热带干旱岛屿的生物多样性保护：佛得角圣尼古拉的案例

摘要 热带干旱岛屿目前正面临来自人为和气候压力的重大挑战。然而，它们的环境变化轨迹可以提供适用于生物多样性保护的相关信息，但仍未得到充分研究。这主要是由于微化石保存较差，沉积物沉积不规则。跨越几十年到几千年的多代理古生态分析可以增加关于植被、真菌群落和动物群如何响应先前自然和人为干扰的观点。在佛得角的圣尼古拉，我们使用古生态学方法分析了 5900 cal yr BP 的高原土壤剖面 (1000 m asl)。我们分析了植被（本地和引进物种的花粉含量，以及叶蜡正烷烃），蕨类植物和真菌群落（大量无花粉孢粉）随着时间的推移与火（木炭浓度）和侵蚀状况（颗粒大小和元素组成）有关。在 5000 到 400 cal yr BP 之间，高地拥有本地木本分类群，例如 Euphorbia tuckeyana、Dracaena draco subsp。caboverdeana 和 Ficus 是可用于未来重新造林计划的分类群。从 400 cal yr BP 到今天，已经发生了用引进和栽培的分类群（松属、桉树、Asystasia、仙人掌）替代本地分类群的情况。植被燃烧和放牧导致植被损失和侵蚀，是灌木丛退化的共同驱动因素。该数据集有助于设定历史背景下的恢复目标，例如重新引入本地物种，监测最近引进的物种和控制自由放牧。这可以作为保护热带干旱岛屿生物多样性的模型系统。