Improved studies of past vegetation change are required to better understand the variation of alpine ecosystems on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau (QTP) in response to future climate change. Spatial and temporal variations of past vegetation can be traced by fossil pollen data mapping. In this paper, we synthesized 57 continuous pollen records on the QTP covering the past 15 kyr to depict large-scale vegetation change and its response to climate variations. In order to minimize potential chronological biases, age-depth models were revised using a state-of-the-art and consistent method for all the records. The spatial and temporal variation of major pollen taxa were examined based on interpolated pollen maps at 1000-year intervals. The arboreal pollen (AP, mainly of Pinus, Betula and Abies/Picea) content expressed significant climate signals over a broad spatial and temporal gradient. During the late glacial period, high proportions of AP widely occurred in regions that are presently unforested owing to the sparse local vegetation coverage. For the Holocene period, AP showed relatively high contributions in records from the southeastern margin of the QTP, with a decreasing gradient in abundance towards the northwest. The transportation of AP to unforested regions corresponds closely to the intensity of monsoon wind, which can be used to track the Holocene evolution of the summer monsoon. The dominant shrub and herbaceous taxa (including Artemisia, Chenopodiaceae, Cyperaceae, Poaceae and Ephedra) generally represent developments of local vegetation responding to climate variations. In addition, the persistent increase in Poaceae pollen during the mid to late Holocene correlates possibly to regional human activities. The inferred spatial and temporal patterns of major pollen types on the QTP provide significant knowledge about long-term vegetation change and its potential response to climate variations.

需要对过去的植被变化进行更好的研究，以更好地了解青藏高原（QTP）对未来气候变化的响应。过去植被的时空变化可以通过化石花粉数据映射来追踪。在本文中，我们在QTP上合成了57个连续的花粉记录，覆盖了过去15年的时间，描述了大规模的植被变化及其对气候变化的响应。为了最大程度地减少潜在的时间偏差，对所有记录使用了最新且一致的方法对年龄深度模型进行了修订。基于插值的花粉图，以1000年的间隔检查主要花粉类群的时空变化。树木花粉（AP，主要是松属，桦属和冷杉（Abies /云杉）的含量在很大的时空梯度上表达了重要的气候信号。在冰川期后期，由于当地植被稀疏，目前在没有森林的地区普遍出现了高比例的AP。在全新世时期，AP在QTP东南边缘的记录中显示出相对较高的贡献，向西北方向的丰度梯度减小。AP到未造林地区的运输与季风风的强度非常接近，可以用来追踪夏季风的全新世演化。优势灌木和草本类群（包括蒿，藜科，莎草科，禾本科和麻黄））通常代表当地植被对气候变化的响应。此外，全新世中期至晚期禾本科花粉的持续增加可能与区域人类活动有关。在QTP上推断出的主要花粉类型的时空格局提供了有关长期植被变化及其对气候变化的潜在响应的重要知识。