Articles | Volume 17, issue 10
https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-17-5557-2025
© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.Pollen-based reconstruction of spatially-explicit vegetation cover over the Tibetan Plateau since the last deglaciation
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- Final revised paper (published on 21 Oct 2025)
- Supplement to the final revised paper
- Preprint (discussion started on 31 Mar 2025)
- Supplement to the preprint
Interactive discussion
Status: closed
Comment types: AC – author | RC – referee | CC – community | EC – editor | CEC – chief editor
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RC1: 'Comment on essd-2024-555', Anonymous Referee #1, 10 Apr 2025
- AC2: 'Reply on RC1', pengchao zhang, 19 Aug 2025
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RC2: 'Comment on essd-2024-555', Anonymous Referee #2, 22 Jul 2025
- AC1: 'Reply on RC2', pengchao zhang, 19 Aug 2025
Peer review completion
AR: Author's response | RR: Referee report | ED: Editor decision | EF: Editorial file upload
AR by pengchao zhang on behalf of the Authors (20 Aug 2025)
Author's response
Author's tracked changes
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ED: Referee Nomination & Report Request started (20 Aug 2025) by Hanqin Tian
RR by Anonymous Referee #1 (23 Aug 2025)

RR by Hanqin Tian (30 Aug 2025)

ED: Publish subject to minor revisions (review by editor) (30 Aug 2025) by Hanqin Tian

AR by pengchao zhang on behalf of the Authors (06 Sep 2025)
Author's response
Author's tracked changes
Manuscript
ED: Publish subject to technical corrections (14 Sep 2025) by Hanqin Tian

AR by pengchao zhang on behalf of the Authors (22 Sep 2025)
Manuscript
General comments
The manuscript presented a spatiotemporally contiguous palaeovegetation cover dataset of the Tibetan Plateau since the 16ka BP, generated by the temporal and temporal random forest (RF) models using modern pollen and fossil pollen records. This is the first mapping of past vegetation on the Tibetan Plateau which should be benefit to the palae-community. I believe that the methods used in this study is feasible and the results are robust. However, given the complexity of the vegetation of the TP, this study only reconstructed two types of vegetation, woody and herb vegetation, plus the total vegetation, which were too coarse for further use. The pollen records can be transformed to multiple vegetation types on the plateau, at least for example, broadleaved forest, coniferous forest, shrubland and tundra or various alpine vegetation (alpine meadow, steppe and desert). The reviewer suggests that the authors should reconsider the classification of vegetation types as fine as possible.
Specific comments
Line 106-108, we used the MODIS Land Cover Type Product (MCD12Q1), which provides an annual Plant Functional Type (PFT) classification (DiMiceli et al., 2022). Trees were classified as "woody", while shrubs and grasses were grouped as "herbaceous." Why not keep the tree, shrub and grass PFTs? These three PFTs should be the appropriate vegetation types of the Tibetan Plateau. Otherwise, trees and shrubs should be classified as "woody", while grasses were grouped as "herbaceous."
Line 117-118, for the palaeovegetation models, we standardized all forest vegetation types in the models as woody and all grass and shrub vegetation types as herbaceous. This is not acceptable too.
How to select the past vegetation type from a fossil pollen record at 400-year interval?
For the RF-temporal models, why have only pollen and topographic factors been used? Why not add climate data? But for the RF-spatial models, all the data f climate and topography were applied.
Line 298, zhang 2024 to Zhang 2024.