Reply to Giresse et al.: No evidence for climate variability during the late Holocene rainforest crisis in Western Central Africa

Giresse et al. (1) criticize both our paleoclimatic reconstruction and our inferred anthropogenic origin of the late Holocene rainforest crisis (LHRC) (2). However, their argumentation, which is combined with alleged evidence for a climatic change during the LHRC, lacks strong support. Citing studies describing both brief (weeklong) and limited periods of leaf wax production in deciduous trees, Giresse et al. (1) conclude that leaf waxes cannot record the environmental variability of a full season. However, this argument is flawed, as evergreen and subtropical deciduous trees produce leaf waxes over much longer timescales—their δD (δDwax) values have been shown to capture environmental variability on even seasonal timescales (3, 4 … [↵][1]1To whom correspondence should be addressed. Email: yannickgarcin{at}yahoo.fr. [1]: #xref-corresp-1-1