Marginal imprint of human land use upon fire history in a mire-dominated boreal landscape of the Veps Highland, North-West Russia

Historical fire regimes are critical for understanding the potential effects of changing climate and human land-use on forest landscapes. Fire is a major disturbance process affecting the Andean Araucaria forest landscape in north-west Patagonia. The main goals of this study were to reconstruct the fire history of the Andean Araucaria–Nothofagus forests and to evaluate the coupled influences of climate and humans on fire regimes. Reconstructions of past fires indicated that the Araucaria forest landscape has been shaped by widespread, stand-replacing fires favoured by regional interannual climate variability related to major tropical and extratropical climate drivers in the southern hemisphere. Summer precipitation and streamflow reconstructions tended to be below average during fire years. Fire events were significantly related to positive phases of the Southern Annular Mode and to warm and dry summers following El Niño events. Although Euro-Chilean settlement (1883–1960) resulted in widespread burning, cattle ranching by Pehuenche Native Americans during the 18th and 19th centuries also appears to have changed the fire regime. In the context of climate change, two recent widespread wildfires (2002 and 2015) affecting Araucaria forests appear to be novel and an early indication of a climate change driven shift in fire regimes in north-west Patagonia.

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Fire history in a western Fennoscandian boreal forest as influenced by human land use and climate

Ecological Monographs ◽

10.1002/ecm.1244 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 87 (2) ◽

pp. 219-245 ◽

Cited By ~ 23

Author(s):

Jørund Rolstad ◽

Ylva-li Blanck ◽

Ken Olaf Storaunet

Keyword(s):

Land Use ◽

Boreal Forest ◽

Fire History ◽

Human Land Use

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8,000 years of climate, vegetation, fire and land-use dynamics in the thermo-mediterranean vegetation belt of northern Sardinia (Italy)

Vegetation History and Archaeobotany ◽

10.1007/s00334-021-00832-3 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Tiziana Pedrotta ◽

Erika Gobet ◽

Christoph Schwörer ◽

Giorgia Beffa ◽

Christoph Butz ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Land Use ◽

Bronze Age ◽

Fire History ◽

Vegetation History ◽

Juglans Regia ◽

Fire Disturbance ◽

Lake Productivity ◽

The Past ◽

Evergreen Oak ◽

The Bronze Age

AbstractKnowledge about the vegetation history of Sardinia, the second largest island of the Mediterranean, is scanty. Here, we present a new sedimentary record covering the past ~ 8,000 years from Lago di Baratz, north-west Sardinia. Vegetation and fire history are reconstructed by pollen, spores, macrofossils and charcoal analyses and environmental dynamics by high-resolution element geochemistry together with pigment analyses. During the period 8,100–7,500 cal bp, when seasonality was high and fire and erosion were frequent, Erica arborea and E. scoparia woodlands dominated the coastal landscape. Subsequently, between 7,500 and 5,500 cal bp, seasonality gradually declined and thermo-mediterranean woodlands with Pistacia and Quercus ilex partially replaced Erica communities under diminished incidence of fire. After 5,500 cal bp, evergreen oak forests expanded markedly, erosion declined and lake levels increased, likely in response to increasing (summer) moisture availability. Increased anthropogenic fire disturbance triggered shrubland expansions (e.g. Tamarix and Pistacia) around 5,000–4,500 cal bp. Subsequently around 4,000–3,500 cal bp evergreen oak-olive forests expanded massively when fire activity declined and lake productivity and anoxia reached Holocene maxima. Land-use activities during the past 4,000 years (since the Bronze Age) gradually disrupted coastal forests, but relict stands persisted under rather stable environmental conditions until ca. 200 cal bp, when agricultural activities intensified and Pinus and Eucalyptus were planted to stabilize the sand dunes. Pervasive prehistoric land-use activities since at least the Bronze Age Nuraghi period included the cultivation of Prunus, Olea europaea and Juglans regia after 3,500–3,300 cal bp, and Quercus suber after 2,500 cal bp. We conclude that restoring less flammable native Q. ilex and O. europaea forest communities would markedly reduce fire risk and erodibility compared to recent forest plantations with flammable non-native trees (e.g. Pinus, Eucalyptus) and xerophytic shrubland (e.g. Cistus, Erica).

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Spatial Distribution and Evaluation of Arsenic and Zinc Content in the Soil of a Karst Landscape

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su13126976 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (12) ◽

pp. 6976

Author(s):

Dimitrios E. Alexakis ◽

George D. Bathrellos ◽

Hariklia D. Skilodimou ◽

Dimitra E. Gamvroula

Keyword(s):

Land Use ◽

Spatial Distribution ◽

Land Use Planning ◽

Urban Soil ◽

Agricultural Soil ◽

Agricultural Land ◽

Land Evaluation ◽

Agricultural Activity ◽

North West ◽

Total Study Area

Karst features such as polje are highly vulnerable to natural and anthropogenic pollution. The main objectives of this study were to investigate the soil quality in the Ioannina polje (north-west Greece) concerning arsenic (As) and zinc (Zn), and delineate their origin as well as compare the As and Zn content in soil with criteria recorded in the literature. For this purpose, the geomorphological settings, the land use, and the soil physicochemical properties were mapped and evaluated, including soil texture and concentrations of aqua-regia extractable As and Zn. The concentration of elements was spatially correlated with the land use and the geology of the study area, while screening values were applied to assess land suitability. The results reveal that 72% of the total study area has a very gentle slope. This relief favors urban and agricultural activity. Thus, the urban and agricultural land used cover 92% of the total area. The spatial distribution for As and Zn in the soil of the study area is located on very gentle slopes and is strongly correlated with the geological parent materials and human-induced contamination sources. Arsenic and Zn can be considered enriched in the soil of the area studied. The median topsoil contents (in mg kg−1) for As (agricultural soil 16.0; urban soil 17.8) and Zn (agricultural soil 92.0; urban soil 95.0) are higher compared to the corresponding median values of European topsoils. Land evaluation suitability concerning criteria given from the literature is discussed. The proposed work may be helpful in the project of land use planning and the protection of the natural environment.

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Late Holocene fire and vegetation reconstruction from the western Klamath Mountains, California, USA: A multi-disciplinary approach for examining potential human land-use impacts

The Holocene ◽

10.1177/0959683615584205 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 25 (8) ◽

pp. 1341-1357 ◽

Cited By ~ 15

Author(s):

Jeffrey N Crawford ◽

Scott A Mensing ◽

Frank K Lake ◽

Susan RH Zimmerman

Keyword(s):

Land Use ◽

Late Holocene ◽

Land Use Impacts ◽

Klamath Mountains ◽

Vegetation Reconstruction ◽

Human Land Use

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Land use and climate change on the Yamal Peninsula of north-west Siberia: some ecological and socio-economic implications

Polar Research ◽

10.1111/j.1751-8369.1999.tb00316.x ◽

1999 ◽

Vol 18 (2) ◽

pp. 367-373 ◽

Cited By ~ 15

Author(s):

Bruce C. Forbes

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Land Use ◽

West Siberia ◽

Yamal Peninsula ◽

Economic Implications ◽

North West ◽

The Yamal Peninsula

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Soil carbon debt of 12,000 years of human land use

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences ◽

10.1073/pnas.1706103114 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 114 (36) ◽

pp. 9575-9580 ◽

Cited By ~ 186

Author(s):

Jonathan Sanderman ◽

Tomislav Hengl ◽

Gregory J. Fiske

Keyword(s):

Land Use ◽

Carbon Balance ◽

Mitigation Strategy ◽

Global Environment ◽

Climate Mitigation ◽

Grazing Land ◽

The Past ◽

Human Land Use ◽

History Database ◽

Global Carbon

Human appropriation of land for agriculture has greatly altered the terrestrial carbon balance, creating a large but uncertain carbon debt in soils. Estimating the size and spatial distribution of soil organic carbon (SOC) loss due to land use and land cover change has been difficult but is a critical step in understanding whether SOC sequestration can be an effective climate mitigation strategy. In this study, a machine learning-based model was fitted using a global compilation of SOC data and the History Database of the Global Environment (HYDE) land use data in combination with climatic, landform and lithology covariates. Model results compared favorably with a global compilation of paired plot studies. Projection of this model onto a world without agriculture indicated a global carbon debt due to agriculture of 133 Pg C for the top 2 m of soil, with the rate of loss increasing dramatically in the past 200 years. The HYDE classes “grazing” and “cropland” contributed nearly equally to the loss of SOC. There were higher percent SOC losses on cropland but since more than twice as much land is grazed, slightly higher total losses were found from grazing land. Important spatial patterns of SOC loss were found: Hotspots of SOC loss coincided with some major cropping regions as well as semiarid grazing regions, while other major agricultural zones showed small losses and even net gains in SOC. This analysis has demonstrated that there are identifiable regions which can be targeted for SOC restoration efforts.

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Formation and Land-Use History of Celtic Fields in North-West Europe – an Interdisciplinary Case Study at Zeijen, the Netherlands

European Journal of Archaeology ◽

10.1179/eja.2003.6.2.141 ◽

2003 ◽

Vol 6 (2) ◽

pp. 141-173 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

Theo Spek ◽

Willy Groenman-van Waateringe ◽

Maja Kooistra ◽

Lideweij Bakker

Keyword(s):

Land Use ◽

The Netherlands ◽

Iron Age ◽

Large Scale ◽

Roman Period ◽

Soil Tillage ◽

North West ◽

Late Iron Age ◽

History Of

Celtic field research has so far been strongly focused on prospection and mapping. As a result of this there is a serious lack of knowledge of formation and land-use processes of these fields. This article describes a methodological case study in The Netherlands that may be applied to other European Celtic fields in the future. By interdisciplinary use of pedological, palynological and micromorphological research methods the authors were able to discern five development stages in the history of the field, dating from the late Bronze Age to the early Roman Period. There are strong indications that the earthen ridges, very typical for Celtic fields in the sandy landscapes of north-west Europe, were only formed in the later stages of Celtic field agriculture (late Iron Age and early Roman period). They were the result of a determined raising of the surface by large-scale transportation of soil material from the surroundings of the fields. Mainly the ridges were intensively cultivated and manured in the later stages of Celtic field cultivation. In the late Iron Age a remarkable shift in Celtic field agriculture took place from an extensive system with long fallow periods, a low level of manuring and extensive soil tillage to a more intensive system with shorter fallow periods, a more intensive soil tillage and a higher manuring intensity. There are also strong indications that rye (Secale cereale) was the main crop in the final stage of Celtic field agriculture.

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