Late Holocene ecosystem change and disturbance dynamics in central European mountain forests

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Niina Kuosmanen ◽  
Petr Kuneš ◽  
Karen Halsall ◽  
Helena Svitavska Svobodova ◽  
Jana Beranova ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Human Activity ◽  
Late Holocene ◽  
Fire History ◽  
Fire Regime ◽  
Ecosystem Dynamics ◽  
Ecosystem Change ◽  
Anthropogenic Activity ◽  
Climate Data ◽  
Disturbance Dynamics ◽  
The Past

<p>Investigating past changes in temperate mountain spruce forest ecosystems and the processes behind them can provide valuable information for understanding present and future ecosystem dynamics. To assess the late Holocene ecosystem change and disturbance history in mountain spruce forests, we sampled four small forest hollows from the High Tatra mountains in Slovakia.  </p><p>We use pollen analysis to reconstruct changes in forest composition over the last circa 5000 cal. yr BP. Fire history is analysed using macroscopic charcoal counts and charcoal area measurements. As disturbance is one of the key factors shaping mountain forest dynamics, the analysed pollen records will be processed with a new method quantifying disturbance based on plant ecological indices (Kuneš et al. 2019). These indices for disturbance will be attributed to pollen taxa and then disturbance frequency and severity for the whole community will be calculated. We assess the role of climate and human impact as potential drivers on the past forest and disturbance dynamics. The climate variable will be constructed from modelled climate data for the last 4000 years and for the past 1000 years we will use climate reconstruction from the tree-ring records from the region. We use human indicator pollen taxa as the variable for human influence on ecosystem dynamics, and to indicate human activity in the region.</p><p>Preliminary results demonstrate opening of the landscape circa 800-500 cal. yr BP in connection with a change in the disturbance regime as indicated by the disturbance indices. The presence of human indicator pollen taxa in all small hollow records suggest landscape opening in connection with anthropogenic activity in the region. In addition, the charcoal records demonstrate periods of fire, which coincide with the opening of landscape and it is plausible that change in the fire regime is connected to the intensified human activity in the region. These results will be discussed further in the presentation in the light of climate data and further data analysis.</p><p>Reference:</p><p>Kuneš, P. Abraham, V. & Herben, T. 2019. Changing disturbance-diversity relationships in temperate ecosystems over the past 12 000 years. Journal of Ecology 107:1678–1688.</p>

scholarly journals Holocene fire in Fennoscandia and Denmark

2014 ◽  
Vol 23 (6) ◽  
pp. 781 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer L. Clear ◽  
Chiara Molinari ◽  
Richard H. W. Bradshaw
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Biomass Burning ◽  
Late Holocene ◽  
Fire History ◽  
Fire Regime ◽  
Fire Suppression ◽  
Anthropogenic Activity ◽  
Natural Fire ◽  
Fire Scar ◽  
Anthropogenic Land Use

Natural disturbance dynamics, such as fire, have a fundamental control on forest composition and structure. Knowledge of fire history and the dominant drivers of fire are becoming increasingly important for conservation and management practice. Temporal and spatial variability in biomass burning is examined here using 170 charcoal and 15 fire scar records collated throughout Fennoscandia and Denmark. The changing fire regime is discussed in relation to local biogeographical controls, regional climatic change, anthropogenic land use and fire suppression. The region has experienced episodic variability in the dominant drivers of biomass burning throughout the Holocene, creating a frequently changing fire regime. Early Holocene biomass burning appears to be driven by fuel availability. Increased continentality during the mid-Holocene Thermal Maximum coincides with an increase in fire. The mid–late Holocene front-like spread of Picea abies (Norway spruce) and cooler, wetter climatic conditions reduce local biomass burning before the onset of intensified anthropogenic land use, and the late Holocene increase in anthropogenic activity created artificially high records of biomass burning that overshadowed the natural fire signal. An economic shift from extensive subsistence land use to agriculture and forestry as well as active fire suppression has reduced regional biomass burning. However, it is proposed that without anthropogenic fire suppression, the underlying natural fire signal would remain low because of the now widespread dominance of P. abies.

Late Holocene fire impact and post-fire regeneration from the Bereket Basin, Taurus Mountains, southwest Turkey

2008 ◽  
Vol 70 (2) ◽  
pp. 228-239 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Kaniewski ◽  
Etienne Paulissen ◽  
Véronique De Laet ◽  
Marc Waelkens
Keyword(s):  
Vegetation Structure ◽  
Late Holocene ◽  
Fire History ◽  
Fire Regime ◽  
Agricultural Practices ◽  
Human Disturbances ◽  
Taurus Mountains ◽  
The Past ◽  
In Fire ◽  
Fire Impact

AbstractThe 800 cm long sequence from the Bereket provides the first detailed fire history in the western Taurus Mountains for the last three millennia. The main disturbances occurred during the Beyşehir Occupation Phase (BO Phase), a period of intensive polyculture and dated at Bereket from ca. 2230 to 1550 cal yr BP. Four phases of local and extra-local fire periods have been recorded at 2320–2240, 1985–1970, 1865–1820 cal yr BP and post-AD 1950. The fire history established for the BO Phase is complex, with fire periods alternating with periods without local fires, as is the case for the late BO Phase from 1820 until 1550 cal yr BP. It is suggested that the past agricultural practices including fires cause a higher soil erodibility than agricultural practices without fires. A climatic shift towards aridity during Roman times may have triggered the observed change in fire regime but local processes, mainly human disturbances, appear to be the proximal cause of all recorded changes. In the Bereket surroundings, fires led to a simplification of the vegetation structure, favouring soil erosion, pastures and intensive cultivation.

HOLOCENE PALEOENVIRONMENT AND PREHISPANIC LANDSCAPE EVOLUTION IN THE BASIN OF MEXICO

2015 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 375-389 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emily McClung de Tapia
Keyword(s):  
Lake Sediments ◽  
Human Impact ◽  
Human Activity ◽  
Late Holocene ◽  
Landscape Evolution ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Human Adaptation ◽  
The Past ◽  
Basin Of Mexico ◽  
Ecosystem Evolution

AbstractPaleoenvironmental and geoarchaeological data generated over the past three decades for parts of the Basin of Mexico are little known among archaeologists working in the region. This paper summarizes and evaluates what is currently known about the prehistoric environment, landscape development, and human impact in the region. Archaeological evidence indicates that human activity became important in ecosystem evolution in the basin during the Middle-Late Holocene. Most traditional paleoenvironmental studies based on lake sediments, however, generalize results corresponding to this period simply asevidence for human impact. Essentially the same vegetation communities extant in the basin today appear to have been present during most of the Holocene, albeit with broader distributions and variability in secondary taxa. Recognizing potential contributions of archaeology to understanding human adaptation to climatic and ecosystemic change, past and present, should stimulate future research on paleoenvironment in the region.

Regionalization of fire regimes in the Central Rocky Mountains, USA

2013 ◽  
Vol 80 (3) ◽  
pp. 406-416 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vachel A. Carter ◽  
Andrea Brunelle ◽  
Thomas A. Minckley ◽  
Philip E. Dennison ◽  
Mitchell J. Power
Keyword(s):  
Rocky Mountains ◽  
Late Holocene ◽  
Fire Regime ◽  
Fire Regimes ◽  
Northern Rocky Mountains ◽  
Southern Rocky Mountains ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Us ◽  
Central Rocky Mountains ◽  
Early And Middle Holocene

Fire is one of the most important natural disturbances in the coniferous forests of the US Rocky Mountains. The Rocky Mountains are separated by a climatic boundary between 40° and 45° N, which we refer to as the central Rocky Mountains (CRM). To determine whether the fire regime from the CRM was more similar to the northern Rocky Mountains (NRM) or southern Rocky Mountains (SRM) during the Holocene, a 12,539-yr-old sediment core from Long Lake, Wyoming, located in the CRM was analyzed for charcoal and pollen. These data were then compared to charcoal records from the CRM, NRM and SRM. During the Younger Dryas chronozone, the fire regime was characterized as frequent at Long Lake. The early and middle Holocene fire regime was characterized as infrequent. A brief interval from 4000 to 3000 cal yr BP, termed the Populus period, had a frequent fire regime and remained frequent through the late Holocene at Long Lake. In comparison to sites from the NRM and SRM, the fire regime at Long Lake was most similar to the SRM during the past 12,539 cal yr BP. These results suggest the disturbance regime in the CRM has a greater affinity with those of the SRM.

scholarly journals Shifting Baselines to Thresholds: Reframing Exploitation in the Marine Environment

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lane M. Atmore ◽  
Magie Aiken ◽  
Fabricio Furni
Keyword(s):  
Molecular Evolution ◽  
Marine Environment ◽  
Anthropogenic Impacts ◽  
Marine Ecosystems ◽  
Ecosystem Dynamics ◽  
Ecosystem Change ◽  
Human Society ◽  
The Past ◽  
Human Contact ◽  
Practical Research

Current research on anthropogenic impacts on marine ecosystems often relies on the concept of a “baseline,” which aims to describe ecosystems prior to human contact. Recent research is increasingly showing that humans have been involved in marine ecosystems for much longer than previously understood. We propose a theoretical framework oriented around a system of “thresholds” referring to system-wide changes in human culture, ecosystem dynamics, and molecular evolution. The concept of the threshold allows conceptual space to account for the fluid nature of ecosystems throughout time while providing a critical framework for understanding drivers of ecosystem change. We highlight practical research approaches for exploring thresholds in the past and provide key insights for future adaptation to a changing world. To ensure ecological and societal goals for the future are met, it is critical that research efforts are contextualized into a framework that incorporates human society as integral to ecology and evolution.

Late Holocene vegetation and environments of the Mersey Valley, Tasmania

2007 ◽  
Vol 55 (1) ◽  
pp. 74 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick T. Moss ◽  
Ian Thomas ◽  
Michael Macphail
Keyword(s):  
Late Holocene ◽  
Fire History ◽  
Climatic Factors ◽  
Regional Climate ◽  
Sedimentation Rates ◽  
Exotic Plant ◽  
Charcoal Analysis ◽  
Climate Signal ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Impact

A record of vegetation and environmental change over the past 3000 years was obtained through pollen and charcoal analysis of sediments from a grassy plain in the Mersey Valley, Tasmania. The results tentatively suggest that Aborigines had an impact on the environment of the Mersey Valley, although the scale of the impact is difficult to quantify owing to complexities associated with the fire history and sedimentary processes. In addition, a strong regional climate signal (drier late Holocene environments) was observed, suggesting that both anthropogenic and climatic factors are required to explain pre-European environments. The study also showed the dramatic impact European settlers had on the Australian environment, with massive land clearance, introduction of exotic plant types and increased sedimentation rates.

Holocene fire history reconstruction of a mid-elevation mixed-conifer forest in the Eastern Cascades, Washington (USA)

The Holocene ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 095968362098803
Author(s):  
Zoe A Rushton ◽  
Megan K Walsh
Keyword(s):  
Fire History ◽  
Fire Regime ◽  
Fire Severity ◽  
Fire Regimes ◽  
Conifer Forest ◽  
Mixed Conifer ◽  
The Past ◽  
Mixed Conifer Forest ◽  
Fire Activity ◽  
Eastern Cascades

Fire histories of mid-elevation mixed-conifer forests are uncommon in the eastern Cascades, limiting our understanding of long-term fire dynamics in these environments. The purpose of this study was to reconstruct the fire and vegetation history for a moist mid-elevation mixed-conifer site, and to determine whether Holocene fire activity in this watershed was intermediate to fire regimes observed at higher and lower elevations in the eastern Cascades. Fire activity and vegetation change was reconstructed using macroscopic charcoal and pollen analysis of sediment core from Long Lake. This site is located ~45 km west of Yakima, WA, and exists in a grand fir-dominated, mixed-conifer forest. Results show low fire activity from ca. 9870 to 6000 cal yr BP, after which time fire increased and remained frequent until ca. 500 cal yr BP. A woodland environment existed at the site in the early Holocene, with the modern coniferous forest establishing ca. 6000–5500 cal yr BP. A mixed-severity fire regime has existed at the site for the past ~6000 years, with both higher- and lower-severity fire episodes occurring on average every ~80–100 years. However, only one fire episode occurred in the Long Lake watershed during the past 500 years, and none within the past ~150 years. Based on a comparison with other eastern Cascade sites, Holocene fire regimes at Long Lake, particularly during the late Holocene, appear to be intermediate between those observed at higher- and lower elevation sites, both in terms of fire severity and frequency.

Gradually increasing forest fire activity during the Holocene in the northern Ural region (Komi Republic, Russia)

The Holocene ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (12) ◽  
pp. 1906-1920 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chéïma Barhoumi ◽  
Odile Peyron ◽  
Sébastien Joannin ◽  
Dmitri Subetto ◽  
Alexander Kryshen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Forest Fire ◽  
Fire History ◽  
Gradual Increase ◽  
Komi Republic ◽  
Ecosystem Dynamics ◽  
Ural Mountain ◽  
The Holocene ◽  
The Past ◽  
Fire Activity ◽  
The Impact

In many boreal regions of Russia the past natural variability of forest fire activity remains largely undocumented, preventing accurate assessment of the impact of current climate warming on forest ecosystem dynamics. This study aims to reconstruct the Holocene fire history of the northern Ural mountain foothills, in the Komi Republic, based on analyses of charcoal particles from peatland deposits and coupled with dendrochronological investigations. The results show that there was a gradual increase in forest fire activity during the past 11,000 years. Between 11,000 and 5100 cal. yr BP, the mean fire return interval (FRI) oscillated between 600 and 200 years. During this period, regional data showed that cold temperature, humid climatic conditions, combined with steppe vegetation between 11,000–9000 cal. BP, and then the development of spruce-dominated forest between 9300 and 4600 cal. yr BP, were less conducive to fires. After 5100 cal. yr BP, a gradual increase in drought conditions through reduced precipitations, associated with the establishment of a Scots pine forest favored fire frequency, with a mean FRI under 200 years (range, 200–40 years). Nowadays (since CE 1500), human activity induces an unprecedented fire activity with a mean FRI below 100 years (range, 100–40 years).

Climatic and human controls on the late Holocene fire history of northern Israel

2013 ◽  
Vol 80 (3) ◽  
pp. 396-405 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nadine B. Quintana Krupinski ◽  
Jennifer R. Marlon ◽  
Ami Nishri ◽  
Joseph H. Street ◽  
Adina Paytan
Keyword(s):  
Black Carbon ◽  
Human Activity ◽  
Biomass Burning ◽  
Late Holocene ◽  
Fire History ◽  
Lacustrine Sediments ◽  
Population Data ◽  
High Biomass ◽  
Fire Activity

Long-term fire histories provide insight into the effects of climate, ecology and humans on fire activity; they can be generated using accumulation rates of charcoal and soot black carbon in lacustrine sediments. This study uses both charcoal and black carbon, and other paleoclimate indicators from Lake Kinneret (Sea of Galilee), Israel, to reconstruct late Holocene variations in biomass burning and aridity. We compare the fire history data with a regional biomass-burning reconstruction from 18 different charcoal records and with pollen, climate, and population data to decipher the relative impacts of regional climate, vegetation changes, and human activity on fire. We show a long-term decline in fire activity over the past 3070 years, from high biomass burning ~ 3070–1750 cal yr BP to significantly lower levels after ~ 1750 cal yr BP. Human modification of the landscape (e.g., forest clearing, agriculture, settlement expansion and early industry) in periods of low to moderate precipitation appears to have been the greatest cause of high biomass burning during the late Holocene in southern Levant, while wetter climate apparently reduced fire activity during periods of both low and high human activity.

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