Search results for "VEGETATION"

2021

Abstract. The collection of modern, spatially extensive pollen data is important for the interpretation of fossil pollen assemblages and the reconstruction of past vegetation communities in space and time. Modern datasets are readily available for percentage data but lacking for pollen accumulation rates (PARs). Filling this gap has been the motivation of the pollen monitoring network, whose contributors monitored pollen deposition in modified Tauber traps for several years or decades across Europe. Here we present this monitoring dataset consisting of 351 trap locations with a total of 2742 annual samples covering the period from 1981 to 2017. This dataset shows that total PAR is influence…

Climate variability and lake ecosystem responses in western Scandinavia (Norway) during the last Millennium

2017

This paper provides a high-resolution temperature reconstruction for the last Millennium from Lake Atnsjøen, SE Norway (61°52′31″N, 10°10′37″E). The sedimentary record reveals strong influence of the large-scale global climate patterns on the local climate in southern part of Eastern Norway. We reconstructed mean July air temperature using Chironomidae-based transfer function and fossil Chironomidae assemblages. The reconstruction was supported by a selection of climate-sensitive geochemical and paleoecological sedimentary proxies of terrestrial and aquatic origin, including Cladocera, pollen and macrofossils. Presented results revealed that summer temperatures were 1–2 °C warmer than the m…

Late glacial-postglacial North African landscape and forestmanagement : Palynological and anthracological studies in the caves of Kaf Taht el-Ghar an…

2021

This work presents the anthracological and archeopalynological results obtained within the project AGRIWESTMED (ERC AdG 230561), which has involved a comprehensive retrieval of archeobiological remains based on a systematic sampling strategy, beyond the recovery of the usual archeological materials. These surveys were conducted on three sites located in the North of Morocco: the cave of Kaf Taht-el-Ghar, 8 km southeast from Tetuan, and two caves within the El Khil complex, close to Tanger. Both plant micro- and macro-remains (charred wood) were studied through palynological and anthracological analyses, respectively.

Vegetation response to abrupt climate changes in Western Europe from 45 to 14.7k cal a BP: the Bergsee lacustrine record (Black Forest, Germany)

2017

A 2500 year record of natural and anthropogenic soil erosion in South Greenland

2012

International audience; The environmental impact of the Norse landnám in Greenland has been studied extensively. But to date, no study has quantified the soil erosion that Norse agricultural practices are believed to have caused. To resolve this problem, a high resolution sedimentary record from Lake Igaliku in South Greenland is used to quantitatively reconstruct 2500 years of soil erosion driven by climate and historical land use. An accurate chronology allows for the estimation of detritic fluxes and their uncertainties. Land clearance and the introduction of grazing livestock by the Norse around 1010 AD caused an acceleration of soil erosion up to 8 mm/century in 1180 AD which is two-fo…

Holocene vegetation and fire history of the mountains of Northern Sicily (Italy)

2016

Knowledge about vegetation and fire history of the mountains of Northern Sicily is scanty. We analysed five sites to fill this gap and used terrestrial plant macrofossils to establish robust radiocarbon chronologies. Palynological records from Gorgo Tondo, Gorgo Lungo, Marcato Cixé, Urgo Pietra Giordano and Gorgo Pollicino show that under natural or near natural conditions, deciduous forests (Quercus pubescens, Q. cerris, Fraxinus ornus, Ulmus), that included a substantial portion of evergreen broadleaved species (Q. suber, Q. ilex, Hedera helix), prevailed in the upper meso- mediterranean belt. Mesophilous deciduous and evergreen broadleaved trees (Fagus sylvatica, Ilex aquifolium) dominat…

Vegetation and climate record from Abric Romaní (Capellades, northeast Iberia) during the Upper Pleistocene (MIS 5d−3)

2019

This study addresses the pollen record of Abric Romani archaeological site and the climate evolution of the last interglacial and glacial stadials in the Iberian Peninsula. The new pollen record spans the interval from 110,000 to 55,000 years ago. In general, the glacial/stadial vegetation is characterized by a steppe and herbaceous communities indicating dry and cold climatic conditions, whereas the vegetation optimum of past interglacials can be described as pine-oaks with mediterranean forest indicating milder and moister climatic conditions. During the first half of the MIS 5a and the MIS 5c, the region was warmer, which is characterized by temperate forests. However, the existence of A…

Human occupation and environmental change in the western Maghreb during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) and the Late Glacial. New evidence from the Ib…

2019

With the onset of the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), hunter-gatherers of the so-called Iberomaurusian techno-complex appeared in what is now the Mediterranean Maghreb. During a period of about seven thousand years, these groups left sandy occupation layers in a limited number of archaeological sites, while at the beginning of Greenland Interstadial (GI) 1, the sudden shift towards the deposition of shell-rich sediments and the increase in number of sites document clear changes in subsistence strategies as well as occupation density. It is highly likely that these shifts in human behaviour are related to paleoenvironmental changes in the area, which, so far, are poorly documented in geological …

The lay of land: Strontium isotope variability in the dietary catchment of the Late Iron Age proto-urban settlement of Basel-Gasfabrik, Switzerland

2018

Abstract Basel-Gasfabrik (Switzerland) comprises an extensive La Tene (chiefly Lt D, 150–80 BCE) settlement and two associated cemeteries at which strontium (87Sr/86Sr) isotope analysis of human and animal teeth investigated regional and supra-regional contacts. The interpretation of the analytic data, however, requires information on the isotopic baseline values around the site. Using 102 modern vegetation and 9 water samples from 51 localities, this study characterizes the isotopic ratios of the biologically available strontium of geological units and watercourses around Basel and compares these to 28 human infant, 6 pig, and 5 dog teeth from the site. Furthermore, pedological criteria ev…

Prehistoric palaeodemographics and regional land cover change in eastern Iberia

2019

Much attention has been placed on the drivers of vegetation change on the Iberian Peninsula. While climate plays a key role in determining the species pools within different regions and exerts a strong influence on broad vegetation patterning, the role of humans, particularly during prehistory, is less clear. The aim of this paper is to assess the influence of prehistoric population change on shaping vegetation patterns in eastern Iberia and the Balearic Islands between the start of the Neolithic and the late Bronze Age. In all, 3385 radiocarbon dates have been compiled across the study area to provide a palaeodemographic proxy (radiocarbon summed probability distributions (SPDs)). Modelled…