| 1. |
- Alenius, Teija, et al.
(författare)
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The environment they lived in: anthropogenic changes in local and regional vegetation composition in eastern Fennoscandia during the Neolithic
- 2020
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Ingår i: Vegetation History and Archaeobotany. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0939-6314 .- 1617-6278. ; 30, s. 489-506
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Understanding about regional versus local changes in vegetation is critical in answering archaeological questions, in particular at a time when humans are assumed to have caused higher disturbances at local scales rather than regional scales; this is the case during the Neolithic. The aim of this paper is to assess the impact of Neolithic land use on regional and local vegetation dynamics, plant composition and disturbance processes (e.g. fire) in eastern Fennoscandia. We apply the Landscape Reconstruction Algorithm (LRA) to high-resolution pollen records from three lacustrine sediment cores that cover the Neolithic period. We calculate changes in vegetation composition and the rate of plant compositional change. Fire dynamics are estimated as an indicator of land use, although fire can result from both natural and anthropogenic disturbances. Our results show that during the Early Neolithic, changes were mainly driven by natural and climate-induced factors and vegetation composition and fire activity were similar at both regional and local scales. From ca. 4000 bc onwards, trends in vegetation and fire dynamics start to differ between regional and local scales. This is due to local land uses that are overshadowed at the regional scale by climate-induced factors. The use of the LOVE model in pollen analyses is therefore very useful to highlight local land uses that are not visible by using REVEALS.
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| 2. |
- Ammann, Birgitta, et al.
(författare)
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The potential of stomata analysis inconifers to estimate presence of conifer trees: examples from the Alps
- 2014
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Ingår i: Vegetation History and Archaeobotany. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0939-6314 .- 1617-6278. ; 23:3, s. 249-264
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- To estimate whether or not a plant taxon found in the fossil record was locally present may be difficult if only pollen is analyzed. Plant macrofossils, in contrast, provide a clear indication of a taxon’s local presence, although in some lake sediments or peats, macrofossils may be rare or degraded. For conifers, the stomata found on pollen slides are derived from needles and thus provide a valuable proxy for local presence and they can be identified to genus level. From previously published studies, a transect across the Alps based on 13 sites is presented. For basal samples in sandy silt above the till with high pollen values of Pinus, for example, we may distinguish pine pollen from distant sources (samples with no stomata), from reworked pollen (samples with stomata present). The first apparent local presence of most conifer genera based on stomata often but not always occurs together with the phase of rapid pollen increase (rational limit). An exception is Larix, with its annual deposition of needles and heavy poorly dispersed pollen, for it often shows the first stomata earlier, at the empirical pollen limit. The decline and potential local extinction of a conifer can sometimes be shown in the stomata record. The decline may have been caused by climatic change, competition, or human impact. In situations where conifers form the timberline, the stomata record may indicate timberline fluctuations. In the discussion of immigration or migration of taxa we advocate the use of the cautious term “apparent local presence” to include some uncertainties. Absence of a taxon is impossible to prove.
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| 3. |
- Barnekow, Lena, et al.
(författare)
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Boreal forest dynamics in north-eastern Sweden during the last 10,000 years based on pollen analysis
- 2008
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Ingår i: Vegetation History and Archaeobotany. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0939-6314 .- 1617-6278. ; 17:6, s. 687-700
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- A pollen record obtained from a 2.2-m sediment succession deposited in a small lake in the province of Vasterbotten, north-eastern Sweden, reveals the presence of continuous forest cover since 8,500 calendar years before present (cal B.P.). Forest with abundant Pinus (pine) and Betula (birch) initially colonized the area, followed by a dominance of deciduous trees, primarily Betula, from ca. 8,000 to ca. 3,200 cal B.P. Pollen accumulation rates of Quercus (oak), Ulmus (elm) and Tilia (linden) suggest the possible local presence of these thermophilous tree species during this period. The climate gradually became colder and moister around 3,500 cal B.P. and an increased abundance of Sphagnum spores indicates paludification. Picea (spruce) became established around 3,200 cal B.P. and less than 500 years later this was the dominant tree species around the lake. The fire frequency as inferred from charcoal particles exhibits a general increase from ca. 3,000 cal B.P. with subsequent charcoal accumulation maxima at around 2,800 cal B.P., 1,700 cal B.P. and in recent time. The human influence on vegetation was significant during the last 200-300 years. Soil erosion increased substantially and fern spores amount to ca. 55% of the total pollen assemblage in the uppermost samples. These results suggest an extensive anthropogenic impact on the local forest ecosystem, with abundant logging, burning and ditching in the vicinity of the lake. Independent evidence of sub-recent human-induced environmental change is provided by historical accounts. Complementary information on catchment soil development and aquatic nutrient status was provided by records of magnetic susceptibility and elemental carbon, and nitrogen contents obtained from the same sediment core.
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| 4. |
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| 5. |
- Berglund, Björn
(författare)
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How mankind has shaped European nature
- 2011
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Ingår i: Vegetation History and Archaeobotany. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0939-6314 .- 1617-6278. ; 20:1, s. 79-81
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- A monographic book volume on the history of the rural landscape of Europe is presented (Emanuelsson, The rural landscape of Europe. How man has shaped European nature, 383, 2009). The focus is on various land-use phases, their history from the Neolithic period to modern time and the survival of traditional farming today in Europe. This is described and illustrated by examples from marginal farming areas, particularly in mountainous regions of southern and northern Europe. Some of these are important as modern analogues when interpreting past cultural landscapes.
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| 6. |
- Berglund, Björn, et al.
(författare)
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Long-term changes in floristic diversity in southern Sweden: palynological richness, vegetation dynamics and land-use
- 2008
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Ingår i: Vegetation History and Archaeobotany. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0939-6314 .- 1617-6278. ; 17:5, s. 573-583
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Abstract in UndeterminedThe rarefaction technique is applied to two Holocene pollen sequences (covering the last 12,000 calendar years) from two lakes in southern Sweden. One represents an open agricultural landscape, the other a partly wooded and less cultivated landscape. The inferred palynological richness is interpreted as an approximate measure of floristic diversity at the landscape scale. The overall trend is an increased diversity from the mid-Holocene to the Modern period, which is linked to a parallel rise in human impact. The pattern is similar for the two sites with peaks corresponding to archaeological periods characterised by deforestation and expanding settlement and agriculture. The highest diversity was reached during the Medieval period, about A.D. 1,000-1,400. Declining diversity during the last 200 years characterises the agrarian landscape. These results confirm, for southern Scandinavia, the "intermediate disturbance" hypothesis for biodiversity at the landscape scale and on millennial to century time scales. They have implications for landscape management in modern nature conservation that has the purpose of maintaining and promoting biodiversity.
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| 7. |
- Bigler, Christian, et al.
(författare)
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Holocene environmental history of Lake Vuolep Njakajaure (Abisko National Park, Northern Sweden) reconstructed using biological proxy indicators
- 2006
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Ingår i: Vegetation History and Archaeobotany. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0939-6314 .- 1617-6278. ; 15:4, s. 309-320
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Holocene environmental and climatic changes are reconstructed using analyses of biological proxies in lake sediments from Vuolep Njakajaure, a lake located near the altitudinal treeline in northern Sweden (68 degrees 20' N, 18 degrees 47' E). We analysed biological proxy indicators from both aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems, including diatoms, pollen and chironomid head capsules, in order to reconstruct regional Holocene climate and the development of the lake and its catchment. During the early Holocene and after 2500 cal B.P., Fragilaria taxa dominated the diatom assemblages, whereas planktonic Cyclotella taxa prevailed during the major part of the Holocene (7800-2300 cal B.P.), indicating the importance of the pelagic habitat for diatom assemblage composition. The planktonic diatoms appeared at the same time as Alnus became established in the catchment, probably altering nutrient availability and catchment stability. The pollen record is dominated by mountain birch (Betula pubescens ssp. tortuosa) pollen throughout the Holocene, but high percentage abundances of Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris) pollen suggest the presence of a mixed pine-birch forest during the mid-Holocene (6800-2300 cal B.P.). Head capsules of Tanytarsini and Psectrocladius dominated the chironomid assemblage composition throughout the Holocene, in combination with Corynocera ambigua after 2300 cal B.P. A quantitative, diatom-based reconstruction of mean July air temperature indicated a relatively cold temperature during the early Holocene (9000-8000 cal B.P.) and after ca. 2300 cal B.P., whereas the mid-Holocene period is characterised by stable and warm temperatures. The overall patterns of Holocene climate and environmental conditions are similarly described by all biological proxy-indicators, suggesting relatively warm conditions during the mid-Holocene (ca. 7800-2300 cal B.P.), with a subsequent colder climate after 2300 cal B.P. However, the onset and magnitude of the inferred changes differ slightly among the proxies, illustrating different responses to lake development phases, land-uplift, and climate forcing (e.g., insolation patterns) during the Holocene in northern Sweden.
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| 8. |
- Birks, H. John B., et al.
(författare)
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One hundred years of Quaternary pollen analysis 1916–2016
- 2018
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Ingår i: Vegetation History and Archaeobotany. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0939-6314 .- 1617-6278. ; 27:2, s. 271-309
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We review the history of Quaternary pollen analysis from 1916 to the present-day, with particular emphasis on methodological and conceptual developments and on the early pioneers of the subject. The history is divided into three phases—the pioneer phase 1916–1950, the building phase 1951–1973, and the mature phase 1974–present-day. We also explore relevant studies prior to Lennart von Post’s seminal lecture in 1916 in Kristiania (Oslo) in an attempt to trace how the idea of Quaternary pollen analysis with quantitative pollen counting and stratigraphical pollen diagrams developed.
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| 9. |
- Björkman, Leif, et al.
(författare)
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Long-term history of land-use and vegetation at Ire, an agriculturally marginal area in Blekinge, south Sweden
- 2003
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Ingår i: Vegetation History and Archaeobotany. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0939-6314 .- 1617-6278. ; 12:1, s. 61-74
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Pollen records from a small lake and a small peatland at Ire in northern Blekinge, Sweden, reveal that until A.D. 300 there was a mixed deciduous type of woodland dominated by Quercus, Tilia and Corylus, with Betula, Pinus, Populus, Fraxinus, Ulmus and Acer as important constituents. The first, but weak, signs of human influence on the vegetation are detected around 2300 B.C. At this time, the area was probably used for woodland grazing. The regional expansion of Fagus occurred around 100 B.C.-A.D. 200, and later, at about A.D. 500, woods dominated by Fagus were common in the area. Around A.D. 600-700 an isolated farmstead may have been established in the area, as single pollen grains of Secale (rye) were found. This farmstead may represent the first permanent settlement in the area. A more widespread opening of the vegetation occurred around A.D. 1000, probably as an effect of a more pronounced use of the area, and an expansion of settlements in the region. The openness of the area seems to have peaked around A.D. 1400-1800, and during this period the vegetation was highly fragmented with small stands of woodland, intensively grazed pastures, and arable fields where Secale and Triticum were mainly cultivated. Around A.D. 1600 Fagus pollen percentages sharply decrease, most probably caused by a deliberate and selective felling of beech trees for the production of potash, which consumed enormous amounts of wood. Picea seems to have been established around A.D. 1600, but it did not become a regional dominant until the first part of the 20th century, when land use decreased and it became favoured by forestry.
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| 10. |
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