Substantial light woodland and open vegetation characterized the temperate forest biome before Homo sapiens
article
Pearce, E.A.
Mazier, F.
Normand, S.
Fyfe, R.
Andrieu, V.
Bakels, C.
Balwiez, Z.
Binka, K.
Boreham, S.
Borisova, O.K.
Brostrom, A.
Beaulieu, J.L. de
Gao, C.
Gonzalez-Samperiz, P.
Granoszewski, P.
Hrynowiecka, A.
Kolaczek, P.
Kunes, P.
Magri, D.
Malkiewicz, M.
Mighall, T.
Milner, A.M.
Moller, P.
Nita, M.
Noryskiewicz, B.
Pidek, I.A.
Reille, M.
Robertsson, A.M.
Salonen, J.S.
Schlafli, P.
Schokker, J.
Scussolini, P.
Seiriene, V.
Strahl, J.
Urban, B.
Winter, H.
Svenning, J.C.
The extent of vegetation openness in past European landscapes is widely debated (1–4). Uncertainties are especially acute in temper ate forests, where accurate estimates are needed as baselines for eco system restoration. The traditional view is that closed-canopy forests, as the climax state of vegetation succession, would have dominated the temperate forest biome before increased human presence (1, 2). In the past two decades, proxy-based reconstruc tions have challenged this view of European forests (3–5). Recent pollen-based reconstructions of past land cover in the Holocene [11,700 years before present (B.P.) to present] have shown that tra ditional comparisons of the percentage of arboreal to non-arboreal pollen strongly underestimate the cover of grass and heathland (6, 7). In support of this finding, fossil records from habitat-specific Mollusca (molluscs) and Coleoptera (beetles, from the British Isles) indicated that open and semi-open vegetation dominated in the early- to mid-Holocene (11,700–6000 B.P.) (8) and during the Last Interglacial period [129–116 thousand years (ka) B.P.] (9), re spectively. Therefore, rather than comprising exclusively closed forests, Europe was potentially a heterogeneous landscape that fea tured a mixture of closed, open, and semi-open vegetation, such as grassland, scrub, and wood-pasture–like vegetation (4, 10). However, in the early Holocene, it is unclear how far open vegeta tion is an anthropogenic signal (11). The extent of vegetation open ness before the impacts of Homo sapiens, in the temperate forest biome and Europe more broadly, remains poorly quantified.
Topics
TNO Identifier
990823
Source
Science Advances, 9, pp. 1-15.
Pages
1-15