Climate Change, Fire and Human Activity Drive Vegetation Change during the Last Eight Millennia in the Xistral Mountains of NW Iberia

Quaternary

article

Tim M. Mighall¹  Antonio Martínez Cortizas²  Noemí Silva-Sánchez⁴  Olalla López-Costas⁵  Lourdes López-Merino⁸ 

[1] Geography & Environment, School of Geosciences, University of Aberdeen;CRETUS, EcoPast ,(GI-1553), Facultade de Bioloxía, Campus Sur, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela;Bolin Centre for Climate Research, Stockholm University;Instituto de Ciencias del Patrimonio, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas ,(INCIPIT-CSIC);CRETUS;EcoPast ,(GI-1553), Area of Archaeology, Department of History, Facultade de Xeografía e Historia, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela;Archaeological Research Laboratory, Wallenberg Laboratoriet, Stockholm University;ENVIROVEG ,(grupo UCM 910164), Unidad de Botánica, Facultad de Farmacia, Universidad Complutense de Madrid

关键词: ombrotrophic mire;    climate change;    human impact;    pollen;    non-pollen palynomorphs;    geochemistry;    Holocene;    NW Iberia;   

DOI  :  10.3390/quat6010005

学科分类：自然科学（综合）

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

An 8500-year record of high-resolution pollen, non-pollen palynomorph, microscopic charcoal and selected geochemical data (Ti, Zr and Pb) is presented from an ombrotrophic mire from the Xistral Mountains, Galicia, North-West Iberia. The results suggest that vegetation changes over the last eight millennia are primarily the result of human disturbance, fire and climate change. Climate and fire were the main factors influencing vegetation development during the early to mid-Holocene, including a short-lived decline in forest cover c. 8.2 cal. ka BP. Changes associated with the 4.2 and 2.8 cal. Ka BP events are less well defined. Human impact on vegetation became more pronounced by the late Holocene with major periods of forest disturbance from c. 3.1 cal. ka BP onwards: during the end of Metal Ages, Roman period and culminating in the permanent decline of deciduous forests in the post-Roman period, as agriculture and metallurgy intensified, leading to the creation of a cultural landscape. Climate change appears to become less influential as human activity dominates during the Late Holocene.

【 授权许可】

CC BY