TY - JOUR
T1 - Quantitative reconstructions of changes in regional openness in north-central Europe reveal new insights into old questions
AU - Nielsen, Anne Birgitte
AU - Giesecke, Thomas
AU - Theuerkauf, Martin
AU - Feeser, Ingo
AU - Behre, Karl-Ernst
AU - Beug, Hans-Jürgen
AU - Chen, Su-Hwa
AU - Christiansen, Jörg
AU - Dörfler, Walter
AU - Endtmann, Elisabeth
AU - Jahns, Susanne
AU - de Klerk, Pim
AU - Kühl, Norbert
AU - Latałowa, Małgorzata
AU - Odgaard, Bent Vad
AU - Rasmussen, Peter
AU - Stockholm, Jette Raal
AU - Voigt, Ricarda
AU - Wiethold, Julian
AU - Wolters, Steffen
N1 - Funding Information:
We thank Arthur Brande, Ulrike Herzschuh, Tina Løvberg, Almut Spangenberg, Manuela Schuldt, Christina Herking and Sebastian Lorenz for providing original pollen data. State Forestry for Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (Uwe Gehlhar) is acknowledged for funding the study of Carwitzer See.
PY - 2012/7/30
Y1 - 2012/7/30
N2 - By applying the recently developed model REVEALS (Regional Estimates of VEgetation Abundance from Large Sites) (Sugita, 2007) to pollen data from a large number of sites across Northern Germany and Denmark, we construct maps of regional patterns in landscape openness and in cover abundance of key plant taxa in the cultural landscape of north-central Europe for selected time slices in the Holocene. The results indicate that the pattern of landscape openness across the regions of northern Germany and Denmark prior to the introduction of agriculture was affected by soil conditions and degree of continentality. The 8.2 ka climate event did not lead to a general decrease in tree cover, although some changes in species composition were observed. The early phases of agriculture also had little effect on landscape openness at the regional scale, but later human impact lead to large scale deforestation and development of arable areas, grasslands and of heathlands in the north-western part of the region. The timing and degree of deforestation, and the weight between arable and grazing areas varied in space, partly due to differences in natural conditions, partly due to differences in cultural impact.
AB - By applying the recently developed model REVEALS (Regional Estimates of VEgetation Abundance from Large Sites) (Sugita, 2007) to pollen data from a large number of sites across Northern Germany and Denmark, we construct maps of regional patterns in landscape openness and in cover abundance of key plant taxa in the cultural landscape of north-central Europe for selected time slices in the Holocene. The results indicate that the pattern of landscape openness across the regions of northern Germany and Denmark prior to the introduction of agriculture was affected by soil conditions and degree of continentality. The 8.2 ka climate event did not lead to a general decrease in tree cover, although some changes in species composition were observed. The early phases of agriculture also had little effect on landscape openness at the regional scale, but later human impact lead to large scale deforestation and development of arable areas, grasslands and of heathlands in the north-western part of the region. The timing and degree of deforestation, and the weight between arable and grazing areas varied in space, partly due to differences in natural conditions, partly due to differences in cultural impact.
KW - Denmark
KW - Holocene
KW - Landscape openness
KW - Northern Germany
KW - Pollen analysis
KW - REVEALS
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84862743006&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.quascirev.2012.05.011
DO - 10.1016/j.quascirev.2012.05.011
M3 - Article
VL - 47
SP - 131
EP - 149
JO - Quaternary Science Reviews
JF - Quaternary Science Reviews
SN - 0277-3791
ER -