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| Titel |
Climate, people, fire and vegetation: new insights into vegetation dynamics in the Eastern Mediterranean since the 1st century AD |
| VerfasserIn |
J. Bakker, E. Paulissen, D. Kaniewski, J. Poblome, V. Laet, G. Verstraeten, M. Waelkens |
| Medientyp |
Artikel
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| Sprache |
Englisch
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| ISSN |
1814-9324
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| Digitales Dokument |
URL |
| Erschienen |
In: Climate of the Past ; 9, no. 1 ; Nr. 9, no. 1 (2013-01-16), S.57-87 |
| Datensatznummer |
250017425
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| Publikation (Nr.) |
 copernicus.org/cp-9-57-2013.pdf |
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| Zusammenfassung |
| Anatolia forms a bridge between Europe, Africa and Asia and is influenced by
all three continents in terms of climate, vegetation and human civilisation.
Unfortunately, well-dated palynological records focussing on the period from
the end of the classical Roman period until subrecent times are rare for
Anatolia and completely absent for southwest Turkey, resulting in a lacuna
in knowledge concerning the interactions of climatic change, human impact,
and environmental change in this important region. Two well-dated
palaeoecological records from the Western Taurus Mountains, Turkey, provide
a first relatively detailed record of vegetation dynamics from late Roman
times until the present in SW Turkey. Combining pollen, non-pollen
palynomorphs, charcoal, sedimentological, archaeological data, and newly
developed multivariate numerical analyses allows for the disentangling of
climatic and anthropogenic influences on vegetation change. Results show
changes in both the regional pollen signal as well as local soil sediment
characteristics match shifts in regional climatic conditions. Both climatic
as well as anthropogenic change had a strong influence on vegetation
dynamics and land use. A moist environmental trend during the late-3rd
century caused an increase in marshes and wetlands in the moister valley
floors, limiting possibilities for intensive crop cultivation at such
locations. A mid-7th century shift to pastoralism coincided with a
climatic deterioration as well as the start of Arab incursions into the
region, the former driving the way in which the vegetation developed
afterwards. Resurgence in agriculture was observed in the study during the
mid-10th century AD, coinciding with the Medieval Climate Anomaly. An
abrupt mid-12th century decrease in agriculture is linked to
socio-political change, rather than the onset of the Little Ice Age.
Similarly, gradual deforestation occurring from the 16th century
onwards has been linked to changes in land use during Ottoman times. The
pollen data reveal that a fast rise in Pinus pollen after the end of the
Beyşehir Occupation Phase need not always occur. The notion of high
Pinus pollen percentages indicating an open landscape incapable of countering the
influx of pine pollen is also deemed unrealistic. While multiple fires
occurred in the region through time, extended fire periods, as had occurred
during the Bronze Age and Beyşehir Occupation Phase, did not occur, and no
signs of local fire activity were observed. Fires were never a major
influence on vegetation dynamics. While no complete overview of post-BO
Phase fire events can be presented, the available data indicates that fires
in the vicinity of Gravgaz may have been linked to anthropogenic activity in
the wider surroundings of the marsh. Fires in the vicinity of Bereket
appeared to be linked to increased abundance of pine forests. There was no
link with specifically wet or dry environmental conditions at either site.
While this study reveals much new information concerning the impact of
climate change and human occupation on the environment, more studies from SW
Turkey are required in order to properly quantify the range of the
observed
phenomena and the magnitude of their impacts. |
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