Human-induced changes in fire regime and subsequent alteration of the sandstone landscape of Northern Bohemia (Czech Republic)

0494204 - BÚ 2019 RIV GB eng J - Journal Article
Bobek, Přemysl - Svitavská-Svobodová, Helena - Werchan, Barbora - Švarcová, Markéta Gabriela - Kuneš, Petr
Human-induced changes in fire regime and subsequent alteration of the sandstone landscape of Northern Bohemia (Czech Republic).
Holocene. Roč. 28, č. 3 (2018), s. 427-443. ISSN 0959-6836. E-ISSN 1477-0911
R&D Projects: GA ČR(CZ) GA14-22658S
Institutional support: RVO:67985939
Keywords : charcoal analysis * fire history * fungal spores
OECD category: Ecology
Impact factor: 2.547, year: 2018

Multiproxy palaeoecological evidence from a sandstone region in northern Czech Republic was collected to explore the impact of fire disturbances on the decline of the broadleaved forests during the Late Bronze Age (3250–3050 cal. BP). It has been hypothesized that human-accelerated soil leaching affected the nutrient availability in the sandstone area, thus promoting the expansion of oligotrophic-adapted plant communities in the late-Holocene. Rapid compositional changes in the pollen assemblage were documented during the Late Bronze Age period, suggesting vegetation responded to increased fire disturbances. The human influence on the fire regime is implied by the short-term increase in cereal pollen concurrent with a major fire event, indicating possible use of slash-and- burn cultivation by Late Bronze societies. Our study documents, for the first time, the intentional, human-caused biomass burning from densely forested areas of Northern Bohemian sandstone region. Our results imply that increased rate of fire disturbances contributed to the Late Bronze Age transformation of broadleaved forests to oligotrophic forest communities of late-Holocene.
Permanent Link: http://hdl.handle.net/11104/0287457