Holocene plant diversity dynamics show a distinct biogeographical pattern in temperate Europe

0543311 - BÚ 2022 RIV GB eng J - Journal Article
Roleček, Jan - Abraham, V. - Vild, Ondřej - Svobodová-Svitavská, Helena - Jamrichová, Eva - Plesková, Z. - Pokorný, P. - Kuneš, P.
Holocene plant diversity dynamics show a distinct biogeographical pattern in temperate Europe.
Journal of Biogeography. Roč. 48, č. 6 (2021), s. 1366-1376. ISSN 0305-0270. E-ISSN 1365-2699
R&D Projects: GA ČR GA20-09895S; GA ČR(CZ) GA16-10100S
Institutional support: RVO:67985939
Keywords : Central Europe * diversity trends * Postglacial
OECD category: Environmental sciences (social aspects to be 5.7)
Impact factor: 4.810, year: 2021
Method of publishing: Limited access
https://doi.org/10.1111/jbi.14082

Pollen has been used before to reconstruct Holocene plant diversity changes in broadly delimited regions such as continents and countries. In this study we ask whether finer-scale differences in plant diversity, which are of interest to biogeographers and ecologists, are also detectable in the fossil pollen record coming from a single, biogeographically complex region of temperate Europe. Mean Holocene plant diversity is significantly predicted by latitude, whilst its temporal pattern varies by biogeographical region. Major differences were found between the Mesic and Montane Hercynia (relatively low diversity, increasing only in the Late Holocene) and Pannonia, the Carpathians and the Warm Hercynia (higher diversity, increasing from the Early or Middle Holocene onwards). The low diversity in the Middle and Late Holocene is associated with the prevalence of woody and acidophilic taxa. High diversity is associated with numerous grassland and minerotrophic wetland taxa, crops and weeds. Plant diversity and its changes during the Holocene are geographically structured across temperate Europe. The main causes appear to be differences between biogeographical regions in the dynamics of landscape openness and vegetation composition. The differences reflect spatial patterns in climate and human impact and their temporal changes.
Permanent Link: http://hdl.handle.net/11104/0320541