A charcoal record of Holocene woodland succession from sandstone rock shelters of North Bohemia (Czech Republic)

Novák, Jan; Svoboda, Jiřı́; Šída, Petr; Prostředník, Jan; Pokorný, Petr

doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2014.08.042

Cited by 23 publications

(23 citation statements)

References 46 publications

(41 reference statements)

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…However, no species except Vertigo alpestris went extinct during the Lusitanian age (Figure 5, Supplementary 1, available online). Such a finding is fully in line with recent vegetation-historical studies of NB sandstone regions (Novák et al., 2015; Svoboda et al., 2018), which show a gradual but ultimately profound ecosystem transformation in the late Holocene.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 88%

“…Subsequent vegetation history studies (e.g. Bobek et al., 2018; Härtel et al., 2007; Novák et al., 2015; Pokorný et al., 2017; Šída et al., 2014a, 2014b; Svoboda, 2003, 2017; Svoboda et al., 2018) have also confirmed the dramatic differences between the present and past environments. Today, relict pine and birch stands grow on the peaks of sandstone towers, while beech forests and spruce plantations occur in between.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 87%

“…(e.g. Bobek et al., 2018; Härtel et al., 2007; Novák et al., 2015; Šída et al., 2014a, 2014b; Svoboda, 2003, 2017; Svoboda et al., 2018). Thanks to these investigations, sandstone landscapes have revealed examples of the extreme and rapid impoverishment of local biota, which was originally attributed to the late Bronze Age colonization and accompanying human impacts and interpreted as environmental collapse (Härtel et al., 2007; Pokorný and Kuneš, 2005), sometimes expressively called the ‘Lusitanian Catastrophe’ (Cílek et al., 1996).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

The lost paradise of snails: Transformation of the middle-Holocene forest ecosystems in Bohemia, Czech Republic, as revealed by declining land snail diversity

et al. 2020

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

We studied the transformation of a middle-to-late Holocene forested ecosystem using the highly indicative remains of land snails. The study areas were sandstone landscapes of northern Bohemia (Czech Republic) that provide extremely rich terrestrial fossil records. As far as we know, nowhere else in the world does such a type of sedimentary environment provide Holocene records of snail shells. Currently, these sandstone landscapes are covered by low productivity coniferous forests with very low species pools. In sharp contrast, in the middle Holocene, they were dominated by species-rich productive woodland communities. Such ecosystems were then supported by a favourable warm and wet climate and by nutrient-rich, calcareous substrata formed of late Pleistocene aeolian dust (loess). A radical transformation of this temporal ecological equilibrium began in the third millennium BC. Over the next millennia, the species-rich canopy forest mollusc assemblages almost completely disappeared, together with calciphilous rock dwellers. The main driving force of this transformation was gradual soil leaching that resulted in the loss of calcium carbonate and principal nutrients (like P and N) and subsequent ecosystem retrogression. Synergistically with this background trend, the unstable climatic regime of the late Holocene, along with long-term anthropogenic pressure that peaked for the first time during the late Bronze Age, accelerated the transformation.

show abstract

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 88%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 87%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

The lost paradise of snails: Transformation of the middle-Holocene forest ecosystems in Bohemia, Czech Republic, as revealed by declining land snail diversity

et al. 2020

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…is supported by frequent and abundant Pinus charcoal from archaeological sites in adjacent Bohemia (e.g. Kočár et al, 2014; Novák et al, 2015). This shows that Pinus is not under-represented due to firewood preferences and that it could be abundant due to human disturbances of soils in Bohemia.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 96%

Middle- and upper-Holocene woodland history in central Moravia (Czech Republic) reveals biases of pollen and anthracological analysis

Novák¹,

Abrahám

Kočár³

et al. 2016

The Holocene

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The aims of this article are, first, to investigate the middle- and upper-Holocene woodland history along the altitudinal gradient between the lowlands and uplands of Central Europe (190–550 m a.s.l.) and, second, to outline possible biases inherent in the charcoal record based on a comparison with the pollen record and its known biases. Our anthracological data set contains 42,547 determinations made in 120 charcoal samples taken at 69 sites. The lowest elevated part of the study region (below 200 m a.s.l.) is characterized by the long-term presence of a species-rich hardwood forest (mixed oak–elm–ash forest). Quercus charcoals dominated in the rest of the altitude zones during the Neolithic and Aeneolithic; however, shrub charcoals appearing in samples from areas with chernozem soils (generally up to 230 m a.s.l.) indicate open-canopy oak woodlands. The species composition differed along the altitudinal gradient during the Bronze Age period, when Carpinus, Fagus and Abies expanded to altitudes above 230 m a.s.l., while Fagus was more abundant above 290 m a.s.l. Broadleaved trees ( Quercus, Fraxinus, Ulmus, Acer and Carpinus) and shrubs are generally more represented in charcoals than pollen. Since broadleaved trees are usually nutrient demanding and able to re-grow easily after being felled, we suppose that their charcoal record is influenced by two main factors: bias of the initial location of the archaeological site and bias caused by long-term human influence on forest vegetation in the vicinity of settlements. These results underline that combining charcoal and pollen analysis has great potential for studying phenomena in cultural landscapes, as each of the methods approaches nature from the opposite side of the human–nature gradient.

show abstract

“…In our opinion, the addition of paleo studies (e.g., [71,[81][82][83][84]) will be necessary for a defensible PNV, certainly in the context of forest assessment for central Europe [85].…”

Section: Forest Vegetation Zonesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessing Forest Classification in a Landscape-Level Framework: An Example from Central European Forests

Kusbach

Friedl

Zouhar

et al. 2017

Forests

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Abstract:Traditional land classifications developed on the basis of what was once prevailing expert knowledge have since largely become obsolete. We assessed expert knowledge based landscape-level units delineated in central European temperate forests: Natural Forest Areas (NFA) and Forest Vegetation Zones (FVZ). Our focus was determining to what degree these units reflect vegetation-environmental relationships. After considering as many as 49,000 plots with vegetation and 25,000 plots with environmental data within a territory of the Czech Republic, we analyzed 11,885 plots. We used multivariate statistics to discriminate between the landscape-level units. While NFAs performed extremely well, FVZ results were less successful. Classification of the environment provided better results than classification of vegetation for both the Hercynicum and Carpaticum phytogeographic part of the Czech Republic. Taking into account significance of the environment in our analysis, a delimitation of FVZs and similar vegetation-driven structures worldwide via explicit a priori stratification by tree species without consideration of environmental limits would not be supported by our analysis. We suggest not relying only on vegetation in classification analyses, but also including the significant environmental factors for direct classification of FVZ and units in particular in altered vegetation composition setting such as the central European forests. We propose a novel interpretation of FVZ via appropriate vegetation stratification throughout the environment used in conjunction with the zonal concept. Understanding of coarse-scaled vegetation-environmental relationships is not only fundamental in forest ecology and forest management, but is also essential for improving lower classification levels. Valuable expert knowledge should be combined with formal quantification, which is consistent with recent calls for advanced multidisciplinary ecological classifications in Europe and North America and for forming classifications in Asia.

show abstract

A charcoal record of Holocene woodland succession from sandstone rock shelters of North Bohemia (Czech Republic)

Cited by 23 publications

References 46 publications

The lost paradise of snails: Transformation of the middle-Holocene forest ecosystems in Bohemia, Czech Republic, as revealed by declining land snail diversity

The lost paradise of snails: Transformation of the middle-Holocene forest ecosystems in Bohemia, Czech Republic, as revealed by declining land snail diversity

Middle- and upper-Holocene woodland history in central Moravia (Czech Republic) reveals biases of pollen and anthracological analysis

Assessing Forest Classification in a Landscape-Level Framework: An Example from Central European Forests

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About