History of fires and vegetation since the Neolithic in the Cantabrian Mountains (Spain)

Carracedo, Virginia; Cunill, Raquel; García-Codron, Juan Carlos; Mañosa, Albert Pèlachs; Obiol, Ramón Pérez i; Soriano, Joan Manuel

doi:10.1002/ldr.2891

Cited by 37 publications

(31 citation statements)

References 54 publications

(85 reference statements)

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“…Fire disturbs the vegetation, and since the Neolithic, it has become an irreplaceable tool for opening up forest spaces and maintaining pastures (Carracedo et al, ). Fire impacts depend on climate, land use, topography, and the ecosystem being affected.…”

Section: Overview Of the Papers In The Special Issuementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Overview Of the Papers In The Special Issuementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Ash and char are products of organic matter combustion either during fire events or under controlled conditions (e.g., biochar and wood ash generated in biomass power plants). Fires have acted as a natural physical force impacting ecosystems throughout Earth's history, but especially as a factor accompanying human invasion into ecosystems and anthropogenic land use (Carracedo et al, 2018;López-Sáez et al, 2018). Ash and char, as fire products, leave a strong long-term footprint in all ecosystems (Pereira, Jordan, Cerda, & Martin, 2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…year BP), however, fire dynamics became asynchronous. Accordingly, fire activity increased after the agricultural revolution and was enormously variable during the late Holocene in response to both short-term and long-term regional and global climate, vegetation dynamics, and land use changes(López-Sáez et al, 2018).Fire disturbs the vegetation, and since the Neolithic, it has become an irreplaceable tool for opening up forest spaces and maintaining pastures(Carracedo et al, 2018). Fire impacts depend on climate, land use, topography, and the ecosystem being affected.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Maximum charcoal accumulation rates at La Molina were observed between the Neolithic and the Bronze Age but occurred after about 3,500 years BP at El Cueto de la Avellanosa. Consequently, fire has been a key factor in forest retreat and in maintaining open landscapes since the Neolithic(Carracedo et al, 2018).Human management and exploitation of forest resources increased the fire frequency and the regional input and deposition of PyC (black carbon) on soils. On the basis of the 210 Pb age-depth model, the black C deposition was investigated over several key periods over the last 150 years in peatlands of the Great Hinggan Mountains (Northeast China;Gao, He, Cong, Zhang, & Wang, 2018).…”

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confidence: 99%

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Ash and fire, char, and biochar in the environment

2018

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Fire is an extreme event leading to rapid and dramatic losses of carbon (C), nutrients, and ballast elements from ecosystems and leaving ash and char on the soil surface. This affects soil processes, properties, and functions. Similar effects can be induced by applying biochar—the product of artificial pyrolysis of plant materials and organic wastes. The nutrients in ashes remaining after a fire or in biochar after pyrolysis will be leached within a few years, and only the highly condensed material will remain in the soil over centuries and millennia. This Special Issue (SI) is devoted to ash, fire, char, and biochar in the environment, with a special focus on soil processes and properties. We begin by comprehensively summarizing the positive and negative effects of fire, ash, char, and biochar on the physical, chemical, and biological properties of soils. We then review the 15 papers contributing to this SI. The first group of studies focuses on reconstructing fires during the Holocene and then linking them to human activities and land use. These studies clearly concluded that the fire frequency strongly increased with human invasion and occupation, and that charcoal properties are useful in reconstructing anthropogenic activities. The second group of studies is mainly devoted to changes in physical, chemical, and biological soil properties as well as to interactions between soil functions depending on fire, ash, and char properties. The final group describes the effects of biochar on soil properties and functions such as nutrient availability, C sequestration, microbial diversity and community structure, and heavy metal fixation. The overall conclusion is that fire and the remaining ash and char as well as the application of biochar have short‐ and long‐term consequences for soil. Despite the dramatic effects of fire on vegetation, these factors have many positive effects on soil properties and functions, whereby the influences extend from local, landscape, and regional scales to the global scale.

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Section: Overview Of the Papers In The Special Issuementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Overview Of the Papers In The Special Issuementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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confidence: 99%

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Ash and fire, char, and biochar in the environment

2018

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Energy regimes help tackle limitations with the prehistoric cultural‐phases approach to learn about sustainable transitions: Archaeological evidence from northern Spain

Alexandre

Sjoerd

José

et al. 2023

J Quaternary Science

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Human societies face challenges in transitioning towards low-carbon economies and sustainable management of land use and natural resources. Documenting and learning from past transitions helps policy-makers cope with such challenges. The agricultural revolution in Cantabrian Spain (ca. 7000 cal a BP) was one major adaptation of hunter-gatherers to a changing environment that started with the Last Glacial Maximum (ca. 24 000 cal a BP) and lasted until the Mid-Holocene (ca. 5300 cal a BP). Classic approaches to documenting prehistoric cultural timelines are based on manufacturing and technology, thus limited in their ability to describe the sustainability of past societies. Energy regimes, a functional societal approach independent from time, investigate and consider patterns of resource and energy use in various cohabiting and cooperating cultural phases. To examine past energy regimes, a database of archaeological remains was compiled to document four indicators: mobility, economy, overexploitation and societal complexity. Statistical analyses were conducted to elucidate trends, changes and continuity in subsistence strategies by hunter-gatherers and sedentary societies. Results show that energy regimes act as a complement to cultural phases, adding novel functional analyses of past societies to cultural stratigraphy units common in archaeology, shedding light on the sustainability of past societal transitions.

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