Late Holocene forest dynamics in the Gulf of Gaeta (central Mediterranean) in relation to NAO variability and human impact

Rita, Federico Di; Lirer, Fabrizio; Bonomo, Sergio; Cascella, Antonio; Ferraro, Luciana; Florindo, Fabio; Insinga, Donatella; Lurcock, Pontus; Margaritelli, Giulia; Petrosino, Paola; Rettori, R; Vallefuoco, Mattia; Magri, Donatella

doi:10.1016/j.quascirev.2017.11.012

Cited by 57 publications

(51 citation statements)

References 89 publications

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“…We note that, in Fig. 6, the identification of the 4.2 ka BP Event appears problematic (at least using AP % signal), which is not in the case for other pollen records in Italy (Magri and Parra, 2002;Di Rita and Magri, 2009;Di Rita et al, 2018a), the Iberian Peninsula (e.g., Blanco-Gonzalez et al, 2018;Lillios et al, 2016), or the Levant (e.g., Kaniewski et al, 2013Kaniewski et al, , 2018. Interestingly, some records may suggest that the 4.2 ka interval is characterized by several important oscillations rather than one simple long interval of specific (usually drier) climatic conditions (see, for instance, Skala Marion and Solufar or GLD1 in Fig.…”

Section: Chronology: the Achilles Heel Of The Problemmentioning

confidence: 85%

The 4.2 ka BP Event in the Mediterranean region: an overview

et al. 2019

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The Mediterranean region and the Levant have returned some of the clearest evidence of a climatically dry period occurring around 4200 years ago. However, some regional evidence is controversial and contradictory, and issues remain regarding timing, progression, and regional articulation of this event. In this paper, we review the evidence from selected proxies (sea-surface temperature, precipitation, and temperature reconstructed from pollen, δ 18 O on speleothems, and δ 18 O on lacustrine carbonate) over the Mediterranean Basin to infer possible regional climate patterns during the interval between 4.3 and 3.8 ka. The values and limitations of these proxies are discussed, and their potential for furnishing information on seasonality is also ex-plored. Despite the chronological uncertainties, which are the main limitations for disentangling details of the climatic conditions, the data suggest that winter over the Mediterranean involved drier conditions, in addition to already dry summers. However, some exceptions to this prevail -where wetter conditions seem to have persisted -suggesting regional heterogeneity in climate patterns. Temperature data, even if sparse, also suggest a cooling anomaly, even if this is not uniform. The most common paradigm to interpret the precipitation regime in the Mediterranean -a North Atlantic Oscillation-like pattern -is not completely satisfactory to interpret the selected data.

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Section: Chronology: the Achilles Heel Of The Problemmentioning

confidence: 85%

The 4.2 ka BP Event in the Mediterranean region: an overview

et al. 2019

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“…Also shown is a reconstruction of the NAO. Proxy series from left to right (west to east, with site numbers): 48: Grotta Savi (Borsato et al, ; Frisia et al, ), 41: INV12‐15 (Jalali et al, ), 52: Lake Dojran (Francke et al, ), 45: SW104‐C5 & 5 (Di Rita, Fletcher, et al, ; Di Rita, Lirer, et al, ; Margaritelli et al, ), 46: DP30 (Goudeau et al, ; Grauel, Goudeau, et al, ), 56: Athos Basin (Gogou et al, ), and NAO (Baker et al, ). Illustrated site numbers are bold and underlined in location map in Figure .…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Medieval Climate Anomaly in the Mediterranean Region

Lüning¹,

Schulte

Garcés‐Pastor

et al. 2019

Paleoceanog and Paleoclimatol

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The Medieval Climate Anomaly (MCA) is a preindustrial phase of pronounced natural climate variability with a core period from 1000 to 1200 CE. The paper presents a synthesis that integrates palaeotemperature records from the Greater Mediterranean Region encompassing the past 1,500 years based on multiproxy data from 79 published land and marine sites. MCA warming dominated the Western Mediterranean (Iberia, NW Africa) as well as the northern land areas of the Central and Eastern Mediterranean region. MCA cooling prevailed in the Canary Current Upwelling System, southern Levant, and some sea areas of the Central and Eastern Mediterranean. Previous palaeoreconstructions suggest persistent positive Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO+) and North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO+) conditions during the MCA, while the Little Ice Age was dominated by an AMO− and NAO− regime. During the past 150 years, AMO+ conditions are typically associated with warming episodes in the Mediterranean area. A similar relationship appears to have also been established during the MCA as the majority of all Mediterranean land sites experienced warm climate conditions. In contrast, the NAO typically leads to a characteristic west‐east temperature dipole pattern in the basin, as documented for the last decades. During NAO+ conditions the Western Mediterranean is generally warm (and dry), while large parts of the Central and Eastern Mediterranean are cold. Similar trends seem to have been developed during the MCA when the NAO+ regime led to consistent warming in the Western Mediterranean, while a significant number of sites with MCA cooling existed in the Central and Eastern Mediterranean.

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“…years BP to the present, and a concurrent increase in the relative abundance of Pistacia and other Mediterranean plants, Olea, Juglans, Castanea (OJC group, evidence of human-induced environments) [6], Poaceae wild grass group, Artemisia, and Plantago (PAZ 1b-1a) [112]. Similarly, a sharp reduction in forested areas, and an increase in synanthropic plants and Mediterranean vegetation was systematically documented in the mid-late Holocene sections of off-site cores from southern Italy [52][53][54][55]99,100,[113][114][115][116]. Overall, these biostratigraphical records suggest that a human impact on vegetation has occurred since about 3500 cal.…”

Section: The Relevance Of Past Pastoral Activities and Their Legacy Omentioning

confidence: 86%

“…In Italy, an outstanding number of studies that include pollen or other plant remains from archaeological contexts (BRAIN database: brainplants.successoterra.net) [50] have testified to the widespread occurrence of breeding/pastoral activities on the peninsula over the last few millennia. This long-term practice can also be inferred from pollen spectra from the top cores (Holocene sediments) of biostratigraphical records [51][52][53][54][55]. However, only a few papers focused solely on past pastoral practices and their legacy on the current Italian landscape have been published thus far [56].…”

Section: Previous Studies and The Aim Of This Papermentioning

confidence: 99%

The History of Pastoral Activities in S Italy Inferred from Palynology: A Long-Term Perspective to Support Biodiversity Awareness

Florenzano

2019

Sustainability

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The present-day Mediterranean landscape is a result of the long-term human–environment–climate interactions that have driven the ecological dynamics throughout the Holocene. Pastoralism had (and still has) an important role in shaping this landscape, and contributes to maintaining the mosaic patterns of the Mediterranean habitats. Palaeoecological records provide significant multi-proxy data on environmental changes during the Holocene that are linked to human activities. In such research, the palynological approach is especially useful for detailing the complexity of anthropogenically-driven landscape transformations by discriminating past land uses and pastoral/breeding activities. This paper focuses on the palynological evidence for the impact of centuries of grazing on the vegetation of Basilicata, a region of southern Italy where animal breeding and pastoralism have a long tradition. A set of 121 pollen samples from eight archaeological sites (dated from the 6th century BC to the 15th century AD) and five modern surface soil samples were analyzed. The joint record of pollen pasture indicators and spores of coprophilous fungi suggests that continuous and intense pastoral activities have been practiced in the territory and have highly influenced its landscape. The palaeoecological results of this study provide us with better knowledge of the diachronical transformations of the habitats that were exposed to continuous grazing, with a shift toward more open vegetation and increase of sclerophyllous shrubs. The palynological approach gives insights into the vocation and environmental sustainability of this southern Italy region on a long-term basis.

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Late Holocene forest dynamics in the Gulf of Gaeta (central Mediterranean) in relation to NAO variability and human impact

Cited by 57 publications

References 89 publications

The 4.2 ka BP Event in the Mediterranean region: an overview

The 4.2 ka BP Event in the Mediterranean region: an overview

The Medieval Climate Anomaly in the Mediterranean Region

The History of Pastoral Activities in S Italy Inferred from Palynology: A Long-Term Perspective to Support Biodiversity Awareness

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