Erika Gobet
Christoph Schworer
Giorgia Beffa
Christoph Butz
Paul D. Henne
Cesar Morales-Molino
Salvatore Pasta
Jacqueline Van Leeuwen
Hendrik Vogel
Elias Zwimpfer
Flavio Anselmetti
Martin Grosjean
Willy Tinner
Tiziana Pedrotta
2021
<p><span>Knowledge about the vegetation history of Sardinia, the second largest island of the Mediterranean, is scanty. Here, we present a new sedimentary record covering the past ~ 8,000 years from Lago di Baratz, north-west Sardinia. Vegetation and fire history are reconstructed by pollen, spores, macrofossils and charcoal analyses and environmental dynamics by high-resolution element geochemistry together with pigment analyses. During the period 8,100–7,500 cal </span><span class="u-small-caps">BP</span><span>, when seasonality was high and fire and erosion were frequent, </span><i>Erica arborea</i><span> and </span><i>E. scoparia</i><span> woodlands dominated the coastal landscape. Subsequently, between 7,500 and 5,500 cal </span><span class="u-small-caps">BP</span><span>, seasonality gradually declined and thermo-mediterranean woodlands with </span><i>Pistacia</i><span> and </span><i>Quercus ilex</i><span> partially replaced </span><i>Erica</i><span> communities under diminished incidence of fire. After 5,500 cal </span><span class="u-small-caps">BP</span><span>, evergreen oak forests expanded markedly, erosion declined and lake levels increased, likely in response to increasing (summer) moisture availability. Increased anthropogenic fire disturbance triggered shrubland expansions (e.g. </span><i>Tamarix</i><span> and </span><i>Pistacia</i><span>) around 5,000–4,500 cal </span><span class="u-small-caps">BP</span><span>. Subsequently around 4,000–3,500 cal </span><span class="u-small-caps">BP</span><span> evergreen oak-olive forests expanded massively when fire activity declined and lake productivity and anoxia reached Holocene maxima. Land-use activities during the past 4,000 years (since the Bronze Age) gradually disrupted coastal forests, but relict stands persisted under rather stable environmental conditions until ca. 200 cal </span><span class="u-small-caps">BP</span><span>, when agricultural activities intensified and </span><i>Pinus</i><span> and </span><i>Eucalyptus</i><span> were planted to stabilize the sand dunes. Pervasive prehistoric land-use activities since at least the Bronze Age Nuraghi period included the cultivation of </span><i>Prunus</i><span>, </span><i>Olea europaea</i><span> and </span><i>Juglans regia</i><span> after 3,500–3,300 cal </span><span class="u-small-caps">BP</span><span>, and </span><i>Quercus suber</i><span> after 2,500 cal </span><span class="u-small-caps">BP</span><span>. We conclude that restoring less flammable native </span><i>Q. ilex</i><span> and </span><i>O. europaea</i><span> forest communities would markedly reduce fire risk and erodibility compared to recent forest plantations with flammable non-native trees (e.g. </span><i>Pinus</i><span>, </span><i>Eucalyptus</i><span>) and xerophytic shrubland (e.g. </span><i>Cistus</i><span>, </span><i>Erica</i><span>).</span></p>
application/pdf
10.1007/s00334-021-00832-3
en
Springer
8,000 years of climate, vegetation, fire and land-use dynamics in the thermo-mediterranean vegetation belt of northern Sardinia (Italy)
article