Walter Finsinger
Biographic Data
| ID | 2786095 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Walter Finsinger |
| GIVEN NAMES | Walter |
| FAMILY NAME | Finsinger |
| SIGNATURE | FINSINGER W |
| AFFILIATIONS | Utrecht University |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-8297-0574 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 26 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 139 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 26 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2005 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2023 |
| H-INDEX | 7 |
The role of fire disturbances, human activities and climate change for long-term forest dynamics in upper-montane forests of the central Dinaric Alps
We present the first high-resolution Holocene pollen, plant-macrofossil, and charcoal records from the upper-montane zone in the central Dinaric Alps. Drawing on these new records from well-dated lacustrine sediments of Zminje Jezero (ca. 1500 m a.s.l.; Montenegro) and on independent chironomid-inferred summer temperatures, we explore long-term ecosystem responses to variations in climate, fire disturbances and land use, as well as legacy effects…
Youngest Iberian Holocene volcanic eruptions and paleoenvironmental evolution of a barrier-paleolake in the Garrotxa Volcanic Field (NE Spain)
Volcanic eruptions are key drivers of climate variability, with complex environmental consequences at regional and local scales that are rarely documented in high-resolution sedimentary records. In this work we present the results of a 15 m long paleolake core (Pla de les Preses core, Vall d’en Bas, Girona, NE Spain) covering the Late Pleistocene-Holocene transition. Multiproxy analyses including chronostratigraphy, sedimentology, micropalaeontol…
Changes in the vegetation and water cycle of the Ecuadorian páramo during the last 5000 years
We analyzed changes in the long-term vegetation cover and in fire activity over the past 5000 years in the Ecuadorian páramo using a sediment core from Papallacta (Ecuador). The chronology is constrained by three tephra layers and 32 AMS 14 C ages, and 168 samples yielded a high-resolution record of environmental changes. We estimated the upslope wind convectivity as the ratio between pollen transported from the Andean cloud forest and Poaceae po…
Legacies of past human activities on one of the largest old-growth forests in the south-east European mountains
Early to late Holocene vegetation and fire dynamics at the treeline in the Maritime Alps
New insights on stomata analysis of European conifers 65 years after the pioneering study of Werner Trautmann (1953)
Holocene fire-regime changes near the treeline in the Retezat Mts. (Southern Carpathians, Romania)
Treeline and timberline dynamics on the northern and southern slopes of the Retezat Mountains (Romania) during the late glacial and the Holocene
Terrestrial and aquatic ecosystem responses to early Holocene rapid climate change (RCC) events in the South Carpathian Mountains, Romania
Late-glacial and Holocene European pollen data
The European Pollen Database (EPD) is a community effort to archive and make available pollen sequences from across the European continent. Pollen sequences provide records that may be used to infer past vegetation and vegetation change. We present here maps based on 828 sites from the EPD giving an overview of changes in postglacial pollen assemblages in Europe over the past 15,000 years. The maps show the distribution and abundance of 54 differ…
Between Atlantic and Mediterranean
Holocene treeline and timberline changes in the South Carpathians (Romania)
Two high-altitude lake-sediment sequences (Lake Lia, 1910 m a.s.l. and Lake Bucura, 2040 m a.s.l.) from the Retezat Mountains (South Carpathians, Romania) were analysed using multi-proxy methods to study responses of treeline, timberline and alpine/subalpine vegetation to climate change and human impact during the past 16,000 years. Woody species ( Pinus mugo, Pinus cembra, Picea abies and Juniperus communis) reached Lake Lia between 12,000 and 1…
Small-scale moisture availability increase during the 8.2-ka climatic event inferred from biotic proxy records in the South Carpathians (SE Romania)
In this paper, we present high-resolution early Holocene pollen, plant macrofossil, charcoal, diatom, biogenic silica, and loss-on-ignition records from a mountain lake in the South Carpathians in order to reveal ecosystem response to the 8.2-ka climatic oscillation. We found significant changes both in terrestrial vegetation and lake diatom assemblages in the northern slope of the Retezat Mts between c. 8300 and 8000 cal. yr BP. Rapid changes in…
Using tree-ring records to calibrate peak detection in fire reconstructions based on sedimentary charcoal records
We compared fire episodes over the past 150 years reconstructed using charcoal particles retrieved from well-dated sediment deposits from two small lakes in the eastern Canadian boreal forest, with dendrochronological reconstructions of fire events from the corresponding watersheds. Fire scars and age structure of living trees highlighted three fire events (ad 1890, 1941, and 1989). To explore the ability to detect these fire events based on sedi…
A guide to screening charcoal peaks in macrocharcoal-area records for fire-episode reconstructions
Macroscopic charcoal records can be used to infer spatially explicit reconstructions of past fire history. However, a current deficiency in the charcoal-analysis toolbox has been the lack of a method to consider sampling variability and charcoal-particle area distributions for peak detection with charcoal-area records. We present a screening procedure specific for datasets comprising charcoal numbers and areas to screen the charcoal-area estimate…
The potential of stomata analysis in conifers to estimate presence of conifer trees
Towards mapping the late Quaternary vegetation change of Europe
The number of well-dated pollen diagrams in Europe has increased considerably over the last 30 years and many of them have been submitted to the European Pollen Database (EPD). This allows for the construction of increasingly precise maps of Holocene vegetation change across the continent. Chronological information in the EPD has been expressed in uncalibrated radiocarbon years, and most chronologies to date are based on this time scale. Here we …
Circum-Mediterranean fire activity and climate changes during the mid-Holocene environmental transition (8500-2500 cal. BP)
A mid- to late-Holocene synthesis of fire activity from the Mediterranean basin explores the linkages among fire, climate variability and seasonality through several climatic and ecological transitions. Regional fire histories were created from 36 radiocarbon-dated sedimentary charcoal records, available from the Global Charcoal Database. During the mid-Holocene ‘Thermal Maximum’ around 7500—4500 cal. BP, charcoal records from the northern Medite…
Stomatal-based inference models for reconstruction of atmospheric CO2 concentration
We investigated changes in atmospheric CO 2 concentration (hereafter [CO 2 ]) over the period AD 1700—2002 as reconstructed using the inverse relationship between stomatal frequencies (SF) of Betula nana leaves from northern Europe and [CO 2 ]. The predictive ability of SF-inference models was assessed using a method of independent validation that involves two steps: (1) a training set of leaves grown between AD 1843 and 2002 was used to generate…
The European Pollen Database
Pollen stratigraphies are the most spatially extensive data available for the reconstruction of past land-cover change. Detailed knowledge of past land-cover is becoming increasingly important to evaluate the present trends in, and drivers of, vegetation composition. The European Pollen Database (EPD) was established in the late 1980s and developed in the early 1990s to provide a structure for archiving, exchanging, and analysing Quaternary polle…
Changes in fire regimes since the Last Glacial Maximum
Testing the influence of climate, human impact and fire on the Holocene population expansion of Fagus sylvatica in the southern Prealps (Italy)
This study addresses the timing and causes of the Holocene population expansion of Fagus sylvatica at two sites in the southern Prealps (Italy): Lago di Fimon and Lago Piccolo di Avigliana. At both sites pollen and microcharcoal have been analysed at high temporal resolution. The impact of humans and of fire on the forest dynamics is tested by means of time-series analysis and the influence of climatic change has been inferred from summer tempera…
Pollen and plant macrofossils at Lac de Fully (2135 m a.s.l.)
We use pollen, stomata and plant-macrofossil records to infer Holocene timberline fluctuations and changes in forest composition at Lac Supérieur de Fully (2135 m a.s.l.), a small lake located near the modern regional timberline on a highland plateau in the Central Alps. Our records suggest that during the early Holocene vegetation was rather open on the plateau (eg, heaths of Dryas octopetala, Juniperus nana). The only tree that was able to buil…
Wildfire history and fire ecology of the Swiss National Park (Central Alps)
Microscopic (> 10 mm) and macroscopic (> 200 mm) charcoal particles were analysed in sediments from two mires in subalpine coniferous forests at c. 1800 m a.s.l. in southeastern Switzerland. Pollen and plant macrofossils suggest that since 6000 BC, Pinus mugo ssp. uncinata (DC) Domin (‘upright mountain pine’) has mostly been the dominant tree species at one of the study sites (Il Fuorn). In contrast, forests dominated by Picea abies (Norway spruc…
Minimum count sums for charcoal concentration estimates in pollen slides
Charcoal particles in pollen slides are often abundant, and thus analysts are faced with the problem of setting the minimum counting sum as small as possible in order to save time. We analysed the reliability of charcoal-concentration estimates based on different counting sums, using simulated low-to high-count samples. Bootstrap simulations indicate that the variability of inferred charcoal concentrations increases progressively with decreasing …
Towards mapping the late Quaternary vegetation change of Europe
The number of well-dated pollen diagrams in Europe has increased considerably over the last 30 years and many of them have been submitted to the European Pollen Database (EPD). This allows for the construction of increasingly precise maps of Holocene vegetation change across the continent. Chronological information in the EPD has been expressed in uncalibrated radiocarbon years, and most chronologies to date are based on this time scale. Here we …
Minimum count sums for charcoal concentration estimates in pollen slides
Charcoal particles in pollen slides are often abundant, and thus analysts are faced with the problem of setting the minimum counting sum as small as possible in order to save time. We analysed the reliability of charcoal-concentration estimates based on different counting sums, using simulated low-to high-count samples. Bootstrap simulations indicate that the variability of inferred charcoal concentrations increases progressively with decreasing …
Human impact during the Bronze Age on the vegetation at Lago Lucone (northern Italy)
Circum-Mediterranean fire activity and climate changes during the mid-Holocene environmental transition (8500-2500 cal. BP)
A mid- to late-Holocene synthesis of fire activity from the Mediterranean basin explores the linkages among fire, climate variability and seasonality through several climatic and ecological transitions. Regional fire histories were created from 36 radiocarbon-dated sedimentary charcoal records, available from the Global Charcoal Database. During the mid-Holocene ‘Thermal Maximum’ around 7500—4500 cal. BP, charcoal records from the northern Medite…
The European Pollen Database
Pollen stratigraphies are the most spatially extensive data available for the reconstruction of past land-cover change. Detailed knowledge of past land-cover is becoming increasingly important to evaluate the present trends in, and drivers of, vegetation composition. The European Pollen Database (EPD) was established in the late 1980s and developed in the early 1990s to provide a structure for archiving, exchanging, and analysing Quaternary polle…
The potential of stomata analysis in conifers to estimate presence of conifer trees
New insights on stomata analysis of European conifers 65 years after the pioneering study of Werner Trautmann (1953)
A guide to screening charcoal peaks in macrocharcoal-area records for fire-episode reconstructions
Macroscopic charcoal records can be used to infer spatially explicit reconstructions of past fire history. However, a current deficiency in the charcoal-analysis toolbox has been the lack of a method to consider sampling variability and charcoal-particle area distributions for peak detection with charcoal-area records. We present a screening procedure specific for datasets comprising charcoal numbers and areas to screen the charcoal-area estimate…
Testing the influence of climate, human impact and fire on the Holocene population expansion of Fagus sylvatica in the southern Prealps (Italy)
This study addresses the timing and causes of the Holocene population expansion of Fagus sylvatica at two sites in the southern Prealps (Italy): Lago di Fimon and Lago Piccolo di Avigliana. At both sites pollen and microcharcoal have been analysed at high temporal resolution. The impact of humans and of fire on the forest dynamics is tested by means of time-series analysis and the influence of climatic change has been inferred from summer tempera…
Wildfire history and fire ecology of the Swiss National Park (Central Alps)
Microscopic (> 10 mm) and macroscopic (> 200 mm) charcoal particles were analysed in sediments from two mires in subalpine coniferous forests at c. 1800 m a.s.l. in southeastern Switzerland. Pollen and plant macrofossils suggest that since 6000 BC, Pinus mugo ssp. uncinata (DC) Domin (‘upright mountain pine’) has mostly been the dominant tree species at one of the study sites (Il Fuorn). In contrast, forests dominated by Picea abies (Norway spruc…
Early to late Holocene vegetation and fire dynamics at the treeline in the Maritime Alps
Holocene treeline and timberline changes in the South Carpathians (Romania)
Two high-altitude lake-sediment sequences (Lake Lia, 1910 m a.s.l. and Lake Bucura, 2040 m a.s.l.) from the Retezat Mountains (South Carpathians, Romania) were analysed using multi-proxy methods to study responses of treeline, timberline and alpine/subalpine vegetation to climate change and human impact during the past 16,000 years. Woody species ( Pinus mugo, Pinus cembra, Picea abies and Juniperus communis) reached Lake Lia between 12,000 and 1…
Using tree-ring records to calibrate peak detection in fire reconstructions based on sedimentary charcoal records
We compared fire episodes over the past 150 years reconstructed using charcoal particles retrieved from well-dated sediment deposits from two small lakes in the eastern Canadian boreal forest, with dendrochronological reconstructions of fire events from the corresponding watersheds. Fire scars and age structure of living trees highlighted three fire events (ad 1890, 1941, and 1989). To explore the ability to detect these fire events based on sedi…
The role of fire disturbances, human activities and climate change for long-term forest dynamics in upper-montane forests of the central Dinaric Alps
We present the first high-resolution Holocene pollen, plant-macrofossil, and charcoal records from the upper-montane zone in the central Dinaric Alps. Drawing on these new records from well-dated lacustrine sediments of Zminje Jezero (ca. 1500 m a.s.l.; Montenegro) and on independent chironomid-inferred summer temperatures, we explore long-term ecosystem responses to variations in climate, fire disturbances and land use, as well as legacy effects…
Changes in the vegetation and water cycle of the Ecuadorian páramo during the last 5000 years
We analyzed changes in the long-term vegetation cover and in fire activity over the past 5000 years in the Ecuadorian páramo using a sediment core from Papallacta (Ecuador). The chronology is constrained by three tephra layers and 32 AMS 14 C ages, and 168 samples yielded a high-resolution record of environmental changes. We estimated the upslope wind convectivity as the ratio between pollen transported from the Andean cloud forest and Poaceae po…
Legacies of past human activities on one of the largest old-growth forests in the south-east European mountains
Minimum count sums for charcoal concentration estimates in pollen slides
Charcoal particles in pollen slides are often abundant, and thus analysts are faced with the problem of setting the minimum counting sum as small as possible in order to save time. We analysed the reliability of charcoal-concentration estimates based on different counting sums, using simulated low-to high-count samples. Bootstrap simulations indicate that the variability of inferred charcoal concentrations increases progressively with decreasing …
Human impact during the Bronze Age on the vegetation at Lago Lucone (northern Italy)
Wildfire history and fire ecology of the Swiss National Park (Central Alps)
Microscopic (> 10 mm) and macroscopic (> 200 mm) charcoal particles were analysed in sediments from two mires in subalpine coniferous forests at c. 1800 m a.s.l. in southeastern Switzerland. Pollen and plant macrofossils suggest that since 6000 BC, Pinus mugo ssp. uncinata (DC) Domin (‘upright mountain pine’) has mostly been the dominant tree species at one of the study sites (Il Fuorn). In contrast, forests dominated by Picea abies (Norway spruc…
Pollen and plant macrofossils at Lac de Fully (2135 m a.s.l.)
We use pollen, stomata and plant-macrofossil records to infer Holocene timberline fluctuations and changes in forest composition at Lac Supérieur de Fully (2135 m a.s.l.), a small lake located near the modern regional timberline on a highland plateau in the Central Alps. Our records suggest that during the early Holocene vegetation was rather open on the plateau (eg, heaths of Dryas octopetala, Juniperus nana). The only tree that was able to buil…
Changes in fire regimes since the Last Glacial Maximum
Testing the influence of climate, human impact and fire on the Holocene population expansion of Fagus sylvatica in the southern Prealps (Italy)
This study addresses the timing and causes of the Holocene population expansion of Fagus sylvatica at two sites in the southern Prealps (Italy): Lago di Fimon and Lago Piccolo di Avigliana. At both sites pollen and microcharcoal have been analysed at high temporal resolution. The impact of humans and of fire on the forest dynamics is tested by means of time-series analysis and the influence of climatic change has been inferred from summer tempera…
Stomatal-based inference models for reconstruction of atmospheric CO2 concentration
We investigated changes in atmospheric CO 2 concentration (hereafter [CO 2 ]) over the period AD 1700—2002 as reconstructed using the inverse relationship between stomatal frequencies (SF) of Betula nana leaves from northern Europe and [CO 2 ]. The predictive ability of SF-inference models was assessed using a method of independent validation that involves two steps: (1) a training set of leaves grown between AD 1843 and 2002 was used to generate…
The European Pollen Database
Pollen stratigraphies are the most spatially extensive data available for the reconstruction of past land-cover change. Detailed knowledge of past land-cover is becoming increasingly important to evaluate the present trends in, and drivers of, vegetation composition. The European Pollen Database (EPD) was established in the late 1980s and developed in the early 1990s to provide a structure for archiving, exchanging, and analysing Quaternary polle…
Circum-Mediterranean fire activity and climate changes during the mid-Holocene environmental transition (8500-2500 cal. BP)
A mid- to late-Holocene synthesis of fire activity from the Mediterranean basin explores the linkages among fire, climate variability and seasonality through several climatic and ecological transitions. Regional fire histories were created from 36 radiocarbon-dated sedimentary charcoal records, available from the Global Charcoal Database. During the mid-Holocene ‘Thermal Maximum’ around 7500—4500 cal. BP, charcoal records from the northern Medite…
Towards mapping the late Quaternary vegetation change of Europe
The number of well-dated pollen diagrams in Europe has increased considerably over the last 30 years and many of them have been submitted to the European Pollen Database (EPD). This allows for the construction of increasingly precise maps of Holocene vegetation change across the continent. Chronological information in the EPD has been expressed in uncalibrated radiocarbon years, and most chronologies to date are based on this time scale. Here we …
Using tree-ring records to calibrate peak detection in fire reconstructions based on sedimentary charcoal records
We compared fire episodes over the past 150 years reconstructed using charcoal particles retrieved from well-dated sediment deposits from two small lakes in the eastern Canadian boreal forest, with dendrochronological reconstructions of fire events from the corresponding watersheds. Fire scars and age structure of living trees highlighted three fire events (ad 1890, 1941, and 1989). To explore the ability to detect these fire events based on sedi…
A guide to screening charcoal peaks in macrocharcoal-area records for fire-episode reconstructions
Macroscopic charcoal records can be used to infer spatially explicit reconstructions of past fire history. However, a current deficiency in the charcoal-analysis toolbox has been the lack of a method to consider sampling variability and charcoal-particle area distributions for peak detection with charcoal-area records. We present a screening procedure specific for datasets comprising charcoal numbers and areas to screen the charcoal-area estimate…
The potential of stomata analysis in conifers to estimate presence of conifer trees
Small-scale moisture availability increase during the 8.2-ka climatic event inferred from biotic proxy records in the South Carpathians (SE Romania)
In this paper, we present high-resolution early Holocene pollen, plant macrofossil, charcoal, diatom, biogenic silica, and loss-on-ignition records from a mountain lake in the South Carpathians in order to reveal ecosystem response to the 8.2-ka climatic oscillation. We found significant changes both in terrestrial vegetation and lake diatom assemblages in the northern slope of the Retezat Mts between c. 8300 and 8000 cal. yr BP. Rapid changes in…
Late-glacial and Holocene European pollen data
The European Pollen Database (EPD) is a community effort to archive and make available pollen sequences from across the European continent. Pollen sequences provide records that may be used to infer past vegetation and vegetation change. We present here maps based on 828 sites from the EPD giving an overview of changes in postglacial pollen assemblages in Europe over the past 15,000 years. The maps show the distribution and abundance of 54 differ…
Between Atlantic and Mediterranean
Holocene treeline and timberline changes in the South Carpathians (Romania)
Two high-altitude lake-sediment sequences (Lake Lia, 1910 m a.s.l. and Lake Bucura, 2040 m a.s.l.) from the Retezat Mountains (South Carpathians, Romania) were analysed using multi-proxy methods to study responses of treeline, timberline and alpine/subalpine vegetation to climate change and human impact during the past 16,000 years. Woody species ( Pinus mugo, Pinus cembra, Picea abies and Juniperus communis) reached Lake Lia between 12,000 and 1…
Holocene fire-regime changes near the treeline in the Retezat Mts. (Southern Carpathians, Romania)
Treeline and timberline dynamics on the northern and southern slopes of the Retezat Mountains (Romania) during the late glacial and the Holocene
Terrestrial and aquatic ecosystem responses to early Holocene rapid climate change (RCC) events in the South Carpathian Mountains, Romania
New insights on stomata analysis of European conifers 65 years after the pioneering study of Werner Trautmann (1953)
Early to late Holocene vegetation and fire dynamics at the treeline in the Maritime Alps
Legacies of past human activities on one of the largest old-growth forests in the south-east European mountains
Changes in the vegetation and water cycle of the Ecuadorian páramo during the last 5000 years
We analyzed changes in the long-term vegetation cover and in fire activity over the past 5000 years in the Ecuadorian páramo using a sediment core from Papallacta (Ecuador). The chronology is constrained by three tephra layers and 32 AMS 14 C ages, and 168 samples yielded a high-resolution record of environmental changes. We estimated the upslope wind convectivity as the ratio between pollen transported from the Andean cloud forest and Poaceae po…
The role of fire disturbances, human activities and climate change for long-term forest dynamics in upper-montane forests of the central Dinaric Alps
We present the first high-resolution Holocene pollen, plant-macrofossil, and charcoal records from the upper-montane zone in the central Dinaric Alps. Drawing on these new records from well-dated lacustrine sediments of Zminje Jezero (ca. 1500 m a.s.l.; Montenegro) and on independent chironomid-inferred summer temperatures, we explore long-term ecosystem responses to variations in climate, fire disturbances and land use, as well as legacy effects…
Geography (22 works) · Geology and Paleoclimatology Research (22 works) · Physical geography (19 works) · Ecology (18 works) · Geology (17 works) · Holocene (16 works) · Biology (13 works) · Tree-ring climate responses (13 works) · Environmental Science (11 works) · Pollen (11 works)