Holocene Palaeoenvironments at the Timberline in the Taillefer Massif, French Alps

A Study of Pollen, plant Macrofossils and Fossil Insects

Bibliographic Data

ID12266243
AuthorsPh Ponel (Laboratoire de Botanique historique et Palynologie, URA CNRS D1152, 13397 Marseille Cedex 13, France, Quaternary Research Institute, Adam Mickewicz University, Ul. Fredry 10, 6170 Poznan, Poland, corresponding author), J L De Beaulieu (Laboratoire de Botanique historique et Palynologie, URA CNRS D1152, 13397 Marseille Cedex 13, France, Quaternary Research Institute, Adam Mickewicz University, Ul. Fredry 10, 6170 Poznan, Poland), J-L De Beaulieu, K Tobolsk (Laboratoire de Botanique historique et Palynologie, URA CNRS D1152, 13397 Marseille Cedex 13, France, Quaternary Research Institute, Adam Mickewicz University, Ul. Fredry 10, 6170 Poznan, Poland)
Year1992
Volume2
Issue2
Pages117-130
Publication date1992-07-01
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueThe Holocene (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0959-6836 • E-ISSN: 1477-0911
PublisherSAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/095968369200200203
OpenAlexW1554461652
LanguageEN
Citations received12
References cited5

In order to reconstruct the history of the tree-line fluctuations, an integrated palaeoecological study of pollen, plant macrofossils and insect fossils was made in two peat-bogs containing Pinus uncinata trunks in the Taillefer Massif (Isére, France) at an altitude of 2100 m (i.e., above the present timberline). There is apparently an absence of a local woodland during the Lateglacial. After a hiatus corresponding to the beginning of the Holocene, the local presence of P. uncinata is recorded from at least 7500 BP onwards. There are also indications of Abies woodland in the vicinity of the plateau during the Atlantic chronozone. Significant changes in regional ecosystems are recorded from 5000 BP in an expansion of Fagus and Pinus cembra, and the first pollen evidence for human activities. Plant macrofossils and fossil insects (mainly Coleoptera) significantly improved the interpretations based on pollen analysis. Pinus uncinata disappeared from the plateau at about 2000 BP, slightly before the expansion of Picea at lower altitude. Pollen data imply that the timberline recession may be due to the exploitation of the forest by man. However, a lowering of the snow-line coinciding with the decline of Pinus uncinata is attested by the appearance of the insect Helophorus glacialis. It is therefore probable that there was a combination of human action and climatic impact, the importance of the latter having often been underestimated up to now

Biology · Holocene · Macrofossil · Massif · Mire · Peat · Plateau (mathematics · Pollen · Woodland · Geology and Paleoclimatology Research · Lichen and fungal ecology · Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology · Ecology · Geology · Paleontology

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