A pollen-based pseudobiomisation approach to anthropogenic land-cover change
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 12266305 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Ralph Fyfe (0000-0002-5676-008X, University of Plymouth, corresponding author), Neil Roberts (0000-0001-5538-8653), John Woodbridge (0000-0003-0756-3538, University of Plymouth), Jessie Woodbridge (University of Plymouth) |
| Year | 2010 |
| Volume | 20 |
| Issue | 7 |
| Pages | 1165-1171 |
| Publication date | 2010-07-12 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | The Holocene (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0959-6836 • E-ISSN: 1477-0911 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1177/0959683610369509 |
| OpenAlex | W2030022653 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 19 |
| References cited | 46 |
The degree of anthropogenic modification of land cover through the mid to late Holocene is of significant interest for archaeologists, climate modellers and conservation ecologists, amongst others. Spatially extensive pollen data provide an appropriate resource for the reconstruction of land-cover change; however, traditional simple methods (e.g. the AP/NAP ratio) do not provide the degree of detail required for these user groups. A range of more sophisticated methods have been developed (e.g. mechanistic model-based methods), but they require a high degree of understanding of the pollen—vegetation relationship, which is resource- and time-consuming. This paper proposes a method of intermediate complexity by which major land-cover changes can be assessed for individual sites and regions. A pseudobiomisation approach is used, in which pollen taxa are assigned to different land-cover classes (LCC), and the sum of adjusted pollen proportions for each class used to determine an LCC affinity score for individual pollen samples within stratigraphic pollen sequences. In a pilot study, data from pollen core sites from northwest Scotland and southwest England for the last 8000 cal. BP have been classified into ten land-cover classes, including predominantly wooded, semi-open and open types. Results highlight how land-cover change was punctuated rather than gradual through the mid to late Holocene, and show how habitat diversity increased after ~6000 cal. BP with the arrival of agriculture, before reaching a minimum in early modern times. This pollen-based method is potentially applicable to the reconstruction of long-term land-cover change within Europe and other temperate-zone regions
Archaeology · Biology · Climate change · Environmental change · Geography · Holocene · Land cover · Land use · Physical geography · Pollen · Resource (disambiguation · Taxon · Vegetation (pathology · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies · Computer Science · Geology and Paleoclimatology Research · Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology · Ecology
Pollen‐based quantitative reconstructions of Holocene regional vegetation cover (plant‐functional types and land‐cover types) in Europe suitable for climate modelling
Holocene fluctuations in human population demonstrate repeated links to food production and climate
Vegetation and Land-Use Change in Northern Europe During Late Antiquity
Evolution of global vegetation patterns since the last glacial maximum
Trajectories of change in Mediterranean Holocene vegetation through classification of pollen data
Modern pollen–vegetation relationships and human indicator taxa at high elevation human-impacted areas of the Bale Mountains, Ethiopia
The potential of Reveals-based vegetation reconstructions using pollen records from alluvial floodplains
The impact of the Neolithic agricultural transition in Britain
Comparing archaeological proxies for long-term population patterns
Spatial and temporal changes of prehistoric human land use in the Wei River valley, northern China
Vegetation impacts and early Neolithic monumentality
Prehistoric Landscape Change Around the Sources of Stonehenge’s Bluestones in Preseli, Wales
The changing face of the Mediterranean – Land cover, demography and environmental change
Estimating pollen productivity and relevant source area of pollen using lake sediments in Norway
Is Neolithic land use correlated with demography? An evaluation of pollen-derived land cover and radiocarbon-inferred demographic change from Central Europe
Deforestation and Human Agency in the North Atlantic Region
On the use of palynological data in economic history
Agricultural systems regulate plant and insect diversity and induce ecosystem novelty
The Medicine Tree
The cultural landscape during 6000 years in southern Sweden
Grazing ecology and forest history
The Anthropogenic Greenhouse Era Began Thousands of Years Ago
The Reveals model, a new tool to estimate past regional plant abundance from pollen data in large lakes
Pollen Representation of Vegetation in Quaternary Sediments
Novel climates, no-analog communities, and ecological surprises
Reconstructing biomes from palaeoecological data
Application of modern pollen/land-use relationships to the interpretation of pollen diagrams—reconstructions of land-use history in south Sweden, 3000-0 BP
The Selection of Sites for Paleovegetational Studies
Pollen productivity estimates of key European plant taxa for quantitative reconstruction of past vegetation
The use of modelling and simulation approach in reconstructing past landscapes from fossil pollen data
Landscape openness and pollen records
Human-environment interactions during the Holocene
Theory of quantitative reconstruction of vegetation I
Vegetation structure and pollen source area
Theory of quantitative reconstruction of vegetation II
Equifinality and uncertainty in the interpretation of pollen data
Pollen productivity estimates for the reconstruction of past vegetation cover in the cultural landscape of southern Sweden
Mid- to late-Holocene vegetation history of Greater Exmoor, UK
The European Pollen Database
Palaeoecological Evidence for the Prehistoric Settlement of Bodmin Moor, Cornwall, Southwest England. Part I
Anthropogenic indicators in pollen diagrams
GIS and the application of a model of pollen deposition and dispersal
Characterising the late prehistoric, ‘Romano-British’ and medieval landscape, and dating the emergence of a regionally distinct agricultural system in South West Britain
Palynological and temporal inference in the context of prehistory, with special reference to the evidence from lake and peat deposits
Historical context and chronology of Bronze Age land enclosure on Dartmoor, UK
Palaeoecological Evidence for the Prehistoric Settlement of Bodmin Moor, Cornwall, southwest England. Part II
Climate change and the adoption of agriculture in north-west Europe
| Citations per year | 1.27 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2011 - 2025 (15) |
| Highly cited | No |