1200 years of decadal-scale variability of Mediterranean vegetation and climate at Pantelleria Island, Italy

Abstract

A new sedimentary sequence from Lago di Venere on Pantelleria Island, located in the Strait of Sicily between Tunisia and Sicily was recovered. The lake is located in the coastal infra-Mediterranean vegetation belt at 2 m a.s.l. Pollen, charcoal and sedimentological analyses are used to explore linkages among vegetation, fire and climate at a decadal scale over the past 1200 years. A dry period from ad 800 to 1000 that corresponds to the 'Medieval Warm Period' (WMP) is inferred from sedimentological analysis. The high content of carbonate recorded in this period suggests a dry phase, when the ratio of evaporation/precipitation was high. During this period the island was dominated by thermophilous and drought-tolerant taxa, such as Quercus ilex, Olea, Pistacia and Juniperus. A marked shift in the sediment properties is recorded at ad 1000, when carbonate content became very low suggesting wetter conditions until ad 1850-1900. Broadly, this period coincides with the 'Little Ice Age' (LIA), which was characterized by wetter and colder conditions in Europe. During this time rather mesic conifers (i.e. Pinus pinaster), shrubs and herbs (e.g. Erica arborea and Selaginella denticulata) expanded, whereas more drought-adapted species (e.g. Q. ilex) declined. Charcoal data suggest enhanced fire activity during the LIA probably as a consequence of anthropogenic burning and/or more flammable fuel (e.g. resinous Pinus biomass). The last century was characterized by a shift to high carbonate content, indicating a change towards drier conditions, and re-expansion of Q. ilex and Olea. The post-LIA warming is in agreement with historical documents and meteorological time series. Vegetation dynamics were co-determined by agricultural activities on the island. Anthropogenic indicators (e.g. Cerealiatype, Sporormiella) reveal the importance of crops and grazing on the island. Our pollen data suggest that extensive logging caused the local extinction of deciduous Quercus pubescens around ad1750.

Holocene vegetation and fire history of the mountains of Northern Sicily (Italy)

“…Thus, our results support earlier studies, which emphasize that since Neolithic times, and particularly in the metal ages and later, forest-replacing fires were closely related to agricultural activities (Noti et al 2009;Tinner et al 2009;Bisculm et al 2012;Calò et al 2012Calò et al , 2013Sadori et al 2015). Forested habitats were not fire-prone, very much in contrast to flammable natural grassland, garrigues and maquis, which thrived during the dry periods of the early Holocene and the early mid Holocene before ca.…”

“…600-100 years ago; Fig. 9) occurred during the Little Ice Age, when the prevailing conditions were predominantly cool and wet in Sicily and southern Italy (see discussion in Calò et al 2013). Similarly, the premedieval forest openings cannot be explained by aridity crises, given that drought significantly reduces agricultural yields in the Mediterranean area (Allen 2001), and our data document expanded agricultural activity.…”

“…Recent investigations have provided new insights into the vegetation and fire history of the coastal thermomediterranean vegetation belt of Sicily (Biviere di Gela, Noti et al 2009;Gorgo Basso, Tinner et al 2009;Lago Preola, Calò et al 2012; Lago di Venere, Calò et al 2013; Fig. 1), while the meso-mediterranean (Pergusa, Sadori and Narcisi 2001), supramediterranean (Urio Quattrocchi, Bisculm et al 2012), and oro-mediterranean (Urgo Pietra Giordano, Gorgo Pollicino, Bertolani Marchetti et al 1984) vegetation belts remain understudied.…”

Holocene environmental history of a small Mediterranean island in response to sea-level changes, climate and human impact

“…Mediterranean islands are still under-investigated (but see Avramidis et al, 2013;Calò et al, 2013;Pavlopoulos et al, 2010), because holocene sedimentary deposits are rare. For exemple in Corsica little or no information is available about palaeoenvironmental history of the numerous small peripheral islands (c. 145 islands and islets according to Guillemette, 2015) beyond the past few centuries (Vigne, 1994).…”

Lateglacial–early Holocene vegetation history of the Tiber delta (Rome, Italy) under the influence of climate change and sea level rise

“…Besides, these records are generally discontinuous, very poor in pollen, and difficult to analyse, so that pollen analysts often prefer to study more promising materials. However, they may be very fruitful, as demonstrated by the recent results on Holocene coastal sediments in the central Mediterranean Basin, providing the following: -Recognition of atmospheric relationships with North Atlantic and African climate systems influencing the coastal vegetation dynamics (Di Rita and Magri, 2009;Tinner et al, 2009;Djamali et al, 2013); -Definition of the impacts of climate processes at centennial/decadal timescales on the coastal environmental evolution (Calò et al, 2013;Di Rita, 2013); -Assessment of the vulnerability of coastal ecosystems determined by sea level change and fluvial erosion and discharge (Bellini et al, 2009;Carroll et al, 2012).…”