A case study of the role of climate, humans, and ecological setting in Holocene fire history of northwestern Europe

Cui, Qiaoyu; Gaillard, Marie-José; Olsson, Fredrik; Greisman, Annica; Lemdahl, Geoffrey; Zernova, Ganna

doi:10.1007/s11430-014-4960-y

Cited by 13 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 71 publications

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“…11,200 and 9600 cal BP, was attested at the base of a levee, associated with high frequencies of pine pollen and microcharcoal. Although the link with the 10.3 ka event is less evident at Kerkhove, both sites are important as they demonstrate the occurrence of repeated wildfires during the (late) preboreal and early Boreal, when the landscape was dominated by coniferous forests, which is consistent with observations elsewhere in northern Europe [64]. These fires definitely must have impacted the human resources, but it is currently difficult to determine the precise extent.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 70%

Mesolithic projectile variability along the southern North Sea basin (NW Europe): Hunter-gatherer responses to repeated climate change at the beginning of the Holocene

Crombé

2019

PLoS ONE

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This paper investigates how former hunter-gatherers living along the southern North Sea coast in NW Europe adapted to long-term and short-term climatic and environmental changes at the beginning of the Holocene. It is argued that contemporaneous hunter-gatherers repeatedly changed their hunting equipment in response to changing climate and environment, not just for functional reasons but mainly driven by socio-territorial considerations. Based on a Bayesian analysis of 122 critically selected radiocarbon dates a broad chronological correlation is demonstrated between rapid changes in the design and technology of stone projectiles and short but abrupt cooling events, occurring at 10.3, 9.3 and 8.2 ka cal BP. Combined with the rapid sea level rises and increased wildfires these climatic events probably impacted the lifeways of hunter-gatherers in such a way that they increasingly faced resource stress and competition, forcing them to invest in the symbolic defense of their social territories.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 70%

Mesolithic projectile variability along the southern North Sea basin (NW Europe): Hunter-gatherer responses to repeated climate change at the beginning of the Holocene

Crombé

2019

PLoS ONE

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“…In the last glacial, local fires commonly occurred in the Qinling region (Figure 4a) and biofuels in this interval were mostly supplied by woody plants (Figure 4f), corresponding to a high percentage of conifers (Figure 4g). Some studies have shown that boreal conifer forests such as Pinus are highly combustible (e.g., Cui et al, 2013Cui et al, , 2015. In our study, fire peak occurred during 21.6-21 cal ka BP, accompanied by a high abundance of woody plants (mainly conifers) and relative high temperatures (Figures 4b and 4c).…”

Section: Climate and Vegetation Influenced The Fire Activitysupporting

confidence: 54%

Fire History in the Qinling Mountains of East‐Central China Since the Last Glacial Maximum

Zhang

Cui

Blockley

et al. 2023

Geophysical Research Letters

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Fire is an important component of ecosystem functioning and is closely related to climate, vegetation and biochemical cycles (Nolan et al., 2020;Pechony & Shindell, 2010). Fire frequency and intensity have increased with human-induced global warming in forested landscapes in recent years (Carter et al., 2018;Parks & Abatzoglou, 2020). Li et al. (2017) suggested fire-induced changes in terrestrial ecosystems have significantly increased the global average land surface temperature by 0.18°C in the 20th century. Mitigating the warming climate heavily depends on carbon storage in forests (Grassi et al., 2017;Yu et al., 2022). However, fire is the key disturbance factor in forest cover (Flannigan et al., 2009;Wu et al., 2014) and high-intensity fires usually occur in forested regions and transform forest communities from "carbon sinks" into "carbon sources" (Huang et al., 2020;Ying et al., 2018). The GFED3 model showed that CO 2 generated from deforestation fires accounts for about one third of the total CO 2 flux (Prentice et al., 2011). The fire mechanisms include a combination of factors operating on a range of timescales. The short observational period is not sufficient to fully capture the overall factors of fires occurrence in a region, it is thus crucial to study fire history at the longer time scales. This information can then provide detailed understanding on aspects of warming induced fire in the past, the balance of fuel source versus climate forcing, and the influence of anthropogenic activities on fires in forested regions.The Qinling Mountains are dominated by forest cover and are close to the boundary where subtropical vegetation in the south alternates with temperate vegetation in the north, making the mountains an important ecological zone in China (Yao et al., 2020). Frequent fire events have been recorded in recent decades, which influenced the

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“…Furthermore, not only in China but also on other continents all reported this phenomenon that anthropogenic land‐use played a dominant tole in the increase in fire activity during the late Holocene (Cui et al . 2015; Schüpbach et al . 2015; Xu et al .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Variations in Holocene fire activity and its controls in the Ningshao Plain, eastern China

Shao

Zhang

Zheng

et al. 2023

Boreas

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Extensive fires pose catastrophic threats to both human and natural ecosystems. Understanding the history of fire, particularly Holocene palaeofire activity in densely populated areas, is essential for predicting future fire risks and developing effective fire management policies. The complexity of fire activity is influenced by various factors, including climate and anthropogenic activities. In this study, we analysed microcharcoal from the top 35.36 m of a well‐dated sediment core HMD1401 in Ningshao Plain, eastern China. We combined our findings with phytolith and diatom evidence to obtain a comprehensive understanding of variations in Holocene fire activity and its controls. The results showed that there was higher fire activity during the early and late Holocene and less fire activity during the mid‐Holocene. More frequent fire occurred from c. 10 000–7000 cal. a BP and was primarily caused by abundant biomass and high seasonal flammability due to increased annual temperature and precipitation and warm but dry winter climate. Fire occurrences between c. 7000–2000 cal. a BP remained at a low level, except for the periods c. 5900–5600 cal. a BP and c. 5300 cal. a BP, which may have been caused by extreme climate events. The impact of fire caused by human activity was significantly enhanced during the last two millennia.

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A case study of the role of climate, humans, and ecological setting in Holocene fire history of northwestern Europe

Cited by 13 publications

References 71 publications

Mesolithic projectile variability along the southern North Sea basin (NW Europe): Hunter-gatherer responses to repeated climate change at the beginning of the Holocene

Mesolithic projectile variability along the southern North Sea basin (NW Europe): Hunter-gatherer responses to repeated climate change at the beginning of the Holocene

Fire History in the Qinling Mountains of East‐Central China Since the Last Glacial Maximum

Variations in Holocene fire activity and its controls in the Ningshao Plain, eastern China

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