Environmental changes over the past c. 29,000 years in the Middle Atlas (Morocco): A record from Lake Ifrah

Rhoujjati, Ali; Cheddadi, Rachid; Taieb, Maurice; Baali, Abdellatif; Ortu, Elena

doi:10.1016/j.jaridenv.2009.09.006

Cited by 36 publications

(38 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…The biological and bioclimatic diversity of the region, particularly as contained within the Atlas mountain ranges (Ozenda, 1975;Medail and Quezel, 1997), furthermore provides a valuable "test-bed" for understanding the wider response of FIGURE 1 | The study region and location of pollen records, showing: (a) the location of the Middle Atlas (MA), High Atlas (HA) and Rif mountain ranges in Morocco; (b) the western Middle Atlas and the location of the study site and other Holocene pollen studies cited in the text; and (c) length and chronological control of dated pollen records for the Middle Atlas. Key to sites: AFO-Dayat Afourgagh (Lamb et al, 1991); ALI-Lake Sidi Ali (1-Sidi Ali sub-basin, Lamb et al, 1999; 2-Sidi Ali deep lake, this study); CDZ-Col du Zad (Reille, 1976); HAC-Dayet Hachlaff (Nourelbait et al, 2016); HAR-Taguelmam N'Harcha (Lamb et al, 1991); ICH-Ait Ichou (Tabel et al, 2016); IFF-Dayat Iffir (Lamb et al, 1991); IFR-Dayat Ifrah (Rhoujjati et al, 2010;Reddad et al, 2013); RAS-Ras el Ma (Nourelbait et al, 2014); TIF-Tifounassine (Cheddadi et al, 2015); TIG-Tigalmamine (Lamb et al, 1989Lamb and van der Kaars, 1995;Cheddadi et al, 1998).…”

Section: Background and Rationalementioning

confidence: 99%

“…The Middle Atlas has recently experienced a resurgence of palaeoecological activity, including contributions to the understanding of longer term environmental change since the last glacial including past fire activity at Lake Ifrah (Rhoujjati et al, 2010;Reddad et al, 2013), although the core does not include the last 5,000 years. Recent studies have contributed further knowledge regarding patterns and processes of Holocene vegetation change in the northwestern Middle Atlas at Ras el Ma and Dayat Hachlaf (Nourelbait et al, 2014(Nourelbait et al, , 2016Tabel et al, 2016), and forthcoming data for the Holocene are indicated for Lake Tifounassine (Cheddadi et al, 2015).…”

Section: Background and Rationalementioning

confidence: 99%

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Environmental Drivers of Holocene Forest Development in the Middle Atlas, Morocco

et al. 2017

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Section: Background and Rationalementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Background and Rationalementioning

confidence: 99%

Environmental Drivers of Holocene Forest Development in the Middle Atlas, Morocco

et al. 2017

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“…Changes in the pollen assemblages of a marine record from the Alboran Sea also show very synchronous fluctuations between the surrounding land ecosystem changes and the sea surface temperature fluctuations (Fletcher and Sánchez Goñi, 2008;CombourieuNebout et al, 2009). Pollen records from the Middle Atlas (Reille, 1976;Rhoujjati et al, 2010;Nour el Bait et al, 2014;Tabel et al, 2016) and the Rif Mountains show that the Holocene climate change had a major impact on the ecosystems composition with a clear succession of different species sensitive to winter frost, strong rainfall seasonality, and/or the total amount of annual rainfall throughout the year.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Climate change and ecosystems dynamics over the last 6000 years in the Middle Atlas, Morocco

et al. 2016

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Abstract. The present study aims at reconstructing past climate changes and their environmental impacts on plant ecosystems during the last 6000 years in the Middle Atlas, Morocco. Mean January temperature (T jan ), annual precipitation (P ann ), winter (P w ) and summer (P s ) precipitation, and a seasonal index (SI) have all been quantified from a fossil pollen record. Several bio-and geo-chemical elements have also been analysed to evaluate the links between past climate, landscape, and ecosystem changes.Over the last 6000 years, climate has changed within a low temperature and precipitation range with a trend of aridity and warming towards the present. T jan has varied within a ca. 2 • C range, and P ann within less than 100 mm yr −1 . The longterm changes reconstructed in our record between 6 ka cal BP and today are consistent with the aridity trend observed in the Mediterranean basin. Despite the overall limited range of climate fluctuation, we observe major changes in the ecosystem composition, the carbon isotopic contents of organic matter (δ 13 C), the total organic carbon and nitrogen amount, and the carbon to nitrogen ratio (C / N) after ca. 3750 cal BP. The main ecosystem changes correspond to a noticeable transition in the conifer forest between the Atlas cedar, which expanded after 3750 cal BP, and the pine forest. These vegetation changes impacted the sedimentation type and its composition in the lake.Between 5500 and 5000 cal BP, we observe an abrupt change in all proxies which is coherent with a decrease in T jan without a significant change in the overall amount of precipitation.

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“…Recent extreme drought in North Africa (Touchan et al, 2008) is linked to severe mortality of Atlas cedar from Morocco to Algeria (Zine El Abidine, 2003;Bentouati, 2008). Analysis of long-term climate variation shows that wet periods are necessary for the survival and expansion of the cedar and oak forest (Rhoujjati et al, 2010). This has been confirmed by dendroclimatic studies which show the importance of favourable wet periods in cedar regeneration (Lamhamedi and Chbouki, 1994).…”

Section: Cedar Forest Area Declinementioning

confidence: 83%

Managing the environment, people and herds: sustainability of the Moroccan cedar forest

Hamelin

Nwankwo

2013

W J of Sci, Tech and Sus Dev

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Users who downloaded this article also downloaded: (2012),"4Es and 4 Poles model of sustainability: Redefining sustainability in the built environment", Structural Survey, Vol. 30 Iss 5 pp. 426-442 http://dx.Access to this document was granted through an Emerald subscription provided by emerald-srm:412925 [] For AuthorsIf you would like to write for this, or any other Emerald publication, then please use our Emerald for Authors service information about how to choose which publication to write for and submission guidelines are available for all. Please visit www.emeraldinsight.com/authors for more information. About Emerald www.emeraldinsight.comEmerald is a global publisher linking research and practice to the benefit of society. The company manages a portfolio of more than 290 journals and over 2,350 books and book series volumes, as well as providing an extensive range of online products and additional customer resources and services.Emerald is both COUNTER 4 and TRANSFER compliant. The organization is a partner of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and also works with Portico and the LOCKSS initiative for digital archive preservation. AbstractPurpose -The purpose of this paper is to assess the impact of human factor on ecological conditions of Moroccan cedar forest with a view to drawing out implication for sustainable forest management. The study is set against the backdrop of the global depletion of natural capital in a rare axis which, if not brought under an integrated sustainability purview, might lead to the extinction of this quickly receding natural resource. Design/methodology/approach -Data for this research are mined from publicly held databases but processed through a time series regression analysis in a way that measures variations in ecological/environmental variables. Findings -Findings reveal that changes in precipitation and temperature account for a small but significant amount of variation during the period 1940-2006. However, most of the decline is attributable to human activities such as overgrazing and illegal logging. These are having far-reaching implications for forest conservation management. Originality/value -Human agency, more than any effect of nature, is chiefly responsible for the unsustainable development in this sphere of natural capital. Whilst this may not altogether constitute new knowledge, the paper highlights ambivalent positions that both promote and constrain efforts to sustain cedar forest. Its novelty lies not only in the empirical substantiation it affords but also in ferreting out strategic initiatives to dis-incentivise unsustainable exploitation of this important aspect of natural capital.

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Environmental changes over the past c. 29,000 years in the Middle Atlas (Morocco): A record from Lake Ifrah

Cited by 36 publications

References 17 publications

Environmental Drivers of Holocene Forest Development in the Middle Atlas, Morocco

Environmental Drivers of Holocene Forest Development in the Middle Atlas, Morocco

Climate change and ecosystems dynamics over the last 6000 years in the Middle Atlas, Morocco

Managing the environment, people and herds: sustainability of the Moroccan cedar forest

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