Heathlands, fire and grazing. A palaeoenvironmental view of Las Hurdes (Cáceres, Spain) history during the last 1200 years

Abstract

Aim of study. The diachronic study of vegetation change through palynological analysis of sedimentary deposits is an essential tool both to design sound strategies on landscape management and to understand its anthropogenic dynamics.Area of study. La Meseguera mire (Ladrillar, Cáceres, Spain) is located in the Hurdes region in the western part of Iberian Central System and started to develop at the beginning of the Islamic period (ca. 770 cal AD), in an area widely dominated by heathland. Material and methods. Pollen, non-pollen palynomorphs and charcoal accumulation rate (CHAR) combined with historical data are useful indicators to assess the increasing role of human influence on vegetation.Main results. The use of fire and livestock husbandry represents the main drivers of landscape change in the course of the history. The establishment of forest afforestation plans, from the middle of 20th century, changed substantially the regional features. The sporadic presence of beech pollen is detected until 16th century, which implies the most western location in the Iberian Central Mountain System.Research highlights. The integration of pollen analysis and historical data is an essential tool when studying the changes in Holocene vegetation. These changes have been mainly driven by anthropogenic disturbances, more specifically by fire and livestock husbandry.Key Words: Anthropogenic dynamics; Central Mountain System; microcharcoals; non-pollen palynomorphs.

Paleofire Dynamics in Central Spain during the Late Holocene: The Role of Climatic and Anthropogenic Forcing

“…These facts fit current fire activity in Mediterranean ecosystems, characterized by its erratic dynamics at spatial and temporal scales depending on biomass burning, fuel availability, settlement patterns, and land use strategies (Pausas et al, ; Vannière et al, , ; Marlon et al, ). Although fire history of the Mediterranean basin seems to be mediated mainly by the variability of the Holocene climate (Turner et al, ; Pyne, ; Vannière et al, ; Marlon et al, ), several paleofire reconstructions from the Iberian Peninsula have shown that sometimes the inherent dynamics of vegetation and human activities may eclipse the climate regulating role on the fire regime, especially during the late Holocene (Gil‐Romera et al, ; Connor et al, ; Morales‐Molino et al, , ; Abel‐Schaad et al, ; Morales‐Molino et al, ). For instance, in southeastern Iberian Peninsula, it has been shown that the expansion of P. pinaster forests during the mid‐Holocene likewise produced significant changes in the fire regime independently of regional climate variability (Carrión & van Geel, ).…”

“…year bp ; Vannière et al, ; Burjachs & Expósito, ). In contrast, during the last 3,000 years, fire regime has been essentially mediated by anthropic activity (Abel‐Schaad et al, ; López‐Sáez et al, ; Morales‐Molino et al, ; Vannière et al, ). Human impact and fire regime in the Mediterranean region have been analyzed by many research works in the last decades (Colombaroli et al, , ; Vannière et al, , , ; Connor et al, ; Leys et al, , ; Doyen et al, ), demonstrating that fire was a key factor in mountain ecosystems management since the Neolithic with the aim of creating open spaces in forests for both agricultural and livestock activities (Colombaroli et al, ; Lillios et al, ).…”

“…Anyway, the incidence of human‐induced fires on the frequency, fire regime, and biomass burning is still an open issue in Iberia (Carrión et al, ; Bal et al, ; Bowman et al, ; Morales‐Molino et al, ). Most paleofire studies have reconstructed fire history (e.g., Abel‐Schaad et al, , ; López‐Merino et al, ; López‐Sáez et al, , , ; Abel‐Schaad & López‐Sáez, ; Morales‐Molino et al, ; Burjachs & Expósito, ; Silva‐Sánchez et al, ; Morales‐Molino et al, ) and in certain cases fire regime (e.g., Bal et al, ; Gil‐Romera et al, ; Morales‐Molino et al, ), but only a few have taken into account regional variability on a spatial scale discerning discrepancies or agreement among records (Gil‐Romera et al, ; Vannière et al, ; López‐Sáez et al, ; Morales‐Molino et al, ).…”

Multi-scale and multi-site resampling of a study area in spatial genetics: implications for flying insect species

“…Indeed, the distribution and density of pine trees have been strongly affected by anthropogenic activities over recent centuries ( Ruiz-Benito, Gomez-Aparicio & Zavala, 2012 ; Lopez-Merino et al, 2014 ), resulting in local extinction, as well as the connectivity and fragmentation of pine tree coverover time. For example, Abel-Scaad, Lopez-Saez & Pulido (2014) showed that pine trees locally disappeared from the Central Iberian System during the middle ages. In contrast, these areas were 80% afforested with pines trees over the 1940–1950 period.…”

Influence of climate change and human activities on the organic and inorganic composition of peat during the ‘Little Ice Age’ (El Payo mire, W Spain)

“…Palynological research in the Central System indicates that from the Iron Age to the Early Middle Ages, anthropic activities were still sporadic and mainly located in the lowlands, but from the Feudal Period onwards, when La Mesta transhumance system took place, they spread into the high mountains (López-Sáez et al, 2014). Livestock herds were transhumant, moving to and from pastures in the kingdom according to the season through protected and defined cattle trials (Abel-Schaad and López-Sáez, 2012; Abel-Schaad et al, 2014; López-Merino et al, 2009; López-Sáez et al, 2009). The main tracks ( Cañadas Reales ) took most of large herds over long distances on well-defined itineraries, joining wintering areas in the South with summering areas in the North.…”